TACLOBAN CITY-A 74-year old woman died on Thursday (January 2), after a car accidentally bumped the pedicab she was riding in Jaro town, Leyte.
Authorities identified the victim as Angeles Dumayas, married and a resident of Barangay Sto Niño of the said town.
The pedicab driver, identified only as Lito, also sustained injuries.
Police said that at around 5:15 p.m. on that day, the pedicab was crossing the road from the town’s poblacion towards Barangay Macopa, also of the said town, when a black Hyundai Accent driven by Ramon Brazil, 28, a resident of Barugo, Leyte accidentally hit it.
Brazil was travelling from the direction of Carigara, Leyte heading towards the direction of Tacloban City when the incident happened, police said in a report.
Dumayas was rushed to a rural health nit in Jaro but was pronounced dead on arrival by the Dr. Corazon Acbo, the attending physician.
The pedicab driver was also brought to Eastern Regional Visayas Medical Center (EVRMC), based this city, for immediate medical treatment.
Brazil, an employee from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) assigned in Calbayog City, voluntarily surrendered to Jaro Municipal Police Station. (RONALD O. REYES)
74-yr-old woman killed in Leyte road mishap
PNP offices in EV damaged due to Ursula placed at P5.4 million
TACLOBAN CITY- Typhoon ‘Ursula’ has also resulted to damages of different buildings of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the region amounting to P5.47 million.
In a report by the regional PNP headquarters based in Palo town, Leyte, the damaged to various police stations were from the provinces of Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar, Biliran and the cities of Ormoc and Tacloban.
The regional headquarter also sustain damaged to its various buildings with an estimated damage cost of P528,784.
In Eastern Samar, the damages were placed at P1.68 million; Samar, P1.67 million; Leyte, P1.27 million; Biliran,P250,000; Tacloban City,P24,900; and Ormoc City,P34,400.
The buildings of these police stations sustain damages on their gutters, ceilings, scaffoldings, roofs, lamp posts and doors, the report said.
Still, B/Gen. Ferdinand Divina, police regional director, assured the public that despite of the damages sustained by the police offices, their work as peace officers are not hampered.
“The damages caused by Ursula will not hamper our effective and efficient delivery of public service to the community,” Divina said.
He expressed his optimism that their central headquarters will immediately release the needed funds so they could immediately undertake repair works.
Ursula’s wrath in Eastern Visayas resulted to the deaths of 13 people, injured more than 200 people and affected more than 230,000 families comprising 960,000 individuals. (PRO-8/PR)
Heavy rains cause landslide in Eastern Samar
TACLOBAN CITY- Due to heavy rains, a landslide incident occurred along Barangay Binaloan, Taft town in Eastern Samar on Friday (Jan.3) morning.
Based on the information relayed by the Eastern Samar District Engineering Office (ESDEO) based in Borongan City, the landslide resulted to the uprooting of rocks and other debris with an estimated volume of 600 cubic meter.
It was learned that since Thursday night, heavy rains were being experienced across Eastern Samar which could have softened the limestones and soil that triggered the landslide and rockslide, ESDEO reports.
The office said that at around 9:30 am, the road leading the Paranas, Samar-Taft, Eastern Samar was rendered impassable to all types of vehicles.
The district engineering said that clearing operations will be done once the safety of their maintenance crew and operators are assured as rains continue to be experienced until today, Friday.
No one was reported due to the incident. (JAYSON ESPEJO/PR)
Math wizard from Catbalogan City wins gold in this year’s Math Olympiad held in Japan
Part of the Philippine contingent
TACLOBAN CITY – A Grade 4 student from Samar College Inc., based in Catbalogan City, made waves during the recently-held Math Olympiad held in Tokyo, Japan.
Mark Christian Mendoza was part of the Philippine contingent coming from different schools of the country who joined the December 27 to 30 at the World International Mathematical Olympiad (WIMO).
The math wizard was one of the nine participants who won a gold medal. Overall, the Philippine team won nine gold medals, 12 silvers, 16 bronze medals and 3 merit awards, enough for the country to emerge second to overall champion Thailand.
Malaysia finished third.
This year’s Math Olympiad was participated by 328 students from Australia, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Ukraine.
“I feel proud that I brought for my school in an international competition and I feel glad that all of my nights of studying have finally paid off,” Mendoza said in an interview after arriving from Japan.
Mendoza said that as part of his preparations to broaden his knowledge on Math, he enrolled in a program for reading and mathematics called “Kumon” where he learned algebra and calculus and arithmetic sequences.
“I also study every night with my tutor, Teacher Emil Fernando. I am also very good at memorizing, and that’s a very useful skill in math. Usually, to answer word problems fast, you need to memorize many formulas that help get variables or factors required to find the answer. It also helps in multiplication, as not only do I memorize the basic multiplication to 10, but also all the way up to 15,” Mendoza said.
“Along with mental math, as I can usually do most simple calculations in my mind because most of the time, when doing long word problems/equations, even when it is quite simple, some people get lost as to where they were in that specific equation, thus some are forced them to write it down so that they don’t get lost, in which case, they take longer,” he added.
Mendoza credited his parents for supporting him and his tutor and teachers for their encouragement and motivation during his training to do better in math and enable to reach the international competitions.
The young student said that he too also detest the subject but learned to like it upon the prodding of his parents and teachers.
“I too was not good in math, but because of my great teachers, because of my loving parents, and because of my diligence, self-discipline and hard work, I was able to reach where I am right now,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza’s mother, Heidi, said that she is proud on the achievement of her son.
“Mark has an innate talent in him, gifted and I just push him to develop that talent in him. He never says no and he willingly welcome challenges that further hone his skills and develop the best in him even when it is just a school activity or a competition,” she said.
The proud mother said that she encourages her son to join competition that help sharpen his skills on math, commonly the least favorite subjects among students.
Prior to competing in Japan, Mendoza also competed at the Regional School Press Conference held in Tacloban City where he competed on editorial, science and technology writing and radio broadcasting.
He was able to land 1st place on editorial writing out of 90 students.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
New Year celeb in EV peaceful, says PNP
No firecracker-related incident
BY: ROEL T. AMAZONA, RONALD O. REYES
TACLOBAN CITY- The New Year celebration in Eastern Visayas was described as generally peaceful by police authorities as they have attained the zero firecracker-related casualties.
And this was achieved due to the support of the public and strict monitoring of the police force, Lt. Col. Ma. Bella Rentuaya, regional information officer of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said.
As of 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 1, the region also recorded zero casualty on indiscriminate firing or stray bullets.
Rentuaya, however, said they have arrested at least five persons for illegal possession, use, and sale of firecrackers.
According to Rentuaya, they have deployed a total of 1,406 police officers on places of convergence, transportation terminals, and for route security in observance of the Yuletide season.
Earlier, PNP Regional Director Ferdinand Divina warned the public on the regulation and control of the use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices.
At the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC), the hospital did not recorded any firecracker-related injury covering December 21 until Dec.31 period.
However, on the morning of Jan.1, a 12-year old girl from Borongan City, Nicole Capito, was treated due to a firecracker blast. She sustained minor injury due to a ‘kwitis.’
Meantime, the regional Department of Health (DOH) recorded at least two injuries related to the celebration during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
The injured individuals were from Rosario, Northern Samar and Oras, Eastern Samar who suffered injuries after using an improvised “lantaka.”
The DOH-8 said that lantaka was the number one cause of injury in the region during the revelry.
It added that the blast from improvised lantaka may cause blindness or eye injuries, even hearing problem or burn.
Killed, wounded soldiers receive assistance from provincial gov’ts of East and North Samar
Pres. Duterte also extended assistance, rewards to the soldiers
TACLOBAN CITY- The families of the six slain and wounded soldiers in an ambush in a remote village in Borongan City received financial assistance from the provincial governments of Eastern Samar and Northern Samar.
The financial assistance extended to these soldiers by the provincial governments were on top of the assistance and awards bestowed to them by President Rodrigo Duterte who personally visited the soldiers on November 15.
The provincial government, under Governor Ben Evardone who is also the regional chairman of the Peace and Order Council for Eastern Visayas, gave P25,000 to the families of the slain soldiers and P10,000 for the wounded soldiers.
For her part, Eastern Samar Rep. Maria Fe Abunda also gave P50,000 to the families of the slain soldiers.
Meantime, the provincial government of Northern Samar, through Governor Edwin Ongchuan also extended financial assistance to the families of the killed soldiers in the amount of P20,000.
Ongchuan said that the financial assistance given by the provincial government to the families of the slain soldiers was in ‘the spirit of regional solidarity and commitment to end insurgency in Eastern Visayas.’
Northern Samar, together with the provinces of Samar and Eastern Samar, have been identified by the military in the region to still have an active insurgency problem.
To recall, the soldiers belonging to the 14th Infantry Battalion based in Oras, also in Eastern Samar, encountered an estimated 50 members of the New People’s Army (NPAs) in sitio Bangin of Barangay Pananag-an, a coastal village which is six hour sea travel from the city proper or Borongan.
Killed during the November 11 encounter, with the NPA used six improvised explosive devices, were Sgt.Rex Jadulco; Corporal Ronaldo Go; Cpl.Limar Banug; Private First Class Kent Loyd Agullo; Private Charlie del Rosario and Private First Class Junmar Buranday.
Injured were Sgt. Kenneth John Arcina; Sgt. Cyril Baja; Sgt. Rando Soria;Pfc Albert Abegonia;Pfc Denmark Gonsaza;Pfc Dandreb Gealon;Pfc Reil Bilason;Pfc Gilbert Renegado;Pfc Rex Batis;Pfc Jerwin Omrob;Pvt Darwin Aborquez;Pvt Joshua Pacuan;Pvt Roger Moore Ditche; Sgt Marlon Orsal;Cpl Dominador Antonio;Cpl Aljon Aguillos;Cpl Linlito Donayre; Pfc Mark Geric De Leon; Pfc Rene Abuda; and Pvt Jayson Beros.
During his Nov.15 visit, President Duterte the six slain soldiers were given posthumous awards of the Order of Lapu-Lapu, Rank of Kalasag while the wounded soldiers were conferred by their Commander-in-Chief the Order of Lapu-Lapu, Rank of Kampilan.
The Order of Lapu-Lapu is given to persons in the government or private sector who have rendered extraordinary service or have made an exceptional contributions to the success of the President’s campaign or advocacy.
The Kampilan Medal is conferred on persons who were seriously wounded or suffered great loss of property as direct result of their participation in such action while the Kalasag Medal is given to officials and personnel of the government and private individuals who lost their lives as a direct result of their participation in an activity pursuant to a campaign or advocacy of the President.
Pres. Duterte had earlier directed the soldiers in the region, which is under the command of Major Gen. Pio Diñoso III, to end its insurgency problem before he steps down in office in 2022. (JOEY A. GABIETA)