ORMOC CITY-City Mayor Richard “Goma” Gomez welcome the participants of the 25th Visayas Area Business Conference held in the city for the first time on Thursday (Sept. 15).
“This event is good for the city. It will boost the interest of business locators to do business here in the city and improve the arrival of tourists,” Gomez said.
The city mayor said the city extended financial assistance of P500,000 for the activity aside from letting the organizers use the city facilities like the astrodome and the public plaza for the agricultural fair.
Opening the two-day conference was the technology transfer day of the Department of Science and Technology held on Wednesday (Sept.14) at the astrodome.
The mayor expressed his confidence that more businesses will come in after the business conference which attracted 500 participants from Regions VI (Western Visayas), VII (Central Visayas) and VIII (Eastern Visayas).
He told the press that a hypermarket of SM will have its ground-breaking on September 24.
Other business giants are coming like the Ayala in partnership with Metro Gaisano, Robinson’s Mall, Max’s Group of Companies, among others.
Asked if his star power has something to do with businesses flocking to the city, Gomez answered in the positive.
Gomez is one of the country’s most popular movie actors and television stars while his wife, Rep. Lucy Torres also made a short stint in show business aside from being a commercial model.
Long before he became the mayor, Gomez said that he and his wife already had initial talks with the Ayala officials and they just waited until he became the mayor.
He opined that his administration is easy to deal with as long as it’s a legal business and he admonished his employees not to accept “kotong” (bribe) from these companies.
The Ayala Group of Companies is interested in the public market area while the SM-Ormoc will be at the City autobus compound.
The just concluded business conference worked on the theme “Change is Here” include topics for the plenary sessions “One Visayas: Everything Under the Sun”; Empowering Businesses through Science and Technology; Visayan Power (Bizdak Power); Agriculture; Transformative land and Coastal Resource Management among other with powerful speakers. (VICKY C. ARNAIZ)

TACLOBAN CITY- Samar Governor Sharee Ann Tan supports the order of Police Director General Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa to dismantle the private armed groups in the province.
Tan said that she has been calling for the police to break down the PAGs in the province but only to receive a deafening silence.
“I am glad that finally the PNP will address our problem regarding the PAGs.We made similar request during the time of Sec. Sarmiento but there were no action taken. We hope this time will be different. We hope they will be arrested, especially those with warrant of arrests,” the governor said in a phone interview.
During his visit at the regional police headquarters at Cam Ruperto Kangleon in Palo town, de la Rosa issued Provincial Police Director S/Supt. Elmer Pelobello to dismantle the PAGs operating in Samar.
The call stemmed from the request of Calbayog City Mayor Ronald Aquino as he claimed that the PAGs were responsible in the spate of killing incidents in his city recently, some involving barangay officials.
Gov. Tan said that with no less than the order issued by de la Rosa, she is confident that finally, PAGs in the province would be busted.
The presence of PAGs in Samar, particularly in Calbayog and nearby towns, has often been cited for the area to be declared as concerned area during elections.
Series of killing incidents in Calbayog were attributed to PAGs.
Tan said that her family, who counts Rep. Mila Tan and brother Vice Governor Stephen James Tan, does not control or maintain any PAGs.
“We have been calling for their dismantling. But instead of heeding our call, the police force in Calbayog were sacked and replaced,” the governor said.
She also said that based on the information that reached her, some of the killing incidents in Calbayog were not “politically related” as claimed by some but were plain cases of robbery. (JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Philippine Statistics Authority – RSSO 8 created a dedicated priority lane for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) that has started its operation last September 5, 2016.
This is the PSA’s alternative action program in support to the One Stop Center for OFWs of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
OFWs may now file and secure copies of their civil registry documents (birth, marriage, death and CENOMAR) without need to wait in the long queue of the regular applicants.
President Rodrigo Duterte has earlier issued a directive making it easier for OFWs to avail the services of the government.
OFWs with confirmed job offers or existing valid contracts can avail of the priority lane. They only need to present to the Care Officer the duty filled-up application form together with their verification slip or certification from OWWA/POEA.
The PSA would like to remind all clients, including the OFWs, that issuance of certificate of live birth is subject to the confidentiality clause of PD 603 (Child and Youth Welfare Code).
If the requester is not any of the following: a) document owner; b) parent; c) spouse; d) direct descendant; e) legal guardian/institution in-charge (if minor), authorization letter and valid ID of the document owner together with the valid ID of the requester are required.
The Tacloban City Census Serbilis Outlet located at Congressman Mate Avenue, Barangay Abucay, Tacloban City is open from Monday to Friday, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Cut-off time for payment is at 4:00 PM.
For inquiries and further information, please contact our office with numbers (053) 530-0939 or (053) 321-5153 or (63) 917-862-6695, and email addresspsa_reg8@yahoo.com.(PR)