Tacloban-Manila and Tacloban-Clark flights

By: JOEY A. GABIETA

TACLOBAN CITY- It would be a 50-50 rerouting scheme. This was the agreement arrived between Transportation Sec. Arthur Tugade and Sec. Michael Lloyd Dino, residential assistant for the Visayas, regarding the rerouting of some Tacloban-Manila flights to Clark International Airport.  The 50-50 rerouting scheme will also apply to other major airports in the Visayas like in Cebu, Iloilo and Bacolod.  “This fifty-fifty rerouting scheme would mean to reroute fifty percent of all Visayas area flights to Clark International Airport and the remaining fifty percent be allowed to continue landing at the Manila International Airport,” Dino said in his communication to President Duterte dated August 15. Dino also proposed if this rerouting scheme should be implemented, airline companies that would service the Tacloban-Clark route should provide discount to the passengers. However, i’s unclear yet as to when this rerouting scheme would be implemented. The plan to reroute the Tacloban-Manila flights to Clark International Airport was met with strong opposition from air travellers from the region as well as business groups and officials.

Congressmen from the region made their personal appeal to Sec. Tugade not to push through with the plan saying it would result to inconvenience of the passengers. Leyte Rep. Yedda Romualdez (1st district) said that other flights should also be diverted to the Clark International Airport. “The Tacloban Airport will do its part to address the worsening air traffic congestion in Metro Manila. We are very glad to contribute but we should also take the option of diverting some of the flights from Cebu and Davao to Clark in Pampanga to strike a balance and achieve a successful decongestion program without jeopardizing the business and tourism industry of a particular province and region,” Romualdez said in a press statement. For his part, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone asked the Department of Transportation| (DOTr) to consult first the affected passengers and other stakeholders on this planned rerouting scheme.

“This plan of the DOTr is anti-poor and anti-people. This will aggravate the poor condition of Eastern Visayas,” he said. The rerouting scheme was announced by Sec. Tugade last August 10 saying it was the proposal made by the airline companies. The business sector slammed this proposal saying it would affect the recovery efforts of the region still reeling from the devastation caused by supertyphoon “Yolanda.” The Tacloban-Manila flight takes about an hour and additional 20 minutes if the route would involve the Clark International Airport in Mabalacat, Pampanga. And it would take another four hours to reach Manila.

A personnel from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP)-Tacloban, which supervises the operation of the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport, said that they have no idea on this planned rerouting. “We have not yet received any advisory pertaining this planned rerouting scheme,” the personnel, who asked not to be identified for not being authorized, said.  The Tacloban DZR Airport is being serviced by three major carries, the Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Air Asia. Currently, it has 15 daily flights for Cebu and Manila. Last year, about 1.14 million passengers used the facility and carried 568,545 tons of various cargos.

CEBU CITY- Rainbow Rights Inc., together with Outrage and the US Embassy launched Pink Ink training in a move to help journalists be more sensitive to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, and discuss the challenges faced in reporting LGBT issues, news and information.
Rainbow Rights Inc. brought its Pink Ink advocacy to the Visayas area where media practitioners from Tacloban, Bacolod, Iloilo and Cebu attended the forum held in Cebu last August 13.
The occasion aimed to empower professional media practitioners to deal with LGBT issues.
Pink Ink is in line with the #HateWatchPH, which aims to document LGBT-related hate crimes happening in the Philippines; to empower LGBT people to report, and/or do something when such crimes happen; and to form partnerships with like-minded organizations to eradicate LGBT-related hate crimes.
Michael David Tan, publishing editor of Outrage Magazine, who was among the speaker during the training said, it is still a long way towards empowering the media to appropriately report on LGBT issues.
He cited on the case of Jennifer Laude where she is referred to as Jeffrey Laude, the victim’s real name.
But in several news reports, the victim was always referred in the masculine pronoun.
Tan claims it was disrespectful to Laude’s true self-identification when he was still alive.
Also present during the training was couple Aiza Seguerra and Liza Dino.
The former child star, who has declared himself as a transman, said self-identification among lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender is very important.
“We cannot make people accept us, being us, if we ourselves haven’t found our self-identity,” Seguerra said.
He, together with Liza, conducted the sexual orientation and gender identification and expression (SOGIE) for the media practitioners who attended the one-day forum.
The SOGIE 101 was aimed to make the media practitioners better understand the LGBT community in understanding concepts of gender, its biological dichotomy as well as gender expression.
Meanwhile, Pink Ink is also eyed to get mainstream media involved via consultations with editorial policy makers.
This is supported by the development of a stylebook that mainstream journalists may be able to use when covering LGBT-related issues.
“We are hoping that through Pink Ink, we could somehow effect changes, and strengthen our ranks in fighting for equal rights for LGBT Filipinos,” Tan said. (AHLETTE C.REYES)

12 years after the commission of the offense

TACLOBAN CITY- Five officials of the municipal government of Hinunangan in Southern Leyte were slapped with one month suspension without pay by the Office of the Ombudsman for the commission of a crime 12 years ago. The suspension of the officials, municipal budget officer Jocelyn Reytas, municipal engineer Armando Notarte, municipal planning and development officer Alenita Engcoy, municipal accountant Maria Linda Dator and foreman Adelaido Odilao, Jr., were found guilty of simple misconduct by the anti- graft court. The suspension of the local officials stemmed from the alleged anomalous procurement of a road grader worth P1.76 million in 2004.
According to the anti-graft court, the respondents deliberately violated the law on procurement, which prohibits specifying any brand names, when they prepared procurement documents.

The respondents reportedly specified that the municipal government bought a Mitsubishi model LG-2H for the road grader. “By doing so, respondents did not just unduly restrict the number of establishments that could have participated in the bidding, they further restricted the procurement of the road grader only to the establishments who can supply the specific model indicated in the procurement documents,” the Ombudsman said. Also included in the complaint was former member of the Sangguniang Bayan, Veronico Adlao. In the event that the penalty could no longer be enforced, it shall be converted to a fine equivalent to respondent’s one month salary, the Ombudsman said. (MEL CASPE)

TACLOBAN CITY-Farmers in Eastern Visayas must have realized the importance of crop insurance after the devastation caused by supertyphoon “Yolanda” as more farmers are availing of government crop insurance. Data gathered from the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation(PCIC) regional office shows a huge increase in the number of farmers who have filed for indemnity for loss of crops before Yolanda and immediately after compared to last and current year. Records of PCIC-8 office shows 12,981 claims for loss have already been filed for the first semester of the current year. This is already higher than the 12,915 claims filed for the entire 2015. In 2013, only 4,234 farmers claimed for loss of crops and 4,797 in 2014. Indemnity paid to farmers has also shown a steady increase for the last three years- P18.89 million in 2013, P52.37 million in 2014, P55.19 million in 2015. And for the first semester of the year, its P64.93 million. Rice remains the top product among the seven insurance lines which also include corn, high-value commercial crops, livestock, fishery, non-crop agricultural asset and term insurance packages. Figures for this year show that of the 12,981 claims that were filed, 12,362 were for rice, 422 for high value crops, 141 for corn, 49 for livestock, and four term insurance packages. No claims were made for non-crop and fisheries. “Crop insurance is very important in building back and improving the productivity of our farmers,” says Dominico Digamon, PCIC regional manager.
“Farmers will be more motivated to plant if they know that they will at least recoup their investment in times of calamities. It boosts farmers’ resilience from climate change,” he added.