TACLOBAN CITY-Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the local government of Tacloban under Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez has decided to support only the Church activities as the city celebrate this year’s 131st fiesta celebration.
According to l City Tourism Operations (CTOO) Officer-in-Charge, Annabelle Bardot Atillo, Mayor Romualdez has ordered the cancellation of activities related to the city’s fiesta such as the Sangyaw Parade of Lights, concerts and other social gatherings due to COVID-19 situation here in the city. However, the mayor expressed his support for religious activities, she said.
On Monday,( June 29), a vigil mass will be celebrated by Bishop Filomeno Bactol, at the Sto. Niño Parish this 5:00 pm. After this, a motorcade followed at 6:30 p.m wherein Taclobanons were urged to put up an altar with Sto. Niño images and other religious articles in front of their houses for the blessing.
Today, June 30 (Feast Day), Palo Archbishop John Du and Naval Bishop Rex Ramirez will respectively officiate the Pontifical Mass at 9:30 A.M and 6:00 pm.
Apart from that, a fluvial procession will be done at 2:00 pm in Tacloban City Port and at 4:00 pm on the same day, a motorcade of the three Sr. Sto. Niño images such as the El Teniente, El Capitan, and El Sargento will be conducted around the city, as the CTOO prepared the pick-up floats to be used on the said activity.
To ensure that the precautionary measures will be observed, Rizal Rizal will serve as an extension venue for all the Holy Masses. “Tents, chairs as well as audiovisual system are in place so that churchgoers can participate in the religious celebration, “ Atillo said.
This year’s fiesta celebration carries the theme: “ Steadfast Faith in Sr. Sto Niño: Our Source of Hope and Protection Amid Pandemic.” (K.E. Napala/CIO)
TACLOBAN CITY- The entire police force of a town in Samar province are under quarantine after they were exposed to an inmate who was confirmed to have the coronavirus.
Police Lt. Reynato Gerona, police chief of Zumarraga town, said that he and his 16 subordinates and four non-uniformed personnel, are now at their station for a quarantine.
Last June 14, he and his four men went to Caloocan City to pick up a 50-year old man, suspected for a rape charge last year, arrested by the elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the said city.
The suspect obtained a medical certificate from the Caloocan Medical Center that he was physically fit, Gerona said, adding that it did not state whether he was positive of the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).
On June 17, as part of the procedure, the suspect was swabbed and on June 24, the result was released which turned out to be positive.
“We had our rapid test last June 16 which turned out to be negative and we are scheduled for our swab test this week. But we are all okay. We are not showing any of the symptoms. Hopefully, the result would turn out to be negative,” Gerona, in a phone interview, said.
The inmate who is positive of COVID-19, is also not showing any symptoms, the town police chief, adding that every now and then, his cell is being disinfected.
Gerona said that despite that they are all in quarantine, the peace and order of the town is not affected.
“We have asked help from our barangay tanods to help us maintain our peace and order. So far, everything’s okay here in Zumarraga. We are peaceful here,” he said.
the town police chief added that they are thankful for the total support being extended to them by Mayor Myrna Tan.
Mayor Tan earlier placed the town poblacion under enhanced community quarantine as part of the contact tracing and ensure that the virus would not spread in the town of close to 17,000 people.
The town has a total of four COVID-19 confirmed cases.
Mayor Tan also issued an appeal to the residents who want to return to the town to defer it for the meantime.
“Please don’t take it as we are denying your right to return here in Zumarraga. This is for the good of the majority of our people here,” the town mayor said.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
TACLOBAN CITY- Sheila Camposano,34 and a mother of two children, worked as a waitress in one of the restaurants here in the city.
But after only working for less than five months, she lost her job last March, the time the quarantine period started due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“The restaurant stopped its operation which resulted for us workers to lose our jobs. I am just an ordinary food server earning less than P200 a day. But now, I have no job and I have been looking around with no positive result at all,” she said.
She said that she even went to house-to-house just to find work as a house help.
Camposano is just one of the more than 250,000 people in the region who have lost their employment related to the COVID-19 pandemic, report the regional office of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
According to the PSA, as of April of this year, about 251,000 people in Eastern Visayas were rendered unemployment amid the COVID-19 pandemic which saw several business establishments either totally closing or limiting their operations which resulted to job losses.
The PSA said that the number of people who lost their work represents a whopping 14.3 unemployment rate of the region which higher by 10.3 percent compare to the same period of April,2019 or 4.0 percent.
This makes Eastern Visayas as the fifth region in the country to have posted a high unemployment rate during this time of pandemic.
Meantime, the underemployed or those employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job was estimated at 328,000 April 2020.
This figure translates to an underemployment rate of 21.8 percent, higher than the 18.6 percent recorded in the same period last year.
The region has about 1.7 million in the employment force in April of this year, PSA said.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
SENIOR SANTO NIÑO. Despite of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taclobanons and other devotees will continue to honor and venerate Senior Santo Niño. This year’s marks the 131st fiesta celebration of Tacloban City. (Photo by: RYE G. AYON)
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic
SENIOR SANTO NIÑO. Despite of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taclobanons and other devotees will continue to honor and venerate Senior Santo Niño. This year’s marks the 131st fiesta celebration of Tacloban City. (Photo by: RYE G. AYON)
BY: ROEL T. AMAZONA
TACLOBAN CITY- Amid the pandemic spawned by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Taclobanons will continue to honor and venerate the Child Jesus or Senior Santo Niño which will have His feast day today, June 30.
While several cultural activities have been cancelled due to public health concerns, the traditional religious activities would continue as has been strictly observed in the past.
Today marks the 131st fiesta celebration of the city’s annual fiesta.
No less than Archbishop John Du of the Archdiocese of Palo will lead the morning Pontifical Mass to be held at the Santo Niño Church, the seat where the centuries-old miraculous image of the Child Jesus can be found.
But due to the pandemic, instead of the usual over a thousand massgoers, only about 300 faithful would be allowed inside the church, Fr. Jan Ian Brylle Callera, one of the assisting priests of the Santo Niño Church.
He said that parishioners need not go to the church to hear the Pontifical Mass as this will be through livestreaming at 9:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Faithful can also attend the Mass at the Rizal Park, just across the Church, where speakers and video wall was set up with the health protocols to be strictly observed like wearing of face masks and social distancing.
But those who will attend will be ask to fill a form for contact tracing purposes.
Fr. Callera said that from the previous 200 to 300 boats that joins the fluvial procession, they limited the number to only five boats, where on one boat will carry the image of Sto. Niño while on the other boats are the prayer leaders and security.
“Each boat will only carry 50 percent of its capacity and those who will join are pre-identified by the parish,” he said.
After the fluvial procession, a motorcade procession will follow, a modification from the usual land procession activity which is practice in previous fiesta,” he added.
The church had earlier cancelled the traditional Balyuan Rites held every June 20, a tradition where the image of the Sto. Niño of Tacloban is ‘exchange’ with the image of Sto. Niño de Buscada of Basey town.
“Balyu-an” (or exchange) is a religious tradition that can be traced back to the time when Tacloban, then named Kankabatok was but a mere Sitio of Basey Town.
Kankabatok has grown into a prosperous settlement, that the Spanish Parish Priest of Basey arranged an exchange of Sto. Nino images.
Kankabatok received a bigger and more beautiful image while Buscada had a smaller image from Kankabatok. Every year, the local government units of Tacloban and Basey continue the ritual in celebration of their shared history and filial devotion to the Holy Child.
Tacloban City is the only locality that celebrates the feast day of Sto. Niño on June despite the church declaration of celebrating it every third Sunday of January.
Celebrating the feast day on every June 30 is a commemoration of its arrival on June 30, 1889 after the ship that carrying the image caught fire off the coast of Mindoro and Romblon on 1888.
Many claims that the arrival of the image of the Holy Child Jesus had stopped the cholera epidemic that hits residents of Tacloban and its nearby Basey town.
While Church activities continue with some changes, festival activities related to the Tacloban City fiesta like the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals and the Sangyaw Festival were suspended this year in compliance with the order prohibiting mass gathering in a large crowd like fiesta.
While Sangyaw Festival organizers did not create activities for the city fiesta, the organizers of Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals continue with some of its activities through online contest and livestreaming.
This includes contest on Sto. Niño Barangay and Home exhibit, Pintados Tiktok Festival, acrylic painting contest, poster contest and the search of Miss Teen and Miss Pintados 2020.
‘We decided to come up with these activities for residents in the city to have diversion. Most are worried due to Covid-19 specially that positive cases is increasing,” Eugene Tan, Pintados Festival president, said.
“Aside from following health protocols, this is also the time for us to strengthen our faith to him. All our activities are geared toward the celebration of his feast,” he added.
TACLOBAN CITY- Jan Joshua Inghoy of Barangay 62-A Sagkahan, eagerly received his P3,250 salary from Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa ating Displaced Worker (TUPAD) #Barangay Ko, Bahay Ko, or Tupad #BKBK, a jointly implemented program of the local government and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), on Wednesday, June 24 at the Tacloban City Hall.
Inghoy, who has been unemployed for four months, was among the 34 beneficiaries for the first batch of release and worked four hours for 10 days of disinfection and sanitation work of their dwellings and immediate vicinity.
“This program really helped us during this trying times, we need not only disinfect our houses but also participated in sanitizing our community to contain the spread of the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19),” the beneficiary explained.
According to Public Employment Service Office (PESO) Development Management Officer Katherine Peliño, the said program aimed to augment the income of the unemployed poor through short-term community work and temporary employment that can improve their living conditions.
“The displaced workers have been deployed since June 1, and their work ended last June 11,” she said.
Overall, a total of P487, 500 worth of wages was allocated for the 150 informal sector workers who have qualified from the TUPAD #BKBK program.
The second batch of beneficiaries is set to receive their salary on Friday, June 26, 2020, PESO reported. (TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)
TACLOBAN CITY- Taranganan’s youngest patient afflicted by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is fully recovering.
This was disclosed by Mayor Arnel Tan who commended the boy’ as ‘very courageous’ who was placed at the town’s isolation facility as part of the protocols.
“Our youngest COVID-19 patient, a 9-year old boy, is now fully recovering from the infection and is now out from the Municipal isolation facility and recently attended the community reintegration process,” the town mayor said.
Tan said that despite being the youngest among the patients, the boy was very courageous and well-disciplined in following necessary protocols that are being implemented inside the facility.
He never feared being isolated amidst his young age. Instead, he showed determination in fighting the disease until his full recovery, added Tan.
“Such very commendable attitude for a young one,” he added.
The town is the first area in the region to be declared by the Department of Health to have a local transmission of COVID-19 cases on April 27.
Tarangnan had its first two confirmed cases on April 7 involving personnel of the 10-bed Tarangnan Community Hospital who got the virus from their co-worker, a doctor from Calbayog City, who recently traveled to Metro Manila.
On April 28, Mayor Tan issued Executive Order 8 placing the entire town under total lockdown, restricting the movement of its over 25,000 people.
The lockdown took effect until June 15.
On June 16, 4 news cases were recorded from Tarangnan town with one positive repeat swab.
To date Tarangnan has 35 total number of COVID-19 cases, 6 active cases, 2 under-recovery facility and 27 total number of individuals being re –integrated to the community. (LIZBETH ANN A.ABELLA)
