BURAUEN, Leyte – Locals of this town are missing seeing a bird named after one of its barangays.
In particular, they are the residents of Barangay Kalaw, an upland village the forest-dwelling hornbill is named after.
The farming village, with a population of 450, is about 18 kilometers away from the town center.
“In the 1960s up to 1970s, there were many hornbills here. I was still young at that time, but I remember seeing them. They started to disappear in the 1980s,” recalled Kalaw village chief Noel Rellesiva, 59.
“It is sad to know that the people here, especially the young ones, were not able to see the actual hornbills. They can only be seen in books and online images,” he added.
Rellesiva said that hunting and widespread loss of habitat due to illegal logging, conversion of forest lands to agriculture area, and building of houses resulted in the bird’s disappearance.
“I am 33 years old now and ever since I was born, I did not remember seeing such kind of bird,” shared Jonadel Polancos, a resident of Brgy. Kalaw.
Carlito Tuballa, technical director of the Department Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said there are two major reasons why hornbills became extinct – population growth and destruction of their natural habitat.
“Every wildlife is sensitive and so are the hornbills. Every human intervention, they will immediately leave the area. In fact, in some violent communities, they are the ones causing it to flee. They hunt them that is why they get out from the place,” he explained.
He asked city folks not to keep hornbills as pets. He said that males of some hornbill species are known to feed their nesting mates. If one is captured, the entire family suffers.
The said species of large hornbills is endemic here in the Philippines. It has been often called “the clock of the mountains” because of its periodic noontime call.
Rellesiva recalled a story of a man who died and the locals were able to tell the police about the time of its death because they remembered the moment when hornbills made a sound.
Philippine Hornbill is classified as near threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list.
Republic Act No. 9147 or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act prohibits hunting of hornbills.
(MADELENE B. PEREZ/PNA)
‘Kalaw’ birds gone in Leyte’s village
P1,000 CHR budget means layoffs of its employees in EV
TACLOBAN CITY- Indeed the P1,000 budget allocated to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) by the House of Representatives sends them quiver.
Aside from weakening their regulatory functions and obligations, the defunding would mean separation from works of some of their employees, said CHR-8 Director Desiree Pontejos.
The Lower House had earlier slashed the proposed budget of the CHR of P678 million to just a measly P1,000.
The defunding by Congress to the CHR was mainly due to the commission, particularly its chair Chito Gascon, strong opposition on the anti-drug war campaign by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The commission claimed that the campaign is not only brutal but has risen to extrajudicial killings, involving even innocent people to include minors and children.
Pontejos said that his immediate fear on the reduction of the budget of their agency next year is possible layoff among its employees.
CHR in the region has about 27 rank and file employees.
It was learned from Pontejos that the CHR in the region operates on a monthly allocation of P300,000 which mostly goes to the personnel services like salaries of the employees.
“The fear is real. Emotionally, there’s a lot of uncertainty, uneasiness and all are worried about losing our jobs. It’s the way how we feel right now,” Pontejos said.
Pontejos added that the budget cut will weaken the agency to the point where it cannot fulfill its mandate and its other functions.
“It is clear that it could mean layoffs or closing the agency or a combination of the two,” he said.
He hopes that the solons would change their minds and initiate for the restoration of their original proposed budget of P678 million for next year.
Meantime, during her visit in Eastern Samar, Vice President Leni Robredo also expressed her sadness over the reduction of the CHR’s budget.
According to Robredo, the functions of the commission could not be undermined as it serves as the watchdog on the excesses and abuses of state agencies on human rights of the civilians.
“Of course we are not happy with the decision of the House (of Representatives). The Commission on Human Rights is a constitutionally-created body and we all know its history why it was created,” she said during an interview Thursday.
She, however, expressed her elation over the strong rebuke by the public on this decision of the Lower House.
Meanwhile, Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento of Samar’s first congressional district, expressed his opposition to this move by his colleagues.
”I am for the welfare of the employees, especially the rank and file employees of the CHR who are struggling to make their voices heard. And to ensure that every employees earns a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work,” Sarmiento said.
“This budget cut would really affect the vulnerable employees of CHR. Where will the commission gets its funding to pay the salaries of its employees. This will only increase hardship and poverty,” the solon said.
Sarmiento was not around when the House of Representatives, by a vote of 119 against 32, gave the CHR a P1,000 funding during their session held on September 12.
(JAZMIN BONIFACIO with reports JOEY A. GABIETA)
Over 45,500 students to receive P5 K ‘Yolanda’ funds in EV, says CHEd
TACLOBAN CITY- The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) in the region reported that 45,551 college students in the region are to benefit a cash grant worth P5,000.
The names of the beneficiaries were already forwarded to their respective colleges and universities in the region, said Gabino Petilos, in- charge of the student scholarship services of CHEd in the region.
The P5,000 is just a one-time assistance from the national government for students in areas hit by super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ in 2013.
Eastern Visayas is considered the hard-hit area due to the onslaught of Yolanda.
Petilos said that they are now preparing the payroll to be submitted to the schools in the region.
More than 60,000 slots were allotted to the region for the grant but it was only last August 10 this year when they were informed of this allotted number of recipients.
According to Petilos, the commission could have maximized the number if only they were informed earlier.
They have also informed the schools upon receiving the information but only few submitted additional lists, he added.
The commission requested the schools to submit the list of qualified students for the cash grant as early as February this year but only few of the HEIs heeded to this request, Petilos added.
The commission later extended the submission until June 27 this year and was again extended until the last week of July also this year.
Petilos also said that the release of the funds for the grant is still not certain as to when but assured that it will not reach until December this year.
The government has allocated P540 million out of residual money from Yolanda funds. (MARWAH JAILANI/LNU Student Intern)
31 barangays of Tacloban City declared as drug-free by PDEA
TACLOBAN CITY- About 31 barangays of this city have been declared as drug-free by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), representing 71 percent out of the city’s 138 villages.
The declaration was made by PDEA as the city government, under Mayor Cristina Romualdez, joined the observance of the nationwide crime prevention week.
Declared as drug-free barangays are Brgy. 57-Whitelane, Real, Leyeco; Brgy. 75-Coca-Cola; Brgy. 81- Marasbaras; Brgy. 82- Marasbaras; Brgy. 59-A – Sampaguita; Brgy. 50- Independencia, Real, Arellano; Brgy. 78 – Marasbaras Chapel; Brgy. 2 – Jones Ext. / Forestry; Brgy. 17- Gomez/Salazar; Brgy. 8 – T. Claudio; Brgy. 1 and 4- Libertad; Brgy. 44-A Quarry (EVSU); Brgy. 34 – Imelda/Real; Brgy. 19 – Burgos/ Rizal; Brgy. 24 – Sto. Nino/Imelda; Brgy. 23-A –Imelda/Del Pilar; Brgy. 26 – Gomez/Paterno; Brgy.12 – Palanog (GE); Brgy. 7, Del Pilar/Gomez St.; Brgy. 37-A – Palanog Resettlement; Brgy. 73 – PHHC (Mountain side); Brgy. 6-A – Sto. Nino Ext.; Brgy. 91- Abucay; Brgy. 110 – Utap; Brgy. 22 –Rizal Avenue; Brgy.18 – Gomez/Sto. Nino; Brgy. 21A – Burgos/Sto. Nino; Brgy. 66A – Anibong and Brgy. 38 covering Veteranos, Torres and Burgos streets.
Campaign against the proliferation of illegal drugs, notably methamphetamine or shabu, is being vigorously and relentlessly undertaken under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Mayor Romualdez is fully supporting this campaign of the President as she earlier declared that she want to see the entire city as drug-free by next year.
The relentless campaign is bearing fruits as the city’s crime rate has decreased dramatically.
(GAY B. GASPAY, TISAT/KANHURAW MEDIA TEAM)
VP Robredo visits 3 E. Samar towns
BALANGKAYAN, Eastern Samar –Vice President Leni Robredo visited three towns in Eastern Samar province Thursday (September 14) to turn-over projects and held dialogues with farmers and fisherfolks who are beneficiaries of the Angat Buhay Program of her office.
Angat Buhay is a poverty alleviation program conceptualized by Robredo to help depressed communities in the country in partnership with a private and non-government organization.
The towns visited by Robredo were Balangkayan, Hernani, and Salcedo, towns that were selected as pilot areas of the Angat Buhay Program.
The Vice President arrived past 8:00 am in Balangkayan town, her first stop where she was welcomed by Mayor Allan Contado.
Robredo turned over a multi-cab and a water filtration equipment during her visit held at the town’s gymnasium.
The multicab will serve as a school bus for the students at the Balangkayan National High School residing in the villages of Bangon, Cantubi, Casawan, Balogo, and Julag, the same areas that were recipients of the water filtration equipment.
Robredo also held a short dialogue with representatives of women, parents, teachers, students, and farmers of the town seeking assistance of their respective concerns to the Vice President.
She promised to help them by coordinating with concerned government agencies.
Robredo also visited the nearby town of Hernani where she led in the inauguration of the town new municipal building and held a dialogue with tourism stakeholders and fishermen at the Canhugas Nature Park, a tourism destination of the town.
She vowed to help promote the said tourist attraction of Hernani.
Robredo’s last stop was the town of Salcedo where she led in the groundbreaking of a two-classroom school building at the Salcedo National High School where she also met with representatives of a farmers’ group.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Skills training-cum-value formation center opens in Tacloban City
TACLOBAN CITY- A vocational and technical training building was formally opened in this city which its donors also describing it as a “life skills training facility.”
The two-story building, inaugurated on Wednesday (Sept.13) was donated by the Consuelo Foundation, which is part of its assistance to Tacloban City after it was battered by super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ in 2013, to a local based nongovernment organization, Streetlight Philippines, Inc(SPI).
SPI, run by Neva and her Norwegian husband Erlend Johannesen, deals with street children and out-of-school youths for the past 14 years now in Tacloban City.
The Consuelo Foundation, named after from Consuelo Zobel Alger and founded in 1988, was among the private sectors that extended assistance to Leyte and Samar when Yolanda pummeled Eastern Visayas.
And one of the beneficiaries of this new training center, located in Barangay Tagpuro which is around 13 kms north from the city proper, is Gladys, 22.
Gladys (whose family name is being withheld on request of the SPI) said that she is happy that she is one of the 56 scholar-beneficiaries of the training center.
She is enrolled in automotive, a work mostly associated with males.
“I just find it challenging and from what I heard, one can easily land a job in automotive as it is one of the in demands both here and abroad,” she said.
Gladys is the third in the brood of six siblings. Their father abandoned them WHEN she was just a baby. Her mother is jobless with her grandmother, on mother side, helping them on their daily needs.
She will train at the facility for six months.
Lawyer Carmela Andal-Castro, managing director of the Consuelo Foundation, said that the facility will not only provide their scholars needed technical and vocational skills ‘but skills for life.’
“In the center, will have continuous training skills among young adults and at risk youths, both vocational technical skills, and values which we call skills for life,” Andal-Castro said.
The facility offers automotive, engine repair and maintenance, welding, and refrigerator and air-conditioning repair.
On the aspect of ‘skills for life,’ the scholar-beneficiaries will be taught on value formation, work ethic, adolescent reformation, health, conflict resolution, leadership and civic engagement.
“We want to equip them with both soft skills and the technical skills to succeed and bring their respective communities and families on higher grounds,” she added.
Norwegian Ambassador Erik Forner, who graced the opening of the facility, expressed his ‘amazement’ to both SPI and Consuelo Foundation for coming up with the facility.
“We’re happy that both Consuelo Foundation has partnered with the Streetlight Philippine Inc. where they can even help more children out of the harms of the streets in Tacloban,” Forner said. (JOEY A. GABIETA/ROEL T. AMAZONA)