TACLOBAN CITY– A farmer from Mapanas in Northern Samar was arrested for indiscriminate firing in violation of a gun ban imposed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Arrested was Abel Laodenio,42 of Barangay Sta. Potencian of said town, said town police chief Senior Inspector James Cubilla in a report to the provincial police headquarters based in Catarman.
The suspect who was under the influence of liquor was said to have fire indiscriminately at about 11 pm last April 21 in their village.
Laodenio was charged for illegal possession of firearms in relation to Omnibus Election Code as the country is set to conduct the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections on May 14.(DHEMA NINA INGAY, NwSSU Student Intern)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Badjao residents in Isabel town were finally transferred to their new homes, over two weeks after the housing units were turned over by the donors to the municipal government.
The 49 housing units are located in sitio Bawud of Barangay Marvel and donated by IKIKO Foundation, a French nongovernment organization which is into preserving the environment.
Before the residents were transferred to their new houses, IKIKO Foundation, led by its founder Christophe Donat, and municipal officials together with the beneficiaries planted 100 mangrove seedlings around the new community to serve as natural barriers against strong and destructive waves.
Donat said that aside from transferring to their new houses, some of the Badjao members are also being taught basic education under the alternative learning system (ALS) of the Department of Education.
“Around 20 children and 10 adults are taking class under ALS. They will come every day to the class which will be handled by three ALS volunteer teachers from Isabel district to learn lessons under Indigenous People Education Program,” he said.
The foundation also plan to teach some women in the village to make furnitures and recycled products from plastics and umbrella trash fabrics.
“This is to help them learn other livelihood which they can use as source of income and help them stop begging,” Donat explained.
“Providing education and livelihood skills to Badjao residents will help them feel more comfortable; have the sense of belongingness with other people in the community and gradually address problem on discrimination and rejection the indigenous peoples experiences from the local populace,” he added.
The Badjao people have been living in Isabel since 1985 whose population has increased through the years.
The old homes of the Badjaos were destroyed by super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ in 2013.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Thursday (May 3) kicked off its roadshow on the latest packaging trends to help micro-small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in selling their products.
“Packaging is a market. If packaging is good, the market will increase. This will bring change to our MSMEs. We have to innovate to increase our market and demand,” said DTI Assistant Secretary Demphna Du-Naga in a press conference at the Summit Hotel, this city, during the launching of its Visayas leg “Pack! Pinas” campaign.
The Pak! Pinas is a program of the DTI to help MSMEs in the country in making their products become more saleable through proper and correct packaging.
“The image of your enterprise depends on your brand,” added Benedict Uy of DTI’s Foreign Trade Service Corps while urging MSMEs to change their mindset of being price sensitive.
“Sometimes going cheap is not the way to go,” he said.
Uy emphasized that cheap products are not the name of the game and if entrepreneurs would invest in good packaging they can better position their products and sell them more.
Investing in packaging is the only way to mainstream MSMEs products, he added.
Clarke Nebrao of the Packaging Institute of the Philippines also believed that if entrepreneurs would change their packaging quality this could bring change even to the quality of life of the Filipinos.
Nebreo, whose association is composed of suppliers, manufacturers, and users of packaging materials and services, acknowledged this latest initiative of the DTI.
He emphasized the importance of good packaging, citing on the study that 86 percent of consumers’ purchases are done on the shop floor.
At least 20 Manila-based and 10 local-based suppliers of packaging materials and services were invited by them during the packaging caravan in the city, according to DTI Regional Director Cynthia Nierras.
She also assured of DTI’s continued assistance for small businessmen on their pricing and costing while using an alternative source of materials for their packaging, saying that the type of material to package the product “will influence the volume of sell.”
During the conference, Nierras and her provincial heads reported on the new and top MSMEs’ product lines produced in their respective localities whose packaging are also being innovated.
These are crunchy jack fruit, dehydrated jack fruit, root crops chips, and moron in Leyte; pili, new prospect on cacao chocolate, Northern Samar; dried squid and coconut water for Southern Leyte; calamansi products for Eastern Samar; suman balintawak, ampalaya sticks, atchara, Biliran; Charito’s, baked banana chips, root crop products of Samar; among other products in the region.
Jerry Clavesillas of DTI Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development urged the private sectors to take advantage of the support given to them by the agency under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
About 350 MSMEs joined the scheduled forum where they will be assisted in designing, branding, and marketing their products and services.
DTI will have its next roadshows in Mindanao on May 16- 17 in Cagayan de Oro and in Luzon on May 29-30 in Carmona, Cavite.
(RONALD O. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY- Police authorities in Allen town, Northern Samar seized two dump trucks loaded with illegally cut lumber valued at more than P470,000.
The vehicles were separately intercepted last April 21.
Senior Inspector Wilfredo Jimenez, Allen police chief, said that first to be seized was a 10-wheeler truck driven by Erwin Montajes, a resident of Barangay Solupan, Paranas in Samar.
The second truck, driven by Cesar Nanangas,56, and a resident of Brgy. Santa Rosa, Quezon, was apprehended at Santa Clara Ferry Terminal in Brgy. Jubasan of said town.
Seized from the two trucks were 24,700 board feet of sawn lumber with total value of P470,000, Jimenez said.
The two drivers failed to show transshipment clearance to the authorities reason why their items were seized.
The suspects were detained at the Allen municipal station and were charged for violation of RA 8048, otherwise known as “Coconut Preservation Act of 1995.”(SHELLA MAE DIAZ ASTORGA, NsWWU Student Intern)

First election-related violence in EV

CALBAYOG CITY- In what could be the region’s first election-related violence relative to the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, a candidate for barangay chairman of this city was killed by still unidentified suspects on Thursday (April 26) afternoon.
Killed was Christopher Branzuela, who is running for chairman of their village in Catabunan located within Oquendo District, about 30 kms away from the city proper.
Also killed was Branzuela’s father, Melanio, they were on board a motorcycle when they were waylaid by the armed suspects at about 5:30 pm in an isolated area of Catabunan
Juanito Arneo, who was with the fatalities, survived the gun attack.
Police authorities recovered from the crime scene empty shells of caliber 5.56 rifles.
Supt. Jose Junar Alamo, chief of police of Calbayog City, said that they immediately conducted their hot pursuit operation against the suspects who fled to unknown direction after the incident.
“Hot pursuit is still on-going. We already identified who are the suspects but we cannot reveal their identities as of this time,” Alamo said in an interview.
“We are still conducting a thorough investigation so we cannot just give comment that this is election related,” he added.
The younger Branzuela ran but lost during the 2013 barangay elections.
But for city elections officer Dainty Calagos said that the incident could be considered as election -related for the fact that the victim was a candidate relative to the May 14 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan balloting.
“One of the victim is an aspirant for punong barangay, and we are now under election period, and in the coming days campaign period will start. We cannot just dismiss that it is not election-related, it is really election related,” Calagos said.
The incident is the first to happen in Calbayog City days before the upcoming barangay and SK polls.
Calbayog has been into bad light for the past months due to series of killings wherein some of the victims involved village officials.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) had placed four villages in the city as areas of concern, namely, are Carayman, Esperanza, Guinbaoyan Norte and San Jose.
But with the latest incident in Brgy. Catabunan, Calagos said that the village might also be placed under the areas of concern.
The Philippine National Police and the Comelec has appealed to the public particularly to the candidates to help and support to ensure peace in the upcoming village elections.

By: JENNIFER SUMAGANG-Allegado

In reaction to Boracay problem

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is set to conduct monitoring to all protected areas in the region promoted as tourist destinations.
This way, problems that forced the temporary closure of the world-famous Boracay Island could be avoided, DENR Regional Director Crizaldy Barcelo said.
The result of their monitoring would be disclosed during their scheduled May 3 meeting.
The DENR regional director, in particular, cited the case of the Cuatro Islas, which is a protected area but is now being promoted as a tourist attraction.
The four islets, located in between the towns of Hindang and Inopacan, both in Leyte, are inhabited by more than 1,000 people which could result to a possible environmental degradation.
“This is a matter of IEC (information education campaign).We need to inform the occupants on the existing laws, rules and regulations. On the part of the LGU, maybe they are not yet fully aware of the regulations in our protected areas,” Barcelo said.
Cuatro Islas is composed of Apid, Digyo and Mahaba in Inopacan town and Himokilan in Hindang town.
It was learned from Barcelo that a core shelter project is to be undertaken by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Apid which is in violation under the rules of Protected Area Management Board being a protected area.
“This is an opportune time to conduct series of IECs for them to be aware of what are the dos and don’ts in protected areas so that the mistakes that happened in Boracay will not be happening in their areas,” Barcelo added.
President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered for the closure of Boracay, describing it as a ‘cesspool’ due environmental problems.
The closure of the famed tourist attracted started on Thursday (April 26) as part of the campaign to rehabilitate it.
Barcelo said that close to 70,000 people are believed to be inhabiting various protected areas in the region.
The other protected areas are Mahagnao Volcano Natural Park, Lake Danao Natural Park, Samar Island Natural Park, Calbayog Pan-as Hayiban Protected Landscape, Guiuan Marine Protected Landscape and Seascape and the Biri Larosa Protected Landscape and Seascape.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)