TACLOBAN CITY- Two alleged illegal drug pushers were caught in two separate buy-bust operations on Tuesday (August 4) in Southern Leyte province.
In Libagon town, police arrested Richie Supangan, 39, jobless, as undercover police agent bought three pieces of plastic sachets suspected to be shabu in consideration of P2,000.
The anti-drug operation was conducted by Libagon Municipal Police led by Lieutenant Vilsasar Coliao, officer- in-charge, together with Southern Leyte Provincial Police Office-Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (SLPPO-PDEU) led by Lieutenant Maja Beringel and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the region.
In Maasin City, police also arrested Arwin Antoc, 27, jobless, and street level individual in the city.
Purchased from the suspect were four pieces of transparent plastic sachets containing suspected shabu, as subject of sale, in consideration of P3,000.
Confiscated from the suspect were six pieces heat-sealed plastic sachets containing suspected shabu wrapped with small transparent cellophane, one piece P1,000 used as buy-bust money and two pieces P1,000 boodle money, and a motorcycle.
The inventory of the confiscated items was done in the presence of the suspect and witnessed by barangay officials and media representatives, according to the report.
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Nalda, officer- in- charge of Maasin City Police Station, also conducted on-scene inspection.
The suspects were detained awaiting the filing of charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
(RONALD O. REYES)
2 busted over shabu in Southern Leyte
DOH confirms death of a 14-year old girl was COVID-19 related
TACLOBAN CITY- A 14-year old girl from Calbayog City is the latest to have died due to coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).
This was confirmed by Dr. Exuperia Sabalberino, assistant regional director of the Department of Health (DOH), who said that the girl was first admitted at the Calbayog District Hospital last July 25 as she was suffering with fever, cough and vomiting and stayed at the health facility until August 1.
On that day, her family discharged the girl against the advice of the doctors. Hours later, she said to have suffered difficulty in breathing prompting her family to admit her at St. Camillus Hospital, also in Calbayog City.
And upon assessment, the family was advised to bring the girl to EVRMC on August 2 where swab sample was extracted from her.
Sabalberino said that the result came out that she was positive on the evening of August 3, or hours after she died on that day at about 8:30 am.
Her family brought back the remains of the girl on August 4 to Calbayog where she was buried immediately as mandated under the protocols on burying a dead person infected of the virus.
Sabalberino said that the girl has underlying or pre-existing diseases like tuberculosis.
She also said that the health personnel of Calbayog city government is now conducting their contact tracing and further investigation as to how the girl got the virus.
With the death of the 14-year old girl, deaths due to COVID-19 in Eastern Visayas has now rose to four. Previous deaths were reported from Tarangan, Samar province; Kananga in Leyte; and Kawayan in Biliran.
(RONALD O.REYES)
Eastern Visayas offers tourists ‘infinite escapes’ in the new normal
TACLOBAN CITY- Holiday getaways have remained possible in Eastern Visayas despite the new normal brought by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Karen Tiopes, Department of Tourism (DOT) regional director, assured travelers and visitors that they are positioning a responsible restart for Eastern Visayas tourism, following the issuance of various guidelines on the operation of tourism enterprises in the new normal from DOT central office.
“That is why for the Eastern Visayas tourism to restart, we are positioning the region to be known as a destination with infinite escapes to experience and offers sites and activities that are fun yet at the same time promotes safety and wellness,” she said.
“By having guidelines on the operation of tourism sites, we are actually able to accomplish two things – promote wellness and help build back the confidence of our target market to travel again,” Tiopes added.
According to Tiopes, they drafted a manual to promote the health and safety of guests, tourism workers, and service providers alike.
“Once people see that their safety is of utmost importance in our tourism sites, they will start to feel that there is not much to worry about. When our target domestic markets also start to see that Eastern Visayans are safely going to their tourism sites, this will also give them the message that Eastern Visayas indeed is a safe destination and may consider putting us in their list once they start traveling to other region again,” the tourism regional director said.
With the lowering of the COVID-19 risk level in many parts of the region, Tiopes said many tourism facilities that comply with the guidelines have already reopened.
“Next in line are the tourism sites and activities. However, we have to do this with care to make sure that health and safety protocols are in place consistently followed by both service providers and guests,” she said.
For their first assessment, Tiopes and her team visited Calbayog City sites in collaboration with the Calbayog City Tourism Office to see how their health and safety manual is adopted and implemented by the local government unit (LGU).
“One challenge we have faced though is the level of willingness of our target tourists to travel again at this time. That is why we will initially target local tourists – Eastern Visayans traveling around Eastern Visayas. However, for now, many of our LGUs who have already opened up some of their tourism sites only allow their local community to initially visit their sites,” Tiopes said.
The tourism industry has been one, if not the most affected industries when COVID-19 struck, according to the tourism official.
“The need to follow health and safety protocols remain paramount, however, we also have to nurture back our economy – open up businesses, resume the operation of tourism sites, bring back jobs, continue the livelihood that were temporarily stopped as a result of impositions made to put to a minimum the spread of the virus,” Tiopes added.
(RONALD O. REYES)
Tacloban city gov’t distributes P3.2 million Brigada Eskwela Assistance
(TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)
TACLOBAN CITY (CIO) – At least P3.2 million worth of financial assistance was allocated by the city government of Tacloban through Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez to aid City Division Schools in its Brigada Eskwela Program this year.
Under the financial assistance program, each of the 64 elementary and secondary schools under the division will receive P50,000 each from the Special Education Fund of the local government to help defray the cost of maintenance and repairs of schools as it prepares for the coming school year.
On Monday, August 3, 2020, Mayor Romualdez, along with City Schools Division Superintendent, Dr. Mariza S. Magan led the distribution to the heads of the 64 elementary and high schools of the city division.
This is the second time that the local government extended the much-needed aid to city schools. Last January, the city government also handed cash aids to the public schools for the repair and rehabilitation of facilities affected by Typhoon ‘Ursula’.
Meantime, amidst the coronavirus scare, some 61,157 students (as compared to last year’s 72,293) have enrolled for the new school year which, will start on August 24, 2020.
Despite the slight decline in enrollment, the City Division still posted the highest enrollment rate in Region 8, according to Magan.
The City Division will utilize multiple learning modalities; through self-learning modules and online/virtual classes as to alternative to face-to-face learning.
(K.NAPALA, TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)
Debris suspected from an airplane found in 2 Eastern Samar towns
TACLOBAN CITY- Two pieces of debris suspected to be from an aircraft were separately found on the beaches of Mercedes and Guiuan towns, both in Eastern Samar province.
In Mercedes, such wreckage was said to have been beached off the waters in Barangay Anuron, Juvimar Lira, a resident of the said village, said.
Lira, in a phone interview, said that the wreckage was seen in the area five days ago by some local fishermen in Anuron, which faces the Pacific Ocean.
“When I saw them, they were trying to tinker the debris, probably for profit. I told them not to touch it and instead report it authorities,” the 33-year old businessman said.
He said the item should be turn over to proper authorities for them to conduct investigation to really determine on the wreckage found on the shore.
On Thursday (August 6), local police together with personnel from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), and local police came to the area to inspect the debris.
There was no illegal contraband found by the PDEA while the CAAP has not yet determine if the debris was from an airplane or from what part of an aircraft.
CAAP regional office based in the city has yet to issue a statement on this matter.
But Lira said that the debris was heavy as it took about 10 men to flip it over as he estimated that it could be around over 100 kilograms in weight and 3 x 4 meters in width. Some Chinese or Japanese characters were seen on the debris, he added.
Meanwhile, another similar debris was also in the waters in Brgy. Taytay, Guiuan, report reaching the regional headquarters of the Philippine National Police, said.
The said debris was found floating last July 27 by Nicanor Gagarin, 46 and resident of said village.
The item was said to have been secured by the Guiuan police.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
3- month old baby among EV’s new cases
Region has now 1,144 COVID-19 cases
By: LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA
TACLOBAN CITY- A three-month old girl baby is among the latest persons in the region to be infected with the dreaded coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) as the Department of Health announces Eastern Visayas total cases to 1,144 as of Friday.
The three-month old baby girl is from Villareal, Samar while a 21-year old pregnant woman from Motiong, also in Samar, was also inflicted of the dreaded virus, the DOH said.
Of the 61 new cases of the region, 59 of them were locally stranded individuals (LSIs), one is a returning overseas worker from Kananga town, Leyte and a 31-year man nurse assigned at the City Health Office of Catbalogan City, also in Samar.
The said health worker and the eight other new cases of Catbalogan are now placed at their isolation facility and all are asymptomatic, the City Health Office announced.
Meantime, three towns in Eastern Samar posted their first COVID-19 cases.
These are the towns of Llorente, Arteche, and Gen.MacArthur. Llorente and Arteche have one case each while Gen. MacArthur has two cases.
Llorente Mayor Daniel Boco, who announced the town’s first case through Facebook ‘live’, did not hide his disappointment as they logged their first COVID-19 case.
At one point of his announcement, Boco mentioned of ‘Hatid Sundo’ program as ‘Hatid COVID-19.’
Their first COVID-19 case, he said, returned to their town last July 21 under the Hatid Sundo program and was suffering from fever. His swab result turned to be positive and is now at the Provincial Hospital based in Borongan City.
“He just returned here without any confirmation from the local government unit,” he said. Still, they welcome the 29-year old man, he said.
Hatid Sundo is a program of the national government providing free transportation of LSIs for them to return to their respective provinces.
The return of LSIs to the region has been attributed of its increasing number of COVID-19 cases.