TACLOBAN CITY- The provincial government of Northern Samar will conduct an anti-illegal drug summit on August 25 which aims to further strengthen the campaign against the proliferation of illegal drugs in the province. The one-day anti-drug summit, to be held at the University of Eastern Philippines (UEP), will be attended by various sectors and agencies across the province, Rei Josiah Echano, provincial information officer, said. Echano added that the purpose of the activity is to strengthen their campaign against illegal drugs through unification and workshop on sectoral resolutions. The expected 400 participants of the summit will come from the academe, church, local government units, on-government organizations and various government agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Interior and Local Government as well as students. Those who voluntarily surrendered under the government’s “Oplan Tokhang” from the province were also invited to join the anti-drug illegal summit, Echano said. The summit, to be presided by Governor Jose Ong, will discuss on measures on what to do for those who voluntarily surrendered. The conduct of the anti-illegal drug summit in the province was first discussed during the July 22 Provincial Development Council meeting.
(RYAN GABRIEL LLOSA ARCENAS)
Northern Samar to hold anti-drug summit
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MAD RUSH
Alfred: False accusation; all funds are accounted
TACLOBAN CITY- Former city mayor Alfred Romualdez dismissed as “unfortunate” an online report blaming him for the alleged misspending of financial assistance intended for survivors of supertyphoon “Yolanda” that hit Tacloban in 2013. Romualdez, who just stepped down from office last June 30 after serving nine years as mayor, said that the releases of funds coming from various government agencies for Tacloban were always transparent. “We reiterate that the city government of Tacloban has always and still continue to observe the standards of transparency and accountability over its funds including the Yolanda rehabilitation funds,” Romualdez said in a press statement. “Ang malungkot pa po dito ay ang sinasabi pa ng Rappler ay kung hindi raw naming naiparating at naipararamdam ang ibinigay na pera para sa aming mga tao kasi winaldas daw ng city government,” the former mayor said. Romualdez was reacting to an earlier story that appeared at Rappler, an online news service, claiming that close to P1 billion intended for Yolanda survivors were “misspent” during the time of Romualdez.
The Rappler report used a finding of the Commission on Audit (COA) stating, among others, that the alleged irregularities involved P907.86 million intended for infrastructure, aquaculture and emergency shelter assistance. The Kanhuraw Media Bureau, the information center of the city government, described the story as “manufactured.” “The entire report is a manufactured piece of narrative by the very offices that should have given and handled those funds, namely, the Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Social Welfare and Development and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources which are actually being currently investigated and are now trying to put the blame on the Tacloban city government,” the one-page statement said.
Former mayor Romualdez insisted that the funds received by the city went to the intended beneficiaries, particularly on the shelter assistance. He stressed that it was the national government, through the DSWD that set the guidelines as who could receive the shelter assistance. “Ang masakit pa po dito, ang tagal na nga bago pa nagrelease ng pondo para sa mga beneficiaries na mga biktima ng Yolanda sa Tacloban na umabot ng mahigit sa isang taon pa, ay mas pinapahirapan pa at pinadaan sa butas ng karayom para lang makatanggap ng perang inilaan naman talaga para sa kanila,” Romualdez said. “Sa totoo lang, the guidelines were set by the national government and we merely implemented it and followed it as applicable under our circumstances. As a mayor and an elected local government executive, my primary duty is to my constituents, the very people who elected me as mayor,” he added. For the ESA, Tacloban, considered as the ground zero of Yolanda, received more than P728 million.
The city received more than P100 million under the Recovery Assistance for Yolanda and more than P35 million for the aquaculture project. (JOEY A. GABIETA)
More LGUS in the region joins the 2016 competitiveness poll
TACLOBAN CITY – The number of areas here in the region included in the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) 2016 ranking as compiled by the National Competitiveness Commission(NCC) has increased three times than last year indicating that more local government units (LGUs) are taking part in the benchmarking of their performance against local and global standards. From 30 cities and towns included in the ranking, the number of participating LGUs rose to 97 in the 2016 ranking, NCC reported. “We are very happy with the result after we held an information caravan through the provincial development councils. We helped them understand what it means to be in the CMCI list,” said Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Regional Director Cynthia Nierras, chairperson of the Regional Competitiveness Committee. With the significant rise in the number of participants, the region received the Quantum Leap Achievement Award during the 4th Annual Regional Competitiveness Summit on July 14 at the Philippine International Convention Center.
All the region’s seven cities – Tacloban, Ormoc, Baybay, Maasin, Catbalogan, Calbayog, and Borongan – were included in the annual competitiveness survey. The NCC recognized Ormoc City as the most improved component city in the country. The city jumped to 30th rank this year from the 91st spot in the 2015 survey among the 110 component cities in the country. All the remaining six cities in Leyte and Samar provinces have shown remarkable ranking improvement except Tacloban, the regional capital. Tacloban is the least competitive among the 34 highly urbanized cities in the country. Of the 755 towns in the Philippines classified as 3rd to 6th class, Barugo, Leyte was recognized as the most improved in the CMCI 2016. Barugo, a 4th class farming town jumped to 56th spot this year from 436th spot in the 2014 ranking.
“I hope the awards earned by our city and town in the region will motivate other LGUs to take part in the CMCI data gathering. Those who participated registered the highest improvement. It means that competitiveness of our towns and cities as location of business are improving,” Nierras added. Of the 90 participating towns in the latest CMCI, 29 were in Leyte, 12 in Southern Leyte, 15 in Samar, 15 in Northern Samar, 14 in Eastern Samar, and five in Biliran. The CMCI is an annual ranking of Philippine cities and municipalities based on an overall competitive score along the three indicators and their sub-indicators – economic dynamism, government efficiency, and infrastructure.
The overall competitiveness score is determined by the completion rate or all the number of data points filled out over the number of data points required. The data are sourced from the LGUs and national government agencies. The study serves as basis for LGUs to improve their competitiveness to attract investments and contribute to socioeconomic development.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO)
LCCI seeks Malacañang support on three areas to boost Leyte’s economy
TACLOBAN CITY- The members of the Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has submitted a copy of their proposal to Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino listing down priority areas considered as key for the region’s development. The proposal was personally given to Dino by Oliver Cam, an official of the LCCI during a gathering attended by President Rodrigo Duterte’s point man for the Visayas last July 29 here in the city.
LCCI, in particular, identified three priority areas which include the expansion of the Leyte Industrial Development Estate (LIDE); pushing for the establishment of an economic zone in the northern part of Tacloban city and support to tourism sector. On the expansion of LIDE, the chamber hopes to bring in more inclusive types of industry. “Right now the existing industry there is the copper smelting plant which their effect on the area is not inclusive simply because they import everything they export it all out,” Cam said.
Although the smelting plant has good impact to labor and its surrounding areas, what the chamber wants is to convince more industries to come in and establish operation in LIDE to generate more jobs not only for Leyte residents but also for those coming from Samar. LIDE is a 425 hectare special economic zone located in Isabel, Leyte, which was established in 1978 thru Letter of Instruction 962. It is the home of two major industries: Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp and the Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. The establishment of economic zone in the northern part of Tacloban is a long term solution that will provide great impact to more than 80,000 residents in the area. The northern part of the city, consisting of 18 barangays, has been declared as the new township of this city where families that were displaced by supertyphoon “Yolanda” and those that are living along danger zones were relocated.
The government thru National Housing Authority together with private donors is constructing 16,000 housing units in the said area. “The absence of livelihood is one of the challenges why it is hard to move these people to that area. There is no job in the north but only housing. If you are moving people you should not only focus on housing but on holistic approach. That is why we are really pushing for the establishments of economic zone in that area,” Cam said. Electricity and water supply also hampers the relocation of displaced families to the northern barangay, added Cam. The LCCI is also pushing for support on tourism industry of the region that was able to recover immediately after the devastation of Yolanda in November 8, 2013 and contributed a lot to the regional economy.
“The problem right now is the funding for the proposed major tourism rehabilitation program that was proposed by the regional office of Department of Tourism that until now almost three years after the typhoon are not yet funded,” said Cam. DOT-8 reported that the region has experienced a resurgence in the tourism sector after the devastation of Yolanda. From 731,000 in 2013, tourist arrivals in 2014 reached 964,000 or a 31.9% increase. Last year, 1.099 million tourists visited the region resulting to a P 9.4 billion tourist receipts. “That is why we are really struggling with our tourism effort because our office of tourism here is not given the budget. They just become creative in trying to address the needs of our tourism industry here in the region,” he added. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)