ORMOC CITY-A mentally depressed woman was found dead along a shore at about 7 am Tuesday (Feb. 14) in Taft, Eastern Samar.

Taft chief of police Capt. Angelyn Glou Cortado identified the victim as Emalyn Loriaga, 37, married, and a resident of Barangay Binaloan.

Initial investigation conducted by responding police disclosed that the victim was suffering from mental depression and went missing last February 12.

The cadaver of the victim was brought to a local funeral parlor for a post-mortem examination. (ROBERT DEJON)

TACLOBAN CITY– The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) – Revenue Region No.14 (Eastern Visayas) has appealed to various law enforcement agencies in the region to help them in the crackdown against the proliferation of illicit cigarettes.

During the Regional Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee 8 (RLECC) Meeting recently, Lawyer Neil U. Cordero, chief of the Regional Investigation Division of BIR-8, said their office needs assistance from other government agencies such as the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine National Police (PNP), Land Transportation Office (LTO), Philippine Coastguard (PCG), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and other agencies in terms of intelligence sharing, monitoring of the proliferation of the illicit cigarettes in the market and the actual enforcement activities against dealers, manufacturers, and sellers in Eastern Visayas.

Studies showed that the government is losing billions of revenues in terms of uncollected excise and other taxes on the manufacture and sale of illicit cigarette products.
The BIR runs after those involved in illicit cigarettes because they sell, deal and manufacture without paying the excise tax and other necessary taxes.

“Aside from the excise tax, hindi rin tayo makakolekta ng other taxes in the name of value-added tax, and other income tax kasi ‘pag mga illicit cigarette products, usually hindi rin yan nagbabayad ng VAT at iba pang taxes so yun ang nawawala sa atin,” Cordero said.

Cordero emphasized that cigarettes that did not pass the required tax dues can be classified as contraband, counterfeit, and illicit whites.

Contraband are genuine products that are smuggled and sold illegally while counterfeit are copies of genuine products that are produced and sold illegally.

In addition, illicit whites are tobacco products that are legally produced in one country with the sole intention of selling them in another country.

Illicit cigarettes can easily be determined because they have fake BIR excise stamps, with erroneous graphic health warning, no DOH warning and notice and without name and address of the manufacturer.

Out of the 30 taxpayers in the region that were subjected to enforcement activities of the BIR-RR14 relative to dealing with illicit cigarettes, nine cases were filed with the Department of Justice, one was convicted, and the accused is now serving sentence at the Abuyog Penal Colony.
(MMP/CBA/PIA-8)

Samar and Southern Leyte as pilot areas

TACLOBAN CITY– ‘Glenda,’ 22 got pregnant five years ago to an equally young man she met here in the city during its fiesta.

Now, aside from not getting any financial support from the father of their five-year-old daughter, she is also out of work since 2021 as the laundry shop she was working closed shop due to the pandemic.

The case of Glenda, who is from this city, is the problem involving teenagers getting pregnant at their young age.

On Monday (Fev.20), a program which aims to address the high teenage pregnancy problem in Eastern Visayas was launched here in the city.

In particular, the mainly South Korean government-funded program, at P490 million, will be implemented in the provinces of Samar and Southern Leyte for the next four years.
The regional office of the Population Commission and Development (Popcom) had earlier reported that teenage pregnancy cases in Eastern Visayas with all of its six provinces posting ‘alarming cases.’

For 2020 period, for instance, there were 1,093 cases of teenage pregnancies recorded in Samar province and 483 cases for Southern Leyte. These involved 15 to 19 years of young mothers.

The two provinces of Samar and Southern Leyte were selected as the pilot areas for the program which aims to ‘accelerate the reduction of adolescent pregnancies’ to a ‘significant level if not to zero cases’ says Health Sec. Maria Rosario Vergeire.

The two provinces were also selected due to poor access to health services; perennial occurrence of natural calamities like typhoons and the cooperation of their local leaders to implement the program.

The representatives of the two provinces expressed their gratitude to the KOICA and its partners saying this will help boost their campaign against teenage pregnancy as they cited peer pressure and mental health problems and lack of sex education, among others.
Initially, 20 areas in both provinces were selected under the program which will conduct improved adolescent access and services and information drive on teenage pregnancy and extend health benefits for pregnant teenagers; provide a ‘standardized’ peer education program and accelerate the integration of the comprehensive sexuality education program in school and even out of school; and work closely with local government units to enhance their programs on the prevention of adolescent pregnancy, among others.

Vergeire was joined during the launching of the joint program by Gustavo Gonzales, the United Nations resident coordinator; Dr. Leila Joudne, United Nations Population Fund (UNFP); Dr. Graham Harrison, World Health Organization representative; and Eunsub Kim, country director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), among others.
Vergeire said that adolescent pregnancy is not just a health issue as it poses risks to teenagers like death but even a social issue.

“It often results in poor lifelong and economic outcomes for both the adolescent mothers and her child,” she said.

Citing a study from the UNFPA, Vergeire said that teenage mothers fail to finish their studies, unemployed and poor.

“More importantly, the poor outcomes also extend to her children, who are more likely to have poor nutrition and education outcomes,” Vergeire added.

Joudne said that based on their studies, the country losses P33 billion due adolescent pregnancy due to lost opportunities and potential earnings.

Gonzales described the teenage pregnancy problem as a ‘development challenge’ among countries with high such cases like the Philippines, the second in ASEAN Region next to Laos.

It was learned that the Philippines has 56 such cases out of 1,000 population. Laos has 64 adolescent cases out of 1,000 population.

Kim said that they hope that with the implementation of the program in Southern Leyte and Samar provinces, in particular, the program of teenage pregnancies could be now properly addressed.

“This project will hopefully display South Korea’s commitment to contribute to achieving of a healthy life,” he said, adding that they are committed to make the project a success.

“KOICA assure you of our deep commitment and strong support of this project,” Kim added.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

DAGAMI, Leyte – In preparation for the upcoming project implementation of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Leyte Second District Engineering Office (L2DEO) held a pre-construction meeting with the residents of Barangay Plaridel, this town.

The P30 million project involved the construction of drainage canals stretching the road section of Plaridel.

The purpose of the meeting was to give the community a general overview and design of the project, district engineer Edward Oppura said.

“These pre-construction activities will be the ideal opportunity for the community to voice their worries and difficulties in order to prevent future issues that may develop during the project implementation and, in some way, to have a smooth flow in all of the project’s plan,” he said.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)