BAYBAY CITY- The construction of the P400 million worth new City Hall of this city will have its groundbreaking on December 8.
This was disclosed by City Mayor Carmen Cari who said that the new City Hall will house all offices of the city government, to include the city council offices, equipped with an elevator and a wider parking space.
The four-storey building sits on 42,000 square meters and is located at the newly-opened Diversion Road of the city.
Mayor Cari said that the groundbreaking activity will serve as one of the highlights in this year’s city fiesta celebration on Dec.27.
According to the city mayor, the construction of the facility will be completed in 2019, coinciding her last year in office.
It was learned from Cari that the city government has secured a loan of P250 million for the project with the remaining P150 million to be sourced locally.
Cari said that the City Hall building, located at Ramon Magsaysay Avenue, that will be vacated will be put to good use by the city government by leasing it out.
In fact, she said, the City Court of Baybay had already signified their intention to lease the building.
Cari said that she is determined to see the proposed City Hall building completed before she bows out from politics saying she wants it to be one of her legacies as a public servant.
The outgoing mayor also served as a congresswoman representing Leyte’s fifth congressional district, a position currently held by her son, Jose Cari.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, Leyte- At least four women and a man were arrested by police operatives of this city after they claimed to be members of the Philippine National Police(PNP) last November 29.
The suspects, identified as JM Piolo Leuterio, 18; Romilyn Cerida, 28; Sheryll Dugay, 37; Angelica Daban, 38; and May Ann Canona, 29, were arrested while they were applying for a loan before a lending agency.
However, the personnel of the Lils Lending Shop called up the Office of the Regional Personnel and Human Resource Development Division of the PNP-8, based here, to check if the five accused were indeed members of the police organization.
It turned out that the suspects were not members of the police organization reason why they were arrested by the city police led by Chief Inspector Alex Echon at about 4:50 pm.
It was learned that the suspects identified themselves as police officers holding the rank of police officer 1.
Leuterio claimed to be PO1 Eliazar Barbaje; Cerida as PO1 Ma. Mae Dumas; Dugay as PO1 Christine Varquez; Daban as PO1 Zarah Jane Dizon; and Canona as PO1 Christita Viovicente.
All are residents of the city and now detained at the Tacloban Police Station 1 and were charged for usurpation of authority. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY – Concerned with traffic woes, the city government here has temporarily converted five more streets in downtown area into one-way streets.
Traffic Operation Management Enforcement and Control Office(Tomeco) head Emmanuel Naval said the new traffic scheme takes runs from December 1 to end of February next year.
“The temporary conversion is part of the ongoing study by the University of the Philippines National Center for Traffic Studies (UPNCTS) to aid the city in coming up with permanent solution to the traffic situation,” Naval told reporters in a press briefing Friday(December 1).
Temporarily designated as one-way roads are Juan Luna, Paterno, Sto. Niño, Del Pilar, and Salazar Streets.
The city has been implementing one-way traffic scheme in four major highways since 2014 when authorities noticed the increasing number of vehicles after super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ struck the city in 2013.
Major thoroughfares in the capital of Eastern Visayas region have been used by thousands of vehicles daily, including the 2,000 registered motorcycles- for- hire.
“The night population of Tacloban is 270,000 and in the daytime, we have a population of more than 900,000. So many come to the city in the morning and that is why the traffic in the city is confounded,” said city information officer Bernardita “Bering” Valenzuela.
Valenzuela observes that number of cars in the city have been rising recently due to the significantly low promotional car plans being offered to the public.
The traffic scheme is expected to mitigate the traffic predicament especially this holiday season, according to the official.
Tacloban is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the country. It serves as the regional center of Eastern Visayas. According to the 2015 census, Tacloban has a population of 242,089, making it the most populous city in the region. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)

ORMOC CITY- A drunk man killed his neighbor in one of the villages here after he reportedly got irked from the barking of a dog owned by the victim.
Killed was Apolonio Montesclaros,59 and a resident of Barangay Ipil who sustained multiple wounds from an 18-inches knife used by the suspect.
Supt. Reynaldo Torlao, chief of police station 1, said that based on their investigation, the suspect, Sonny Teves,42 and also from the same village, was seen running outside the house of the victim when the dog of the latter barked at him.
This could have irritated Teves who threw some sand to the dog.
The victim confronted Teves, who was under the influence of liquor, and asked him to leave the dog.
Instead, the suspect attacked Montesclaros and engaged him in a fight until both reached inside the house of the victim.
Montesclaros, who managed to hit the victim using a knife, was stabbed several times by Teves using his 18-inches knife.
The gruesome incident was witnessed by the victim’s wife, Teresita and their four grandchildren.
Teves immediately fled after the incident, leaving the victim dead.
It was learned that Teves went to the house of his brother who also lives in the same village.
But the brother of the suspect was able to get out from his house which resulted for Teves to chase him, ending at outside the house of Montesclaros.
After an hour, Teves was arrested by the police and is now detained facing murder and frustrated charges.
(ELVIE ROMAN ROA)

PALO, Leyte- Chief Supt. Gilberto Cruz, the police regional director, said that he has a good working relationship with the members of the media, contrary to some claims of discrimination against other members of the media in the region.
Cruz said that since he assumed his post, he has been open with the members of the media and he is not discriminating any media workers.
“There’s no conflict, maybe they (just) misinterpreted it. If there is a conflict between media and the PNP, you will not be here,” the police regional director said, referring to the media who were interviewing him.
The alleged discrimination issue stemmed from a recent directive from the PNP-8 headquarters seeking accreditation for members of the media before they could be allowed to have an interview with any police officials.
However, some media people claimed that this directive, issued by Supt. Felidolfo Enoviso who heads the Regional Police Community Relations of the PNP-8, is a form of media harassment.
Cruz said that this media accreditation should not be interpreted as a media suppression saying it is just part of their internal protocol as mandated under their manuals issued in 2012.
Incidentally, despite this claim by certain media workers, they still manage to interview Cruz and other police officials in the region.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)