Pres. Marcos invited to grace the historical event

PALO, Leyte- The provincial government of Leyte had started its preparation for the 78th Leyte Gulf Landings commemoration next month, October 20.
Frances Ann Petilla, a consultant of the provincial government consultant on tourism and wife of Governor Carlos Jericho Petilla, presided the executive meeting held last September 15.

In the said meeting, the committee agreed to hold full face-to-face activity for this year’s Leyte Gulf Landings celebration.

For the past two years of the commemorative program, the organizers adopted a hybrid system wherein there were parts of the celebration that were conducted in-person while other activities related to the event were done virtually.

The commemoration will be simple to be attended by dignitaries from Australia, Japan, United States of America, and United Kingdom.

The 78th Leyte Gulf Landings is also expected to be graced by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos who was invited by the executive committee as guest speaker for the annual event held at McArthur Park National Shrine, this town.

Unlike in previous years where national anthems of US, Australia, Japan, and UK are played when hoisting their respective flags, this year only the country’s national anthem, the ‘Lupang Hinirang’ will be played while drum roll will be use when hoisting the flags of the participating country.

Living World War II veterans in the region are not expected to be present at the commemoration because most of them are already bedridden, according to the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO).

PVAO also reported that there are only 33 living World War I veterans in Eastern Visayas 17 of them are from Leyte.

The PVAO and representative from the US Embassy will be conferring to the living World War II veterans on October 20 after the commemoration program the US Congressional Gold Medal award.

“This is the first time that we will be giving this award to our veterans. This is conferred to our veterans to honor their sacrifices and services to the country during World War 2,” Nenita Brazil of PVAO said. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)

DENGUE cases in Tacloban City recorded a downward trend following the continued “search and destroy” activities led by the City Health Office (CHO), the city government said Monday, September 19, 2022.

Dr. Danilo Ecarma, city health officer, said that at least 13 cases were reported in last week’s monitoring compared to the 43 cases three weeks ago.

Ecarma also urged each household “to exert efforts to combat dengue, such as regular cleaning, covering of water containers, and disposal of stagnant water, especially now that the monsoon months have started.”

According to the City Information Office, the CHO conducted fogging in more than 60 public schools in Tacloban and launched “search and destroy” activities in areas with reported cases of dengue.

A total of 12 city barangays have reported cases of dengue, while clustering of cases was monitored in Apitong, Caibaan, and Barangay 109 V&G Subdivision, it said.

“A clustering of cases in a barangay is considered if it reports cases of the acute infectious disease weekly,” the city government said.

The most common symptom of dengue is fever, vomiting, rash, nausea, body aches, and pain behind the eyes, muscle, joint, or bone.

A lone dengue fatality was reported in the city last February 2022.
RONALD O. REYES

INOPACAN, Leyte- A man was arrested in a buy-bust operation in this town last Sept.16 with the anti-drug operatives seizing from him suspected shabu with a street value of P357,000.

Inopacan chief of police, Lt. Daisy Hallasco identified the suspect as Jay-R Malaguis, 29, and working in a fast food chain specializing in fried chicken in a sting operation in Barangay poblacion at about 3:25 pm.

Recovered from his possession was one sachet containing white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu procured by an operative in the amount of P10,000.

During a body search, the searching cops recovered from the possession of the suspects 10 more sachets containing suspected shabu inside a folded white paper with all the recovered items estimated to weigh 55 grams with an estimated value of P 357,500.

Also recovered from the possession of the suspect was one piece P500 bill intended for the buy-bust operation and P9, 500 boodle money and cash money amounting to P1, 227 in different denominations and one disposable lighter, and one motorcycle key for Yamaha.

The suspect did not issue any statement to the media covering the operation.

The suspect was charged for possession and selling of illegal drugs and is now detained at the detention center at this town’s police office.
(ROBERT DEJON)

TACLOBAN CITY – The city government of Ormoc has lined-up activities for its 75th Charter Day celebration slated on October 20.

The celebration will be the first time they will have a grand event after two years due to restrictions caused by the corona virus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

“This is very different celebration because this is a milestone, the 75th Charter Day of Ormoc City, especially coming from a pandemic for two years, we envision for a month-long celebration not just for a few select people but for the entire Ormoc,” City Mayor Lucy Torres Gomez said.

She stressed that all activities lined up relative to the celebration will be free except for its Miss Ormoc beauty pageant.

Among the major events prepared include concerts of artists like Nina (October 1), Rey Valera (Oct 2), Joey Generoso (Oct 9), and Gloc-9 (Oct 10), then a dance concert of Regine Tolentino on Oct 14.

Tatak Ormoc Award will also be stage on Oct 13, giving recognition to local business enterprise and business personalities organized by the Ormoc City Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ORCHAM) and the city government.

Miss Ormoc pageant will return after two years, with the coronation on Oct. 15 to be hosted by actress-turned beauty queen Ruffa Gutierrez and James Deakin, with Ian Veneracion as one of the celebrity guests.

On Oct 16, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra will also hold a free concert at the city’s superdome.

A basketball showdown between Kapuso stars against PBA player is slated on Oct 17 , while this October 18, the city mayor will deliver her first State of the City Address as the local chief executive of Ormoc.

On the 20th, the charter day of Ormoc, activities will start with the Charter Day mass at the St. Peter’s and Paul Church, followed by a parade, then the Jubilee celebration in the morning.

Afternoon activity will center at the Ormoc Bay with the ‘bangkarera’ and will culminate with a grand concert at the city plaza to be headline by Regine Velasquez and Ogie Alcasid.

Aside from these major activities, the executive committee also prepared sports competitions like the ‘dayon dayon’ volleyball tournament. Dayon dayon is a type of volleyball wherein competitors may agree to the number of players who will enter the court to compete. It also have the rule it is illegal to pass the ball to their teammate, thus they must hit the ball directly to pass it to their opponents.

Other sports competition includes, airsoft tournament, e-sport, baseball, volleyball, billiard, softball, archery, bike race, arnis anyo and team demonstration competiton, sepak takraw, dance sport, chess, dart, taekwondo, triathlon and aquathlon, swimming, then the 4th and 5th leg of the Southeast Asian Games qualifying tournament.

Local products in Ormoc are also to be showcase thru trade fair events of the Department of Trade (Oct 10 – 16) and Industry and Agri-Aqua trade Fair (Oct 10-28).

A jobs fair will also be conducted on Oct. 22 and a lechon competition, dubbed as ‘lechon kumbira’ on Oct. 29.

Ormoc City is a 1st class independent city that became the 15th city of the country and the first in Eastern Visayas under the virtue of Republic Act No. 179 on October 20, 1947.

It has a population of 230, 998 residents based on 2020 census which makes it the second most populated city in the region, next to Tacloban City.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY – An official of the National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP) said that Filipino seafarers need to upgrade their skills in automation to cope up with the emerging trend in the international maritime industry as more European shipping companies are shifting to automation.

Mayla Macadawan, NMP officer-in-charge, said that there are ongoing efforts to revise the NMP’s standards of training, certification, and watchkeeping (STCW) to adapt to the emerging global technologies.

NMP is a government-run maritime training center based here in the city that provides to its stakeholders, particularly seafarers, quality training and assessment to upgrade the country’s maritime manpower resources through upgrading and specialization programs and research and studies on the latest maritime technologies that are needed of the maritime industry.

“Ang IMO, in fact, mayroon na silang ginagawang revision para sa STCW. So ang STCW amendments accordingly will address the technological advancement of the shipping industry. Hopefully, and NMP o ang Philippines ay magkakaroon ng paradigm shift para maaddress yung mga kaukulang na training needs in terms of usage of technology,” Macadawan said.

“Kasi ang pino-propose ngayon at ginagamit na sa mga internal waters of Denmark and Norway is automation. So ang automation means use of technology and if mayroong automation there is a probability na magkaroon ng decline ang needs ng seafarers,” she added.

Still, despite of this, Filipino seafarers remain to be the most in demand abroad, the NMP official stressed.

The official added that all government agencies must work in synergy to address the trend of automation.

If this will not be address, this may result to the decline on the demand of Filipino seafarers that could impact the country’s economy.

Last year, remittances from seafarers was reported at $ 6.54 billion.

The country’s main competitors in seafaring industry are China, Russia, and Ukraine.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)