ORMOC CITY- A barangay official of this city was arrested by the members of the anti-narcotics group of the Ormoc City Police on Tuesday (March 28).
Nabbed was Josela Dumaguit, 57, and identified as the barangay chairwoman of District 4.
Aside from the 10 sachets of methamphetamine or shabu, police operatives also seized from the suspect a hand grenade and a 357 revolver with ammunition insider her house.
Dumaguit, said to be a level 2 high-value target, denied owning the seized items.
The raiding team, led by Chief Insp. Joseph Jeovel Young, was armed with a search warrant issued by Judge Girlie Borrel-Yu, presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court-Branch 35.
The village chair previously surrendered to the authorities during the height of Oplan Tokhang on July, 2017 but allegedly continued her illegal activity.
Her husband, Mario, was killed a few months ago during a police operation in an upland village where he established farming.
An inquest proceeding was prepared against her for violations of Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and illegal possession of explosives while waiting for confirmatory results from the regional crime laboratory of the seized items.
(ELVIE ROMAN ROA)

PALO, Leyte- The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Regional Office VIII welcomes Engr. Armando G. Estrella as its new Assistant Regional Director (ARD) in lieu of Engr. Virgilio C. Eduarte.
Assistant Director Armando G. Estrella was previously the ARD of Region V, Legazpi City, Albay.
He has been serving the department for 36 years starting as a civil engineering aide of the DPWH Design Team in 1974.
He rose from the ranks to become a project manager in 2002 of the DPWH Region IV-A which then he was promoted as Officer-In-Charge Assistant Regional Director (OIC-ARD) in August 2003 and became full-fledged ARD on September 7, 2005.
On March 10, 2014, he assumed the ARD position in Region V.
He attended various trainings and seminars like problem analysis and decision-making workshop conducted by the Career Executive Service Board in July 2007; disaster preparedness training program conducted by the Department of Interior and Local Government/European Commission in November 1996; budgeting procedures and techniques under the Budget Reform Decree conducted by the Ministry of Budget in 1978; and seminars given by the department like IT for Executives; Reorientation Course for ARDs; Total Quality Management for Executives; and contract preparation system, bidding and proposal.
He also attended the road maintenance-pavement management conducted by Denmark’s Ministry of Transport.
His rich experience and exemplary service were recognized by the department as he was awarded as a Model Employee of the DPWH Region IV-A.
He has been tapped as resource speaker of reorientation on road/bridge maintenance. He is affiliated with the Philippine Association of Technical Assistance Participants Incorporated.
In July 2001, he served the Philippine National Volunteers Service Coordination Agency-NEDA in screening applicants to the United Nations Volunteers Posts.
Assistant Director Estrella passed the Management Aptitude Test Battery in 2000 with an 81.30% rating. He earned his Masteral degree in Management from the Philippine Christian University (PCU) in 1997.
He obtained his Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering at the Far Eastern University (FEU) in 1976, passed the Civil Service Exam for Career Service the same year and Civil Engineering Board Exam in 1977.
ARD Estrella is from Bustos, Bulacan born on March 01, 1954. He is married to Welby Caperina Estrella and blessed with three children: Arvin, Aivee, and Andrei. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY- This city and four provinces in the region have been listed as among the priority areas in curbing stunting and wasting among children under the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2017-2022.
Catalino Dotollo, National Nutrition Council (NNC) regional coordinator, said the national government will step up interventions to address the irreversible impacts of stunting and wasting in the first 1,000 days of life.
The new PPAN has included Tacloban City and the provinces of Biliran, Leyte, Southern Leyte and Northern Samar as priority areas due to high incidence of stunting and wasting and their vulnerability to natural calamities, which adversely affects the nutritional status of children.
“These are the priority areas, but it does not mean that other cities and provinces are not included since there are still regular programs of the national and local governments,” Dotollo said.
The action plan aims to reduce wasting from seven percent in 2015 to negative five percent in 2022. Wasting or thinness indicates in most cases a recent and severe process of weight loss, which is often associated with acute starvation and severe disease.
The nutrition roadmap also seeks to reduce stunting from 33.4 percent to 21.4 percent in the next five years.
Stunted growth reflects a process of failure to reach linear growth potential as a result of suboptimal health and nutritional conditions.
“The consequence of stunting is irreversible. A child’s potential is not maximized if a child is stunted,” Dotollo said.
Tacloban, the regional capital, and the four provinces in the region are among the 38 priority areas in the country where local government units will be mobilized to achieve better nutritional outcomes.
“It will involve capacity building and mentoring of local government units (LGUs) on nutrition program management to transform them to self-propelling LGUs able to plan, implement, coordinate, and monitor and evaluate effective nutrition programs,” Dotollo said.
The PPAN 2017-2022 is an integral part of the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022. It is consistent with the Duterte administration’s 10-point Economic Agenda, the Health for All Agenda of the Department of Health, and the development pillars of Ambisyon Natin 2040. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO, PNA)

TACLOBAN CITY – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in the region is pushing for the establishment of a ‘Yolanda’ memorial center to preserve the memories of suffering and recovery from the monster typhoon that pummeled Eastern Visayas in 2013.
Officials from four national government agencies and the Tacloban city government will form a technical working group to come up with a proposal for the center.
Initially, the museum needs P50 million, but agencies will come up with more accurate estimates after the proposal’s completion within two months.
It will be constructed in Tacloban City, considered the ground zero of the world’s strongest typhoon to hit inland.
“It will be a site where people can go to learn about our experiences and how we recovered from the disaster,” Bonifacio Uy, NEDA regional director, said.
The proposed project will be patterned after a museum in Sendai, Japan, which features photographs and other items showing the damages sustained by the said city after it was hit by a massive tsunami in 2011 and its rebuilding effort.
NEDA, the agency tasked to monitor post-Yolanda recovery efforts, will lead in the drafting of the proposal.
Other members of the technical working group are the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Tourism, Office of the Civil Defense, and Tacloban city government.
Uy is lobbying for funding for the proposed museum under the remaining funds for the 2016 Yolanda Rehabilitation and Recovery Program (YRRP). The proposal will be submitted to the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council.
“As an alternative source of funds, we can also include the proposal in the 2018 budget of the Department of Tourism,” Uy added.
YRRP is the government’s blueprint to help Yolanda-hit communities recover from the country’s deadliest typhoon on record, which killed at least 6,300 people on Nov. 8, 2013. (SARWELL Q.MENIANO, PNA)

LIMASAWA, Southern Leyte- With the centennial celebration of the First Mass just five years away, Southern Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado is mulling of filing a bill making the historic event as a national holiday.
On Friday, Mercado led provincial and local officials on the 496th anniversary of the First Mass that marked the entry of Catholicism in the country.
“March 31 is a momentous event that should be celebrated by the whole country with a population that are faithful to the Roman Catholic Church,” he said.
At present, the First Mass celebration is considered as a provincial holiday.
Rep. Mercado, Gov. Damian Mercado, and town Mayor Nilo Petracorta led the officials in the holding of the 496th First Mass celebration amid downcast skies held at the Limasawa National Shrine.
An image of the Santo Nino de Cebu was brought from Maasin City, the provincial capital.
Limasawa was the second stop of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his men after docking in Homonhon Island off the town of Guiuan, Eastern Samar discovering the country in their journey to Moluccas, the “spice island”.
The first First Mass was officiated by Father Pedro de Valderrama at the shore of Limasawa, universally recognized as the first Catholic Mass held in the Orient.
After celebrating the mass in Limasawa, Magellan and his crew went to Cebu where he died at the Battle of Mactan.
Meantime, Mayor Petracorta said that this early, they are now preparing for the 100th year celebration of the historic event.
The centennial celebration will take place in 2021.
“It will be a big celebration,” the town mayor said.
Meantime, Bishop Precioso Cantillas of the Maasin Diocese, in his homily, renewed the strong opposition of the Church against death penalty approved by the House of Representatives.
“The First Mass tells us to protect life and communion with our community because this mass represents Jesus Christ that symbolizes giving of life through the Eucharist,” Cantillas said.
“As a Catholic country, we should live in protecting in life and have unity,” the Maasin bishop said.
Incidentally, Rep. Mercado was one of the congressmen who approved for the passage of the death penalty. (ROEL T. AMAZONA/VICKY C. ARNAIZ)