GANDARA, Samar- Lack of toilet among houses of this town is blamed why diseases due to poor hygiene are so common.
But thanks to the assistance of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through its Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Service (Kalahi-CIDSS), this problem is now being addressed.
Among the recipients of the Kalahi-CIDSS program is Barangay Tagnao, located along the national highway but is close to Gandara River.
Of the 273 households in the village, 138 households have no sanitary toilets, village chairman Virgilio Oliva said.
The barangay council had passed an ordinance prohibiting for the disposal of any kind of garbage at their village, the barangay chairman said.
The family of Catherine Manozo is one of the beneficiaries of the sanitary toilet project under Kalahi-CIDSS.
Manozo said that they are willing to share their toilet to families who do not have one.
“We’ve experienced not having a toilet. It’s very embarrassing to knock on someone’s door at night to ask permission if we can use their toilet,” she said.
With a toilet of their own, aside from guaranteeing hygiene, possible sexual exploitation among women could be avoided, Manozo added.
Gandara has 17 villages implementing Kalahi-CIDSS program.
Eleven 11 barangays are prioritizing water, sanitation and hygiene or WASH program, Juliet Abaratigue, DSWD area coordinator, said.
Abaratigue said that part of the program is the implementation of the zero open defecation or ZOD.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
DSWD steps in to help Samar town facing problem on lack of toilets
Police nabs 3 for sniffing ‘rugby’ at the city port
TACLOBAN CITY- Two women and a man were arrested by police authorities here for sniffing solvent at the city wharf.
Arrested by the police were Menard Manillo, 18 and a resident of Barangay 37; Genalyn Engracial, 18, jobless and a resident of Brgy.58, Sagkahan and Grace Leuterio, 20, single, who lives at Brgy. 83, San Jose district.
The three were caught in the act of using solvent, also known as “rugby” by police authorities at the old building of Maritime Police located within the city port complex at 10:10 pm last April 25.
A case for using and in possession of volatile substances was filed against the suspects who were detained at the lock-up facility of the Tacloban City Police Office.
(JOVY POMPAC, LSDE Student Intern)
Leyeco III named as country’s best electric cooperative of the year
TUNGA, Leyte – Leyte III Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Leyeco III), an electric cooperative based this town which is the smallest municipality in the province of Leyte, led the 121 electric cooperatives all over country as it was named as the “Electric Cooperative of the Year” during the 2017 National Electrification Administration (NEA)-EC LUMENS AWARDS ceremony last April 28 at the Big 8 Corporate Hotel in Tagum City.
Leyeco III, established and incorporated on October 30, 1975, made history being the first electric cooperative from the region to receive such distinction.
Leyeco III headed by its board president Cornelio Q. Brazil and general manager Allan Lamparaz Laniba, together with the rest of the board of directors, Officials of the Multi Sectoral Electrification Advisory Council (MSEAC) and LeCARES (League of Electric Consumers Advocates for Reforms and Empowerment of the Society), received the most prestigious award ever given to an electric cooperative.
“Electric cooperative of the year” award is given to an electric cooperative with an unprecedented record of exceptional performance for the year in all facets of operations and its continuing initiatives for improvements and innovations in rendering excellent service to its consumers.
Aside from being hailed as the “electric cooperative of the year,” Leyeco III also received special citations and certificates of appreciation from National Electrification Administration.
The power cooperative received special citations for being rated as AAA Electric Coop and for having a single digit systems loss for the year – On Grid EC.
Certificates of appreciation were also awarded to the Leyeco III for its active participation in the Task Force Kapatid during the onslaught of the typhoon ‘Lawin’ and typhoon ‘Nina.’
“We really did not expect to receive such high award as the ‘EC of the Year’ kasi, para sa amin, for as long as we give excellent service to our member-consumers, okay na kami. This award manifests our great hard work and genuine service to our member-consumer owners. We will not stop here.We will continue to give our 100% in the Rural Electrification Movement; for we aim to reach our vision of being the “top performing distribution utility in the Visayas by 2030,” general manager Laniba enthused. (PR)
Mayor says Higatangan summer fest a resounding success
TACLOBAN CITY – The first Higatangan summer festival was a big success in terms of attendance and fun according to Naval Mayor Gerard “Roger” Espina.
Among the many activities held last April 30 and May 1, were kayak competition, kite flying, ‘bangkarero’, body-building, romblon mat weaving, beach volleyball, henna tattoo, beach volleyball, concert at the beach and many more.
The mayor said that the said festival was for the people to come to Higatangan, a beautiful island of this town which boasts a long stretch of coral sandbar, awesome rock formations, lagoon, a cave near the shoreline, sunrise watching and a watch tower.
“This festival is a litmus test for our tourism and investment promotion in the municipality,” Espina said, adding that he was overwhelmed by the turnout of people coming to join and witness the sports festival on the island.
“As you can see, there are many local tourists and foreigners as well. I am happy with the support of the Coast Guard and the Philippine National police that augmented police security from nearby Cabucgayan town,” Espina said.
Espina added that they want to have a vibrant tourism industry in the municipality and for more investors to come which could generate more employment to the local people.
“We introduced a homestay here and they collect P150 per head. The village officials are enjoined to engage the community to help collect garbage after the two-day activity and every day,” the town mayor said.
Town councilor Eden Apolinar said that about 4,000 people showed up to see the two-day festival.
“We are overwhelmed. There are only eight big boats we prepared to carry people to the island which is 45 minutes from the port of Naval. Each boat can carry from 25-50 people depending on how big the boats are,” he said.
“The local government unit is happy to hold this activity. We are able tourists who are willing to spend here,” Apolinar said. (VICKY C. ARNAIZ)
Cuatro Islas now among EV’s cruise tourism destinations
HINDANG, Leyte- Four small islands located off the towns of Inopacan and this town have been included among the region’s destinations for cruise tourism.
These are the islands of Digyo, Apid, Mahaba part of Inopacan town and Himokilan, this town.
The three islands are collectively known as Cuatro Islas.
At present, the regional Department of Tourism has identified the historic island town of Limasawa, Southern Leyte; Kalanggaman in Palompon, Leyte, and Capul in Northern Samar as cruise destinations of the region .
“Cuatro Islas is ready for tourism because for the past few years every time we attend travel fairs, Cuatro Islas is one of the places with the most inquiries,” Rina Apostol of DOT-8, said.
A cruise ship is expected to arrive in the region this May with a visit to the Cuatro Islas included on its itinerary.
The islands’ pristine waters, white sand and being declared as protected areas are among their come-ons for tourists to come.
Of the four islands, Digyo is considered the smallest occupying 4.5 hectares but is the most popular among tourists.
Diving, snorkeling, and kayaking are the activities that can be done in the islands aside from swimming.
Apid, the second biggest, is the farthest island with boat makers and mat weavers among its residents.
Mahaba Island, the second biggest island, is named due to its elongated shape with majestic rock formations dotting it.
But its hidden treasure is a small lagoon about 10 minutes’ walk from the shoreline where rare species of small red shrimp are found.
There is also a cave on the island that is the haven for the furious nut-cracking coco crabs locally known as “tatus” a native crab locally known as “alikway”.
The endangered mangrove species locally called “bantolinao” are found abundantly on the island.
Himokilan is the biggest of the four with 48 hectares land area and is shaped like a large boat floating above blue waters.
It offers the best spot and trails for camping and mountain-trekking, exploring the cave and bats watching.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
4,000 jobs up for EV’s unemployed
TACLOBAN CITY- About 4,000 jobless people from the region are expected to join its workforce courtesy of a job fair coinciding the Labor Day celebration on May 1.
Exequiel Sarcauga, regional director of the Department of Labor (DOLE), said that unlike in previous job fairs held every Labor Day, the department is not putting up a target in so far as applicants hired on-the- spot.
“(Because) there are further tests being conducted by the employers to the applicants and if it’s an overseas work, the (prospective) employer is not around,” Sarcauga said, referring to reasons why the DOLE is not setting up ceiling as to the number of applicants hired on-the-spot during this year’s job fair.
DOLE had earlier put a 15 percent hired-on-the-spot out of the entire number of job applicants during job fairs on Labor Day.
But applicants are advised to bring with them the needed and required documents for them to be immediately considered for possible hiring, said DOLE assistant director Roy Buenafe.
This year’s regional Labor Day celebration will be held at the Leyte Academic Center in Palo town with Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III as the main guest.
Sarcauga said that about 32 employers, both local and overseas, are to attend this year’s job fair with about 4,000 jobs available.
The number of jobs available during the job fair, however, is not enough to address the huge number of people in the region who are actually out of work.
About 86,000 15 years old and above people in the region are jobless with about 1.8 million others considered to be employed.
It was learned from Sarcauga that the number of jobseekers in the region increases every year with new graduates, at the average of 6,000, looking for jobs.
But the labor regional chief said that while there is still a wide gap between the number of people looking for jobs and jobs available in the region, this is being addressed by the government through jobs fair like the one being held every Labor Day.
Sarcauga also said that under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, the issue on contractualization or better known as “endo” or end of contract is being addressed.
Since the policy has been enforced by the Duterte government, more than 1,000 contractual workers in the region have been granted regular employment by their respective employers, the DOLE-8 chief said.
“Hopefully we can improve it because it is not the result the President would like to hear from us,” Sarcauga said.
By: JOEY A. GABIETA
ARGIE GONGON, LSDE Student intern