Could result to increase of water rates?

TACLOBAN CITY- The Leyte Metropolitan Water District (LMWD) may just become a private entity, a move strongly opposed by its employees saying it could result to increase of water rates, among others.
Next month, a bidding for the privatization of the LMWD will be held in Manila with three big private companies said to have signified their interest to join the bidding on the hope to take over one of the biggest water companies in the region.
This plan, however, is being opposed by the members of the Leyte Metropolitan Water District Employees Association (LMWDEA).
But Tess Pascua, information officer of the LMWD, said that what the management will be undertaking is not privatization per se but PPP or public-private partnership which she said is being encouraged by the government.
In a position paper, obtained by Leyte Samar Daily Express, the group claims that the privatization of the LMWD will result in a higher water rate and will not automatically translate to a better service.
At present, consumers of the LMWD pay P148.50 per 10 cubic meters, the minimum of consumption.
The LMWDEA, headed by Rolando Mercado, also said that the privatization will also result to massive lay off among the agency’s more than 400 employees.
“Privatization limits public accountability. Private corporations are responsible only to their stockholders and not to the people they serve,” the group said on their position paper.
A privatized LMWD will also result in lack of transparency, thus the people it supposed to serve could not immediately demand to know the policies that the agency will impose to their detriment, the group said.
The group also demanded from the current management of LMWD, headed by Engr.Pastor Homeres, to provide them the financial status of LMWD as they are claiming that the agency is on the brink of bankruptcy reason why they are selling it to a private company.
The LMWD has incurred a loan of P1.2 billion from the Land Bank in 2013.
The LMWDEA also claimed that the LMWD management is not collecting fees to several establishments owned by the provincial government, to include a private hotel, that runs into millions of pesos.
The general manager and members of the board of directors of LMWD are all appointed by the provincial government.
Pascua, in a mobile phone interview, said that she could not yet make any comment on the allegations of the LMWDEA saying these still remains ‘premature.’
“But on allegations that we are not collecting fees from some of the provincial offices, it’s not true. We are collecting them like what we do with other government offices but admittedly, they are paying not on time,” she said.
Based on the records of LMWD, as of 2016, it is serving 33,671 concessionaires coming from the towns of Palo, Tanauan, Sta. Fe, Tolosa, Dagami, Tabon-Tabon and Pastrana and the city of Tacloban.
At present, LMWD is considered a government-owned and controlled corporation and placed under the Civil Service Commission and the Commission on Audit.

BORONGAN CITY – The Department of Public Works and Highways- Eastern Samar District Engineering Office (DPWH-ESDEO) joined the nation of the recently-held international coastal clean-up day.
The annual activity, held every September 16 of the year, is in pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 470 declaring every third Saturday of September as the international coastal clean-up day.
This year, over 61 employees of the district participated in cleaning the 200 meter stretch of the coastline of the Baybay Baybay in this city, District Engineer Manolo Rojas said.
The activity, which started at sunrise, resulted in the collection of 15kg of trash.
Among the most collected were dried leaves, dried coconut husks, plastic food wrappers, plastic bottles, bottle caps as well as tiny pieces of foam.
For three decades, 9 million volunteers all over the world have collected 87,996,919.78 kilograms of trash.
The Philippines, with 3,650,881 volunteers in two decades, has since collected 19,228,243 kilograms of trash covering 54,132 kilometer coastline.
Last year 504,503 volunteers picked up 3,346,055 kilograms of trash along more than 24,136 kilometers of coastline.
The trash in the ocean impacts the livelihood of many Filipinos who depend on fishing and could impact the economy. Trash mostly harms the seabed and the marine life. Those places engaged in tourism with the beach and the sea as its prime tourist attraction will also be affected.
The DPWH has been joining the International Coastal Clean Up every year as part of promoting and supporting better Ocean Health and environmental consciousness. (VICKY C. ARNAIZ)

PALO, Leyte- Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines John Holmes lauded the bravery of Filipino soldiers who fought to liberate Marawi City from the hands of Maute- Isis Group.
Holmes said that while they were saddened on what happened in Marawi City, they were at the same “salute the brave soldiers,” in liberating the city from the terror group.
“Our hearts go out to all of the victims of Marawi City and all of the brave soldiers who lost their lives and to all their families,” the ambassador said.
The Canadian ambassador said that his country is ready to assist the Philippine government if it will ask for its assistance.
Likewise, his country will continue to provide assistance to Mindanao.
Holmes was among the foreign dignitaries who attended a ‘barrio fiesta’ sponsored by the Palo municipal government on October 19 held at the municipal building.
Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla and Palo Mayor Remedios Petilla hosted the occasion which was also attended by war veterans.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- A government employee was among arrested by the members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-8) in a series of buy-bust operations in the city.
Manuel Fausto,43, and an employee of the Tacloban city government was arrested in possession of one sachet of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu valued at P1,000 by PDEA operatives in Barangay 62-B, Sagkahan district last October 11 at about 2:50 pm.
Also arrested was Jess Virgil Cordero, 26 and his live-in partner Joyce Anne Leona,28, in a buy-bust operation in Brgy. Poblacion, district 11 of La Paz town in Leyte at about 5:30 pm on October 17.
Seized from the two drug suspects were two sachets of shabu valued at P1,000 and six dried marijuana leaves.
And in another sting operation conducted by the PDEA agents was Diego Aurelia,36 who was arrested in Barangay 66, Paseo de Legaspi and in possession of two sachets of shabu valued at P1,000.
All four drugs suspects were charged for possession and selling of illegal drugs. They are now temporarily detained at the detention facility of PDE-8. (PR)

As sole authority to conduct anti-illegal drugs operations

TACLOBAN CITY- With President Rodrigo Duterte directing the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) as the sole agency to carry out operations against illegal drugs in the country, an official of the anti-drug agency in the region said that they need additional personnel to carry out such mission.
Rogelette Urgel, PDEA’s regional spokesperson, said that their current strength is not enough for them to carry out anti-drug operations across the region, composed of six provinces and seven cities.
Urgel, however, said that they welcome the order of Mr. Duterte, issued on October 10, as it is the mandate of PDEA to address the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country.
“Of course we welcome this directive of the President. However, our campaign may be hampered due to lack of personnel,” Urgel said.
“For us to cover the entire region, perhaps we need an additional 100 agents,” she added.
At present, PDEA-8 has about 100 personnel which is headed by Regional Director Edgar Jubay.
She also said that while the President now gave PDEA the sole authority to conduct anti-drug operations, they would continue to work closely with the Philippine National Police (PNP), which earlier played a significant role in the anti-drug campaign.
She, however, stressed that the police organization could not conduct any anti-drug operations without the consent or coordination with their agency.
The campaign to eliminate illegal drugs in the country under the administration of Pres. Duterte has turned out to be controversial due to reported extrajudicial killings which now runs to close to 3,000 as claimed by the administration’s critics, to include human rights groups.
The huge number is being contested by the Philippine National Police.
In the region, lawyer Desiree Pontejos, officer-in-charge of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), said that they have monitored 36 so-called extrajudicial killings across the region.
These killings include that of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., who was gunned down inside his cell at the Leyte subprovincial jail in Baybay City on November 4, 2016 by members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and Angelika Bonita, 18.
Urgel said that aside from giving PDEA additional personnel, they also need cooperation from the people in the communities.
Meantime, Urgel said that out of the 4,390 barangays in the region, more than 350 of them have been declared as ‘drug-cleared’ by their office.
She also said that the towns of General MacArthur, Maslog, both in Eastern Samar; Limasawa in Southern Leyte; Pagsanghan and Motiong, both in Samar, have been declared as drug-cleared.
By drug-cleared it means absence of a drug supplier in a particular area though there could still be drug dependents, Urgel said.