CATARMAN, Northern Samar – An alleged top official of the New People’s Army (NPA) and this town’s former president of the Association of Barangay Chairmen (ABC) were arrested by operatives in an operation on July 13.
Arrested by police and soldiers operatives were Marieta Bartolo, 46, said to be a top official of the NPA operating in Northern Samar, and Ruth Figueroa, 56, former ABC president of the town.
Bartolo was said to be carrying the aliases of ‘Tawang’ and ‘Silang’ while Figueroa is the incumbent chairwoman of Barangay Zone 3 of the University of Eastern Philippines (UEP), former ABC president of the town.
Chief Inspector Rafael Tayaban, civil relations officer of the Northern Samar Police Provincial Office, said that the two were arrested at about 6 pm in Barangay Bankerojan, this town, on board a vehicle owned by Figueroa.
Also arrested were their companions identified as Emboy Loberiano, 21, single, resident of Brgy.Cal-igang; Danny Basiloy,35, single, resident of Brgy.UEP Zone 3 and Gil Mijares, resident of Brgy. Ipil-ipil, driver of the vehicle.
The operatives flagged down the vehicle where the suspects and their companions were on board to effect the warrants issued by local courts against Bartolo.
However, instead of heeding the authorities, the driver of the vehicle did not stop which resulted for them to hit the tires of the vehicle, Tayaban said.
The warrants issued by different local courts against the alleged top NPA leader involved for murder, double murder, and frustrated murder.
Bartolo and her companions were arrested by joint elements of the Catarman Police Station, the Northern Samar Police Provincial Investigation Bureau (NSPIB), the Regional Intelligence Unit 8 (RIU8) and the 803rd Brigade Philippine Army.
Captain Ryan Velez, civil military officer of the 803rd Infantry Brigade, said that Bartolo had been under surveillance by the police and the Philippine Army for a long time before they executed her arrest.
“This (arrest) is the product of long planning and surveillance… we received information that she was about to travel so we conducted the apprehension.” Velez said.
The Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) recovered six firearms and cash worth P330,000; bags of bread and some personal belongings.
Velez said they will file charges for illegal possession of firearms against Bartolo and all her companions.
Except for Figueroa who was brought to the Northern Samar Provincial Hospital after she felt ill while being investigated inside the Northern Samar Police Provincial Office in Camp Carlos Delgado, all the suspects are now detained at the local up cell of the provincial PNP headquarters.
(RACHEL V. ARNAIZ)

TACLOBAN CITY- A top official of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) allayed fears of the public that the country’s main health insurer company is facing financial problems.
Renato Limsiaco Jr., officer-in-charge as senior vice president for fund management sector, said that PhilHealth remains to be ‘liquid’ with more than enough cash position to pay claims of its more than 50 million direct members.
“As of July 6,2018, we have P70 billion cash position. In other words, PhilHealth is very much liquid. PhilHealth has more than enough money to pay the monthly payments, so wala tayong problema,” Limsiaco said over the weekend.
“Mayroon tayong pondo para pambayad ng claims para sa taong ito. So on the report that PhilHealth has no money, forget about it.We have lots of money to pay the claims of our members,” he added.
Limsiaco said that the fund stability of PhilHealth was assured by its president, Roy Ferrer.
And on top of their own fund, PhilHealth has just received notice of cash allocation from the Bureau of Treasury of P27 billion on July 5 for this year.
Limsiaco said that PhilHealth monthly payout is about P8 billion.
And for this year, PhilHealth paid P51.8 million, representing 5.3 million claims at an average of P9,811 per member or patient.
Earlier, fears that the funds of PhilHealth will be depleted came about amid report of the P10.6 billion diversion of funds used for the construction of health centers during the previous administration.
The said fund was intended for the premiums for senior citizens covering the 2015 period.
The reported diversion of the P10.6 billion is now being investigated by the Senate. (JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Agriculture (DA) is stepping up the promotion of the region’s sweet variety of jackfruit citing its unique taste and market potential.
Dubbed as Eastern Visayas Integrated Agricultural Research Center (EVIARC) sweet variety, the fruit has its special features such as natural sweetness, thickness of the fruitlet and yellow in color, aromatic, ellipsoid in shape and contains moderate latex, said Department of Agriculture field operations division chief Francisco Dayap.
“Eastern Visayas is one of the jackfruit producing regions in the Philippines. Aside from the region’s climatic condition, which is favorable for the growth and development of jackfruit, the EVIARC in Abuyog, Leyte has even boosted the region’s reputation with the development of its sweet variety,” Dayap said.
As of last year, the region has more than 1,258 hectares planted with this variety. The target is to expand the cultivated areas to 4,409 hectares by 2022.
The agriculture official is optimistic of hitting the target considering the support of the national government in the past three years to develop the commodity.
Among the opportunities cited by Dayap are the presence of technical experts provided by DA and Visayas State University; strong partnership between farmers and government agencies; and the great demand which is greater than production.
“The development of EVIARC sweet reflects the region’s goal of being the lead producer of high quality fresh and processed jackfruit in the Philippines, which captures both local and domestic markets by 2022,” Dayap added.
DA has been training farmers who are affiliated to an association to help them expand the market and to increase its production. The agency has been distributing planting materials and machineries to recipients. (MELVA MAE C. MENIANO)

MAASIN CITY – Easier access to tourism destinations in Southern Leyte province for nature-loving tourists is expected with the near completion of P137 million road project.
DPWH Southern Leyte district engineering office chief Ma. Margarita Junia said they are speeding up the construction of the eight access roads, up for completion this quarter.
“Our reports show that six of the access roads are now almost complete while the two other roads are showing quick progress in the implementation. Hopefully, if problems do not arise, we will be able to finish this in due time,” Junia said.
Reports show that access road linking Buenavista Dive Site in Padre Burgos town and Calag-itan Fish Sanctuary in Hinunangan town posted highest accomplishment rate at 97 percent followed by Mainit Hot Spring access road in Anahawan town at 95 percent.
Other ongoing projects (with respective completion rate) road connecting Bitoon Beach in Liloan town and Doña Marta and Casa Isabel in Hinunagan town (89 percent), road leading to Hindag-an Falls in St. Bernard town (83 percent), road to Monte Cueva and Danao Camp Tree Park in Maasin (61 percent), and access road to Crater Lake in San Juan town (21 percent).
The infrastructure agency has earmarked P137 million to upgrade access roads to identified tourism destinations in the province.
“Through our coordination with Department of Tourism, we managed to identify sites that have the potential to draw more tourists in the province which would hopefully spur development for the communities near these sites,” Junia said.
The construction of tourism access roads is part of the 0+10-point economic agenda of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte aimed at promoting rural and value chain development toward increasing agricultural and rural enterprise productivity and rural tourism.
Southern Leyte province is known for its world-class dive sites, caves, extreme adventure sites, waterfalls, safari, river trekking crater lake trekking, fish feeding, rain forest tramping, scuba diving and whale shark interaction, island escapades, beach fun, and religious journeys. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY- The regional Commission on Population (Popcom) joined in the marking of the World Population Day last week as it issued alarm on the rising number of unwanted pregnancies.
To date, it is estimated that about 30% of the world population growth is due to unwanted or accidental pregnancies.
And in actual numbers, it is about 28 million accidental or unwanted births per year, Elnora Pulma, regional director of Popcom-8, said.
Pulma said that lack of basic sexual reproduction information, adequate family planning, access to birth control, or a combination of the three things were the cited as reasons why unwanted pregnancies continue to occur.
The Popcom director said that the big challenge for the commission is to ensure that policies and programs embrace the well-established benefits of enabling women to choose whether and when to become pregnant- actions and values that are integral to human rights.
Family planning is now considered as a human right as it is central to gender equality and women’s empowerment and a key factor in reducing poverty.
World Population Day, held annually every July 11, seeks to draw attention to this problem as the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte is keen on attaining and sustaining unmet need and the urgency of other population issues- mainly, the effects of overpopulation on the world and the current rate of population growth will not be able to be sustained into the future.
In the Philippines, from 105.53 million in 2017, the country’s population will rise to 107.19 million by the end of 2018, citing projections by the Philippine Statistics Authority based on the latest census in 2015.
The increase would be boosted by some 1.8 million babies expected to be born this year, representing a growth rate of 1.69 percent.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY-A 27-year old student in one of the government-run universities in the city was arrested in possession of suspected ‘shabu’ valued at P17,000 on Friday (July 13)noon.
Arrested by the members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) was Francis Jay Ritchie Quitorio who resides in Barangay 62, BLISS, Sagkahan district, this city.
Also arrested was Quitorio’s companion, Joven Dale Jumao-as and a resident of V&G subdivision also in the city.
The two were arrested in a sting operation in Barangay 31, Real Street at about 12:30 noon.
Seized from the two suspects were five sachets of suspected shabu weighing 10.5 grams with a street value of P17,000.
“We have been consistent in our appeal to them to stop engaging in the illegal drugs. While it is easy money, they should also realize that we continue in our campaign against illegal drugs,” Rogelette Urgel, PDEA-8 information officer, said.
She said that she feel bad that even students like Quitorio are being arrested due to illegal drugs activity.
The school where Quitorio is enrolled was not divulged by Urgel.
And in a separate sting operation, one Renato Laviña,43 and a public utility vehicle driver, was arrested by PDEA operatives on Friday at about 4:30 pm at their village in Brgy. 86, San Jose district.
Seized from the suspect were 25 sachets of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P170,000.
All three are now detained at the Tacloban city lock-up facilities and charged for illegal possession and selling of prohibited drugs.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)