PALO, Leyte- About 65 drug surrenderees will be given a new lease of life by the Philippine National Police(PNP) in the region through a skills and livelihood training.
This was disclosed by Chief Supt. Gilberto Cruz, police regional director, who said that the skills and livelihood training will start this month and will be held at the regional police headquarters, this town.
In all, the activity will cover 45 days and will involve training on welding, food processing, tailoring, electronics, cell phone repair, motorcycle and bicycle repair, and massage therapy.
According to Cruz, they have originally targeted 200 former drug addicts for this activity but due to the series of calamities that hit the region, only 65 of them managed to attend the orientation held last December 19.
The police regional director also said that the beneficiaries of this training program will also undergo survival training which they can help during a calamity; traffic management, and environmental protection and preservation.
“These training that they will undergo will help them become useful again and they could be of help during times of calamities and emergencies, with them acting as rescuers,” Cruz said.
The Technical Education Skills and Development Authority(TESDA), Department of Health(DOH), the local government offices of the six provinces and seven cities, Department of Labor and Employment(DOLE), Philippine Red Cross(PRC), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Tacloban City Rescue Unit, Bureau of Fire Protection(BFP) and Newfound way Treatment Center are the partners of the program.
Among the beneficiaries of the program are ‘Gilboy’ from Samar and ‘Kimberly’ from Southern Leyte who are to undergo training on massage therapy.
Both admitted that they tried using illegal drugs but were not addicted to it.
It was their friends who persuaded them to used illegal drugs with their respective family only learned that they were into illegal drugs after they voluntarily surrendered under the government’s ‘Oplan: Tokhang.’
“I want to grab this opportunity that is why I didn’t hesitate to sign up,” Gilboy said.
Gilboy and Kimberly said that they are willing to share the skills that they will learn with their fellow drug surrenderees so that they could live a normal life again.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
65 former drug users in EV avail livelihood training
‘Urduja’ destroys P1.44-B agri products in E. Visayas
TACLOBAN CITY-Damage to agriculture in the region after it was pummeled by tropical storm ‘Urduja’ has reached more than P1.44 billion, affecting more than 44,500 farmers.
Reports from the regional office of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said that out of its six provinces, it’s the province of Samar that reported that biggest damage to its agriculture in the amount of P421.37 million.
Biliran, meantime, the hard-hit town in the region due to Urduja in terms of loss of lives (52), reported damage to its agriculture at P242.49 million.
Leyte posted damage to its agriculture at P397.55 million; Eastern Samar, P348.69 million; Northern Samar, P27.63 million and Southern Leyte, P5.49 million.
Urduja, which struck the region on December 16, affected 44,594 farmers with Leyte posting the highest number of affected farmers at 21,065.
Eastern Samar has 7,892 farmers affected; Biliran, 7,520; Samar, 5,580; Northern Samar, 2,403; and Southern Leyte, 135 farmers.
About 42,287.18 hectares of rice fields in the region were hit by the massive flooding spawned by Urduja.
Francis Rosaroso, DA regional information officer, said that as part of their assistance to the affected farmers, they are to distribute 6,000 bags of certified seeds to the affected farmers, particularly in Biliran.
“We are also waiting for the release of about 15,000 bags loan to the region by our counterparts from Region 3,” Rosaroso said.
He added that they are still confident that despite of the losses the agriculture sector sustained due to the storm, DA-8 remains confident of achieving its goal of 1.05 metric tons of palay production for the year.
Last year, more than 964.8 million metric tons of palay were produced by farmers in the region.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
Cavite double murder suspect surrendered before police in Borongan City
TACLOBAN CITY- The prime suspect in a gruesome murder of a mother and daughter in General Trias, Cavite has voluntarily surrendered before police authorities of the provincial headquarters of the Philippine National Police in Borongan City.
Ruel Galvan Cabatingan, 36, turned himself in before Chief Inspector Cirilo Nicart, Jr., operations chief of the provincial PNP at around 7:30 am Thursday(December 28).
Cabatingan, however, declined to narrate how he murdered Ruby Gamos,34, and her daughter Shaniah Nicole,7, Nicart, in a phone interview, said.
“He admitted to the crime but told me that he would only speak about it before the court,” the police officer said.
According to Nicart, Cabatingan has been staying with his brother, Fernando Cabatingan Jr., in Barangay Maybacong, Borongan City, since December 14.
Nicart and his men picked up Cabatingan at the house of his brother.
Cabatingan Jr. is residing and working in Borongan for years now.
The dead bodies of Gamos and her child were discovered on December 12 inside their house at Kensington, Barangay Navarro, General Trias City.
The suspect was immediately brought to Cavite, Chief Supt. Gilberto Cruz, police regional director, said.
“His brother was not aware that he was involved in a crime. But when he learned about it (through news), he convinced him to surrender to us,” Nicart.
Nicart and the suspect’s brother belong to Evangelical Church.
“We are happy that he decided to surrender considering that this is a sensational crime,” Nicart said. (JOEY A. GABIETA/ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Netizens urged to help check internet speed through app
TACLOBAN CITY- The region’s business group has encouraged the public to use a mobile application to help monitor the status of internet connectivity in Eastern Visayas.
Oliver Cam, private sector representative to the Regional Development Council (RDC), said they had been seeking support from different sectors to raise public awareness on the benefits of using project BASS (bandwidth and signal strength).
“This is a crowdsource monitoring tool that will measure the signal strength of a mobile carrier in an area and compile the local data available that would help improve the internet speed in the country,” Cam said.
The project’s primary aim is to inform the telecommunication companies which areas need improvement, especially with the internet speed, which has been a big issue in the country, the businessman added.
“If the information and communication technology infrastructure in the country will improve, it will reduce poverty incidence since internet speed has a direct impact to poverty based on studies conducted from 2007 to 2010 in four Eastern African countries,” Cam said.
The concept of the use of the Project BASS application is based on the principle of Hawthorne Effect which is the tendency to perform or perceive differently when one knows they are being observed, Cam added.
“Using this principle will help the telecommunication companies to take steps on improving their services as they are aware that their performance is being observed and measured,” he told the Philippine News Agency.
He also encouraged the local government units and government agencies to use the application to further improve their projects.
The developers are working for the Windows version of the app so that installation will be available for laptops and desktop computers.
The project will be presented in future meetings of RDC and sectoral committees, added Cam.
(JERALDYN BAGASIN/PNA)
CPP denies ambush incident against soldiers who were on a relief mission in Northern Samar
TACLOBAN CITY- The Communist Party of the Philippines(CPP) in Eastern Visayas denied claims of the military that they were responsible of an ambush directed against soldiers who were trying to help villagers escape their village from flooding spawned by tropical storm ‘Urduja’ in Northern Samar.
In an emailed statement, the group also said that they have declared a ‘state of calamity’ in the entire region as it was battered by Urduja and Vinta.
“The Communist Party of the Philippines in Eastern Visayas denies that the New People’s Army carried out any tactical offensive on Government of the Republic of the Philippines troops allegedly doing relief operations during Typhoon Urduja in Northern Samar,” the group said on its statement issued on December 26, coinciding its 49th founding anniversary.
“This allegation was separately spewed, Goebbels-like, by the Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson as well as presidential mouthpiece Harry Roque. This is a brazen lie to diminish the prestige and political support of the CPP-NPA-NDFP in line with the US-Duterte regime’s terrorist-tagging and suppression of the revolutionary forces and all political opposition,” it added.
On December 16, a group of soldiers belonging to the 20th Infantry Battalion was on their way to Barangay Hinagoyonon, Catubig town in Northern Samar when they were ambushed by about 50 alleged NPA members in Barangay San Miguel.
The soldiers were heading to Hinagoyonon to rescue trapped families of the said village of flooding as Urduja battered the province.
Two of the soldiers, Corp. Yzazel Laure and PFC Roland Gomez, were wounded due to the armed fight that lasted over an hour.
President Rodrigo Duterte condemned this attack staged by the communist group which he branded as a terror group.
In the same statement, the communist group also said that they have declared a state of calamity across the region and ordered all rebel members to help storm victims.
“To serve the people on this 49th anniversary of the CPP’s reestablishment, and in solidarity with the plight of the people who are struggling against natural calamity as well as the brutal and repressive US-Duterte regime, the CPP Regional Committee in Eastern Visayas declares a state of calamity for the entire region and orders all NPA units to give priority to relief operations and other necessary support for all those affected by Typhoons Urduja and Vinta,” it said.
“Aside from addressing the direct damages of the storms, the people must also be supported in their struggles against hunger and socio-economic crisis in the coming months because of ruined or lesser crop yields,” the group added. (JOEY A. GABIETA)
Region 8 welcomes loan validity extension for Samar Road
TACLOBAN CITY- The Eastern Visayas Regional Project Monitoring Committee (RPMC) has welcomed the recent approval on the extension of validity of Korean-funded $20.63-million loan for the Samar Pacific Coastal Road.
In a meeting held Wednesday, RPMC chair and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Director Bonifacio Uy said the extension will ensure the improvement of the 109.3 kilometers road.
The extension will cover civil works for the 11.3-kilometer unpaved section of the coastal road and construction of three bridges. These projects are not included in the original proposal.
“The Samar Pacific Coastal Road will eventually complete the circumferential road loop for Samar Island. This will enhance the development of potential agricultural lands and fishing grounds of Eastern Samar and Northern Samar provinces,” Uy said.
The approval has paved the way for the Department of Public Works and Highways to award the contract for the project before Christmas holidays, he said.
The NEDA-Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee has approved last December 6 the loan validity extension of the foreign-funded project from Jan. 18, 2018 to Jan. 17, 2020.
The extension of the implementation from September 2017 – July 2019 to January 2018 – December 2019 was also approved.
The project has been delayed due to security issues, bidding failures, concerns on hiring of consulting services, and late submission of deliverable bidding documents.
The Korea Export-Import Bank-Economic Development Cooperation Fund Loan No. Phl-14 was signed on Aug. 19, 2013 and took effect on Jan. 17, 2014 with the original closing date of January 16, 2018.
The DPWH completed the detailed engineering design last Oct. 8, 2015. Pre-procurement conference for selection of contractors was held Jan. 11, 2017, followed by a pre-bid conference on February 7 and submission of technical and financial proposal on February 28.
The government submitted the report to the Korean bank on Mar. 25, 2017 and was concurred last July 5, 2017.
The fund will also be used for civil works, payment of consulting services, and for contingencies.
The foreign-funded project is on top of the ongoing works for the Arteche-Jipapad-Las Navas-Catubig-Rawis that link Eastern Samar and Northern Samar provinces. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)