SAN JOSE, Northern Samar – The town’s evacuation center funded by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) will become a functional structure.
Thus said Mayor Clarence Dato who said that the two-storey facility will house the municipal government’s disaster risk reduction management office, municipal social welfare and development office, and a warehouse.
Dato said they need to make the building functional considering that it’s not every day that it would be occupied by evacuees as this could only be used during a disaster situation.
“This will address the needs of our town to have facility that will house our responders together with equipment and goods needed by evacuees,” the town mayor said.
Dato said that since they now have a structure where they can store relief goods, they could now ask from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for stock of relief supplies for the pre-positioning of goods.
The evacuation center, which can accommodate around 100 evacuees, was built by the DILG through its Local Government Support Fund- Assistance to Municipalities Program in the amount of P10.96 million.
Under the said program, municipalities are able to access government support funds that would help them implement as well as subsidize projects identified in their Local Development Investment Plans (LDIP) given that they are compliant with the requirements of the seal of good financial housekeeping, local development council functionality and public financial management system as requirement for fund access and allocation.
“We are very thankful to the DILG for being sensitive to the needs of every municipalities. This facility will make us ready whenever there is an impending disaster and this will help us in institutionalizing our disaster risk reduction and management office,” Mayor Dato said.
Dato added that the residents of the town, spread on its 16 villages, have a high level of awareness especially those living along areas identified as prone or susceptible to disasters.
“We are not only prepared for typhoons but we will also conducts regular earthquake drill,” Mayor Dato said.
Aside from the municipal level, seminar on disaster risk reduction is also conducted in the barangay level for the officials in the barangays to be able to formulate their barangay disaster risk reduction and management plans.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

CATBALOGAN CITY – Mayor Dexter Uy is confident that they will be able to clear major roads in this city before the deadline set by the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Mayor Uy said that he is thankful that all residents of the city are supporting the clearing operations, adding that there were even owners of houses or establishments affected by the campaign voluntarily cleared the encroachment.
“Though a deadline was set, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we will stop, the clearing operations will continue up to the secondary roads within the city” Mayor Uy said.
The city mayor added that the clearing operations will be enforced as ordered by the DILG.
It was learned that even the business establishment owned by the family of Uy was affected by the clearing operations.
Although the city government is strict in implementing the order to reclaim all city roads from encroachment, Mayor Uy said that he is glad that no one is complaining against the operations.
“It is an order from the President, maybe that’s the reason why no one is complaining,” he said.
Uy said that they hope to reach 90 percent of cleared roads before the month will be over.
The clearing operations in the city is being spearheaded by the City Engineering Office together with village officials.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said that there is no extension to the 60 days deadline set by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte on this campaign to clear all roads from encroachments.
Sec. Año said that the DILG will review the LGUs accomplishment after the 60-day deadline and those who will fail to comply the President’s order will be penalized. The deadline is to end this Sept.29.
Mayor Uy said that the clearing operations in the city started when he assumed the post as the city’s chief executive but some residents asked him to temporary halt until after the August fiesta of the city.
Mayor Uy added that for the street vendors affected by the clearing operations, he has sought the help of the provincial government of Samar through Vice Governor Michael Tan to identify an area where they can relocate the vendors.
One of the identified relocation area for the street vendors is the along the Antiao River.
For the ambulant vendors, they are allowed to stay in one area for 2-hours only after that they have to leave to another place.
“We also have to understand their situation because they have to earn for their families,” Mayor Uy said.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- Some 36,312 real properties in this city will be reassessed of its value by the city government according to local laws and the Bureau of Local Government Finance Memorandum Circular No. 111-2013.
The City Assessor’s Office (CAO) has reported that it started the reassessment of real properties in this city last September 10.
Engineer Danilo Demillo, CAO officer-in-charge, in an interview over ‘Sumat Tacloban’, the radio program of the City Information Office, said that the real property inventory operation started last Sept.9.
Demillo said that the city will begin reassessing the property values of 36,312 residential real properties; that includes 32,925 residential units, 3,340 business units, and 47 industrial buildings.
The last time the office conducted a reassessment of properties in the city was in 2016.
The field assessments are expected to be completed in six months.
The official clarified that the real property assessment is performed to verify and determine as to whether or not all real properties in the City are properly listed in the assessment roll, eliminate from the records taxable properties which have been destroyed or incurred a permanent loss of value, and purge the rolls of double assessment entries.
This is to ensure that property owners pay the accurate portion of property taxes to the City Government, he added.
Two teams have been assigned to assess in coordination with barangay officials.
(HENRY JAMES ROCA/CIO)

MAASIN CITY- More than 3,000 crown-of-thorns (COTs), specie of starfish, were seen in the waters of Malitbog town alone, according to Aileen Estrera, member of the province’s Sangguniang Panlalawigan, citing a recent survey conducted by the Southern Leyte State University (SLSU).
During the 3rd Quarterly Meeting of the Provincial Disaster Risk reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) held in this city on September 9, Estrera has urged the PDRRM officer to recommend to the Sanggunian a COT outbreak in the province once all the municipalities with COT presence will be able to submit their list of barangays affected, after the said municipalities’ COT outbreak declaration.
“The normal COT in every hectare of corals is only one, but after the survey, it was found out that there are 25-30 COTs per hectare of corals,” Estrera, who is the committee chair on Environment Protection, disclosed.
As of this writing, the barangays of Kuwangon has 76 COTs; Iba – 40; Timba – 195; Abgao – 130 and the rest were seen in other areas, all in the municipality of Malitbog.
Other municipalities with crown-of-thorns based on the survey include Limasawa, Liloan, Padre Burgos and Libagon, Estrera said.
“In every single COT, it produces 60 million eggs, though only 1 percent will survive but 1 percent of 60 million is already 600,000,” Estrera said.
Once a crown-of-thorn prey on corals, the affected corals will die, she said, adding that this should be addressed immediately.
Southern Leyte is considered as one with the best dive sites in the country where coral reefs and best marine sites are promoted. (LDL/RGC/PIA-8, Southern Leyte)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Eastern Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC) is pushing for the establishment of two state-run agencies to supervise housing projects in the region.
The RDC is still waiting for the central government’s response on the resolutions requesting for the establishment of regional offices of Housing Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) and Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC).
The region’s highest policy-making body sent the resolutions approved on June 21, 2019, to the Office of the President and to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.
National Economic and Development Authority regional director Meylene Rosales, the RDC’s vice-chairperson, said on Friday they are upbeat on the positive response of the government to this request.
The RDC pushed for setting up of these two offices to eliminate corruption in the implementation of community-based housing projects and fast-track the issuances of clearances and licenses for housing activities.
“There was an issue raised on the alleged irregular collection of fees from the beneficiaries of the government’s permanent housing project implemented through SHFC. The major factor behind this was the absence of their field office here in the region to monitor projects,” Rosales said in a phone interview.
Early this year, hundreds of housing beneficiaries have filed cases against a community housing organizer and her accomplices for overpricing of land acquisition, non-remittance of payments, and illegal collection of fees from recipients housing projects funded by SHFC.
Meanwhile, the absence of HLURB regional office has slowed down the pace of housing projects due to the lack of personnel and absence of authority to monitor and resolve issues and approve plans and applications for clearances and licenses.
“RDC members agreed that the presence of a fully staffed HLURB and SHFC offices in the region is important to regulate and monitor the implementation of remaining Yolanda resettlement projects and other ongoing and future housing projects,” Rosales said.
The HLURB regional office in this city has stopped its operation in 2010 after the merger of two field offices in Cebu and Tacloban due to the implementation of the Government Rationalization Program.
The agency has been maintaining a desk at the Government Service Insurance System office in this city to answer public queries. All transactions from the region have to go through the regional office in Cebu City.
The HLURB is the primary agency mandated to provide technical assistance in the preparation, review, and approval of Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) of local government units.
All development and constructions on land of towns and cities without the CLUP will have to get the approval of the HLURB office in Cebu.
As of 2018, only 85 percent of the region’s 143 towns and cities have approved CLUPs.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)