TACLOBAN CITY-The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) has opened its field service extension office in Palo, Leyte.

Undersecretary Reynaldo Mapagu, PVAO administrator, said that the opening of their extension office in Palo will further strengthen their delivery of services, especially to the veterans and their kin.

“This new facility shall serve as a hub through which we deliver the very best service to our Filipino veterans for they deserve nothing less. I enjoin Pangkat Pvao to live up to this enhanced facility and take our veteran services to the next level,” he said.
The PVAO has its office in this city.

The new building is dedicated to Col. Ruperto Kangleon who led the 3,500-strong guerilla fighters during the historic Leyte Gulf Landings on October 20, 1944.

A bas-relief depicting gallantry of Kangleon will also soon be installed at the site.
The new building will be used to house the personnel who assists in the validation process, monitoring, coordination, and other services for the veterans and pensioners residing in the region.

“With the office’s new facilities, PVAO clients can now be accommodated to a much more presentable, spacious, and secured place where they can be safely assisted for their needs and concerns,” Mapagu said.

Meanwhile, Leyte Governor Carlos Jericho Petilla hoped the new facility could provide more efficient services to the veterans.
(RONALD O. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY– The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has started installing solar-powered road studs to illuminate major highways along the Palo-Carigara-Ormoc road.

The installation of the road studs, aside from increasing road visibility, will also reduce incidents that usually occur at night, Engr. Leo Edward Oppura, head of the DPWH- Leyte Second District Engineering Office (L2DEO), said.

The putting of road studs in the area identified has a project cost of P19.59 million sourced from the Special Road Fund—Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC).

The studs, in particular, will be placed along the municipalities of Jaro, Carigara, and Capoocan stretching on the Palo-Carigara-Ormoc road sections.

With a reported work accomplishment of 79.13 percent, these devices will illuminate the highway to guide vehicles, increase road visibility for drivers, and ensuring safety, especially during inclement weather.

The solar pavement levelling marker stud is an internally illuminated device.
Solar studs are a good solution for both safe and sustainable infrastructure providing superior long-distance visibility of the road layout ahead.

The district office maintains 44.831 kilometers of the Palo-Carigara-Ormoc road network, traversing the municipalities of Jaro, Tunga, Barugo, Carigara, and Capoocan all in Leyte.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

ORMOC CITY-A village chairman from Caibiran in Biliran was arrested by the local police and personnel from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in a joint intel-driven operation at 1:05 pm on Oct. 26.

Caibiran town police chief, Lt. Vic Viros, identified the suspect as Abundio Masalihit, 68, barangay chairman of Bariis of the said town.

The accused was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest dated October 25, 2022 issued by Judge Constantino Esber, presiding judge of Branch 37, Caibiran for violation of RA 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt practices Act.

He, however, was able to post bail of P45, 000 for his temporary liberty. (ROBERT DEJON)

CATARMAN, Northern Samar– The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has recently announced that the municipalities of Gamay, Catubig, Pambujan, and San Roque, all this province, qualified to receive the seal of child-friendly local governance.

This recognition received by the four municipalities was welcomed by Governor Edwin Ongchuan as he extended his congratulations to their officials and the people for passing the child-friendly local governance audit (CFLGA).

The governor said that these local government units were able to accomplish the feat because of their ‘strong partnership’ with their partner implementers like government agencies and non-government organizations.

The CFLGA is an annual mandatory audit that evaluates the effectiveness of LGUs in implementing programs and initiatives that contribute to the overall welfare of children, from planning, budgeting, legislation, and delivery of services, to assure that children enjoy their rights categorized as survival, development, protection, and participation.
(EUGENE M. ENANO)

TACLOBAN CITY– Major General Camilo Ligayo, the commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Division, claimed that the region is doing ‘fairly well’ on the implementation of the anti-insurgency program of the government.

Ligayo made this claim during a meeting attended by National Security Sec. Clarita Carlos at the regional headquarters of the Philippine National Police in Palo, Leyte on October 26.
“Although we haven’t had developed a standard formula to assess the transformation, we can only give a light assessment. We are progressing in the development and hopefully, we can take off from the very good achievement of the ELCAC program,” he said.

“We say that we did fairly because we have a good performance of the program in the region,” Ligayo added.

He, however, admitted that they still have to do better to make the implementation of the anti-insurgency program is contained under the National Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).

For her part, Imelda Bonifacio, who is the regional manager of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process, said that the high number of rebels deciding to surrender to the folds of the law, construction of various infrastructure projects in areas previously considered to be under the influence of the communist armed group, the New People’s Army (NPA), among others, are indications that the government is winning the battle.

Meanwhile, Sec. Carlos called on the media to help in the dissemination of the development in the society thru the ELCAC program.

She ordered the task force to make media as part of the process by sharing facts and information regarding the program.

Carlos came to Tacloban for a meeting with the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist armed Conflict for assessment and continuous funding for the program, especially the Support to Barangay Development Program (SBDP).

The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict is a task force organized during the administration of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte aims to end the country’s insurgency problem through the ‘whole-of-nation approach.’
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)