TACLOBAN CITY- Leyte Rep. Yedda Romualdez defended before the committee on higher and technical education of the House of Representatives her proposed law granting full scholarship to undergraduate senior citizens.
Romualdez, vice chairperson of the House’ committee on government enterprises and privatization, sponsored House Bill 3704 or the “Senior Citizen Scholarship Act of 2016.
The committee has started deliberation on pending bills granting free college education.
Rep. Romualdez said that her proposal would help undergraduate senior citizens to improve their lives by giving them the chance and opportunity to finish their four-year degree in any state college and university.
The Leyte congresswoman requested the panel led by Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Ann Hoffer to adopt the explanatory note of her measure as her sponsorship speech.
“The primary objective of this bill is to protect and promote the constitutionally upheld right to quality education and to ensure that education is accessible to all, without discrimination on the basis of age,” Romualdez said.
The congresswoman stressed that senior citizens are a valued part of Filipino society.
“In fact, the Constitution promotes not only their well-being and social security, but more importantly, their continued personal growth and development,” she said.
“Furthermore, this proposed law will also promote a more meaningful social participation and engagement by Filipino senior citizens in the present community and keep them active and creative in their retirement years,” said Romualdez.
Under her measure, a senior citizen will be given automatic full scholarship in the form of free tuition in a state college or university. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY- Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan was elected as the vice chair for Asia as part of the preparation of the 500th year anniversary of explorer Ferdinand Magellan navigation around the world.
The Catbalogan city mayor was elected during the gathering of mayors where Magellan navigated 500 years ago in a meeting held in Lisbon, Portugal dubbed as the Red Mundial de Ciudades Magallanicas o Global Network of Magellan Cities (GNMC).
Magellan was a Portuguese but worked under Spanish flag when he conducted the navigation in 1519 to 1522.
“Our commitment for the promotion of Magellan’s route as the first circumnavigation of the world along with the preparation of the 500th anniversary of the said feat scheduled in 2019-2022 is few of the tasks of the network along with the coordination between countries for updating and partnerships,” Uy-Tan said in a statement.
Although Magellan only landed in Homonhon Island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Catbalogan was invited to be part of the network being a former capital of the Samar Island.
The Global Network of Magellan Cities is a network of all the cities that Magellan travelled to on the first ever journey around the world, promoting collaborative participation and cooperation among the different cities that share the history of Magellan’s first journey.
This network of cities will celebrate the 5th century of Magellan’s journey that took place from 1519 to 1522 this coming 2019 to 2022.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- Close to 1,000 people attended the free Basic Life Support (BLS) Training at the Tacloban City Convention held here.
The activity was organized by the city government of Tacloban through Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez and the Philippine Heart Association, Inc.(PHAI).
The January 13 event which imparted life saving techniques was participated by city government and barangay workers as well as by tourism and restaurant industry front liners.
Mayor Romualdez spoke during the event and underscored the importance of learning the basics on BLS saying it could it could spell the difference in a life and death situation.
PHAI president Dr. Raul Lapitan said the event is part of its advocacy to teach BLS skills to lay people.
Modules used during the training included CPR or cardiopulmonary resuscitation on drowning and heart attack and a lecture and demo on the use of automatic external defibrillators (AED) for heart attack patients.
PHAI is advocating the use of AED in populated areas to increase survival of heart attack victims as it is part of the chain of CPR
According to Lapitan, CPR is no longer limited to medical practitioners.
”(Its) because 70% of cardiac arrests happens at home and usually the first responders are relatives or bystander,” he said.
Lapitan added that they are teaching the hands-only or modified CPR which do not involve mouth to mouth breathing, but requires doing proper and effective cardiac compression–basic skills needed to save life.
Dr. Alex Junia, PHAI past president said the group’s advocacy takes root from RA 10781 or “The Basic Life Support Training in Schools Act” which they successfully lobbied in Congress.
Junia said the law mandates the teaching of CPR to grades 5 to 12 using standard modules for hands only CPR.
“If we teach all students, we don’t have to do individual training because it’s already part of the curriculum. This will help propagation of CPR skills throughout the country”, Junia added
The bill, also known as the “Samboy Lim Law” was approved into law on July 17, 2016.
PHA is currently drafting a module to further implement the training to the grassroots level.
Tacloban is the third hop of the group which has already conducted similar trainings in Boracay and Iloilo.
The Philippine College of Physicians, Department of Tourism and Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center also helped brought the free training to the City. (HENRY JAMES G. ROCA/CIO)