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USA’s most beautiful transgender is from Tacloban

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kim
KIM HUDEC

Miss International Queen bet

TACLOBAN CITY– Camille Anderson may be the representative of the United States in this year’s Miss International Queen beauty tilt but she remains proud of her lineage- she is from this city.
The Miss International Queen is a beauty and brain search for transgender women and is staged in Pattaya City, Thailand since 2004.
The current title holder is a Filipina transgender, Trixie Maristela.
“The pageant will give me an opportunity to reach out to many people to help raise awareness about the transgender community,” said Anderson, 36, whose real name is Kim Cordeta-Hudec and works as an Oncology nurse in Los Angeles, California.
She specializes in critical care nursing, as well as administering chemotherapy and biotherapy to cancer patients.
“ As a nurse to cancer patients, I help them physically, emotionally and mentally, giving them hope not to give up,” Anderson explained the nature of her work at Torrance Memorial.
She finished her Nursing at the Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical Foundation, this city in March 2001. She is an achiever being the class president of the nursing college and also awarded Academic Excellence Class Nightingaleans.
She moved to the US on April 2001.
“I am very proud of my Filipino ancestry. It is my roots; being raised in Tacloban City influenced me a lot with my values and motivated me to reach my goals in life,” she said.
“I am blessed to have the support of my family, and friends and encouragement from many people especially my husband who pushes me and motivates me to the best of my ability,” Anderson added.
The beauty queen, who counts dancing, skiing, among others, as her hobbies, is married to Marco Anderson, a model and an athlete for three years now.
When she was growing up, she knew she always wanted to become a beauty queen and she worked for it.
She was crowned as Miss USA and Miss Los Angeles Pride of both in 2014 and last year, as the Queen Universe.
“I believe that beauty pageants does not only showcase beauty and glamour but also gives one an opportunity to become a role model for so many people who suffer low self-esteem and fear of coming-out,” Anderson said.
“Everything should be perfect. Now that I am an official candidate, I want to enjoy the pageant. I am grateful and excited for this journey,” she said.
Anderson said that winning the titles opened so many doors for her to participate in fund raising events and outreach programs that benefit the LGBT(lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community and the under privileged youth.
When Tacloban was barreled by supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ in 2013, she came to the city, wearing her Queen Universe crown.
Not only she was able to visit her family but also initiated a food drive, gave toys to children and spent ample time with them.
Mykel Tenefrancia, a top-notch make-up artist from Tacloban will fly to Thailand as member of team USA do her face.
The pageant will officially start on October 30 and will have its coronation night on November 11 in Pattaya, Thailand. (VICKY C. ARNAIZ)

Mayor Romualdez promotes Tacloban products during this year’s Bahandi Festival

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madame

TACLOBAN CITY- In its quest to promote Tacloban as a major producer of products made of local materials, the city government led by Mayor Cristina Romualdez joined this year’s Bahandi Festival.
The festival was held at SM Megamall last October 5-9.
The Department Trade & Industry -8 (DTI)-led yearly event provides a venue to promote and market locally produced product and its tourism destination for domestic and global buyer clients.
This year’s theme is: Promoting pride, Inspiring Innovation, Celebrating Change.
Tacloban took pride in building back after it was badly hit by supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ in 2013.
Through the able leadership of Mayor Cristina, the resilient city of Tacloban and gateway of Eastern Visayas, stood up to promote it as a clean, green & resilient city that has several fine products to offer made from indigenous materials.
Also showcased by the local producers from Tacloban who joined the Bahandi Festival were delicacies, fashion native accessories, food items, gift decors, handicraft furniture and furnishings.
The various tourist destinations and landmarks of Tacloban were also showcased during the 5-day event. (GAY B.GASPAY, TIM CANES, TISAT)

Samar officials vow to help end PAGs operations

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Yet another effort

CALBAYOG CITY- Samar local officials have vowed to support and respect the latest initiative to stop killing incidents in the province, particularly in the first district.
The declaration of the officials, led by Governor Sharee Ann Tan and Rep, Edgar Mary Sarmiento, was made during the signing of an agreement that aims to end the proliferation of the private armed groups in the district.
Also present during the October 11 occasion were Mayors Gemma Zosa of Sta. Margarita; Melissa Dela Cruz of Matuguinao; Joseph Grey of San Jorge and Ronaldo Aquino of this city.
Incidentally, these areas are considered where there are presence of private armed groups which are blamed in the spate of killings mostly involving barangay officials and supporters of local officials.
Earlier, Police Director General Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa has directed the provincial police office to dismantle the PAGs in Samar.
Gov. Tan said that she hopes that the Oct.11 signing of a covenant calling for the dismantling of PAGs would be the last one as she noted that similar agreements have been signed previously but failed for members of the PAGs to be neutralized.
“I’m still positive with the new leaders. I hope that this will be the last time that I will sign a paper that aims to address the problem on PAGs because if not, I will never sign any document with the same purpose,” she said.
“I would like to appeal to the PNP and AFP, I will not ask for more (except) for equality and fairness because it is hard when you are asking for help and no one seems to hear you,” Tan added.
Rep. Sarmiento also shared the sentiment of the governor as he asked local officials to observe and respect the covenant.
He also appealed to the mayors to support their respective police or law enforcers instead of seeking for their ouster.
“I am pleading everyone to trust them, don’t replace them,” Sarmiento said.
For his part, Mayor Aquino, said that he too would like to see the end of violence not only in Calbayog but in the entire province perpetrated by armed groups.
“Now is the time for us to stand to end this violence, let us dismantle these PAGs and let there be justice for all those who died in this senseless act of murder,” he said.
Records from both the police and Army disclosed that 63 killing incidents have took place in the first district of Samar with members of private armed groups as responsible.
Top police and Army officials were also present during the signing of the covenant.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

Albuera Mayor Espinosa pleads not guilty on drugs, firearms charges

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TACLOBAN CITY – Detained Albuera, Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr., who is facing charges for violation of firearms and illegal drugs appeared in Baybay City court on October 12 for his arraignment.
He pleaded not guilty to the illegal possession of firearms case while his lawyer, Atty. Lailanie Villarino filed a motion to quash or make the warrant of arrest invalid for the case on violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The arraignment started at 9:26 a.m. and lasted for only 30 minutes inside the heavily guarded Regional Trial Court Branch 14 in Baybay City under Judge Carlos Arguelles.
Accompanied by his family, the mayor’s camp filed a motion to transfer custody to the Albuera police station and motion to fix amount of bail for the case on violating the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act.
Prosecutors were given five days to study the motions. The next hearing was scheduled on October 19.
Espinosa has been detained at the Leyte sub-provincial jail in this city after his arrest on October 5.
The mayor, whose son, Kerwin, the region’s top drug lord, is alone in a detention cell.
Provincial jail warden Homobono Bardillon said isolating the mayor from other inmates is part of their security measures, considering that Espinosa is a high profile detainee.
“We can assure of the mayor’s safety in Baybay sub-provincial jail especially with the deployment of more policemen here,” Bardillon added.
It can be recalled that Espinosa surrendered to Police Chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa on Aug. 2 few hours after President Rodrigo Duterte demanded for his surrender and Kerwin within 24 hours or face a “shoot on sight.”
The son remained at-large.
After four days, Dela Rosa kicked out Espinosa from his official residence after the son failed to meet the deadline for him to surrender.
He returned to his hometown on Aug. 16 and stayed at the municipal hall day and night for about a week before he asked for police protection.
Driven by fear for his life, the mayor had temporarily held office at the town police station from Aug. 25 until his arrest. His son has been hiding in Malaysia, according to police reports. (SARWELL Q.MENIANO/RONNIE C. ROA)

‘Yolanda’ survivors narrate experiences during story-sharing event

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Palo Councilor Ena Monge-Torres, Mayor Remedios Petilla, Hiroshi Kamawura of ATDO, Elizabeth Mendoza, representing Natalia Ilieve of ABU, and Erlinda Ayles. (Photo by Vicky C. Arnaiz)
Palo Councilor Ena Monge-Torres, Mayor Remedios Petilla, Hiroshi Kamawura of ATDO, Elizabeth Mendoza, representing Natalia Ilieve of ABU, and Erlinda Ayles. (Photo by Vicky C. Arnaiz)
Palo Councilor Ena Monge-Torres, Mayor Remedios Petilla, Hiroshi Kamawura of ATDO, Elizabeth Mendoza, representing Natalia Ilieve of ABU, and Erlinda Ayles.
(Photo by Vicky C. Arnaiz)

3rd year commemoration

VICKY C. ARNAIZ

PALO, Leyte- Trinidad Barbosa could still poignantly recall the harrowing experience that she and her family went through when supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ ripped through the region in 2013.
Barbosa was rendered widow after her husband died when their house collapsed due to the pounding of strong winds and heavy rain generated by Yolanda, the worst typhoon ever witnessed by world.
While their lives, to count her eight children, were clear in danger, Barbosa said that they could not just leave her dead husband inside at their destroyed house in Barangay Guadalupe, a coastal village in Baybay City.
Her husband, suffering from a debilitating ailment, was already dead even before Yolanda made its landfall
“I am sickly and it kept my children worried. I don’t want to leave my deceased husband alone in the house. I kept on crying that my son had to carry me to transfer to the evacuation center,” Barbosa, 52, in a heart wrenching narration said.
She said her children tied her husband to the bed then tied it to another bed. After the fury of Yolanda waned around 12 noon, she found there was nothing left of their belongings except the bed and her husband.
“All were washed out,” recalled Barbosa, whose story left the audience misty-eyed.
Barbosa was among those who participated and narrated their stories related to the onslaught of Yolanda dubbed as “Yolanda survivors: Show and Tell” organized by the Eastern Visayas Region Librarians Council (EVRLC) on Thursday (Oc.7) in this town.
The sharing of stories was done after the opening of the exhibit of photos and stories at the venue.
Elizabeth Mendoza, representative of Natalia Ilieva, executive assistant to the secretary-general of Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) said that “we are here to help you archive your stories so that others will learn from your experiences.”
Yolanda is considered as the world’s strongest typhoon to hit inland and hearing stories and archiving it is very important.
“We are here because you never wean the past. Life goes on and your stories are to be told in all forms of media. We have to broadcast, print and digitalized it,” Mendoza, director of Courseline Training Center (CTC) based in Cagayan Valley, said.
“If one has no Internet connection at least you have the printed materials in your hand,” she added.
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union is an organization based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with 280 broadcaster-members across the world.
It is one of the organizations that immediately responded the call of help after the monster typhoon hit the Philippines.
Lately, CTC is doing literacy campaign on health education, disaster preparedness especially for the persons with disability (PWDs), media literacy and community education with the support from ABU.
Palo Mayor Remedios “Matin” Petilla graced the event and inspired the group of how her constituents were helping each other after the massive typhoon.
“Helping others would also heal ourselves,” she said.
The stories were heartbreaking which the members of the library association hope to published the book.
The activity was also in line with the celebration of the United Nations International Disaster Reduction Day on Oct. 13, 2016.

Catbalogan mayor announces major projects, programs

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Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan
Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan
Mayor Stephany Uy-Tan

First 100 days in office

CATBALOGAN CITY-The mayor of this city, Stephany Uy-Tan, reported that her first 100 days in office of her second term was remarkable, citing several projects and programs implemented during the period.
Uy-Tan, for one, reported that during the first 100 days in office, she had signed an agreement with the management of the Philippine Primark Properties, Inc. which will construct a business center in Catbalogan.
The proposed business center which is expected to house some of the country’s well-known business establishments will be located near the city’s public market.
“Before the end of this year, Primark will also help in repairing our central public and coastal market,” the city mayor said.
Uy-Tan also reported that the income of the city government for the first quarter has reached P55 million which is just a P9 million difference from their target collection for this fiscal year.
The City Treasurer’s Office had earlier made a target collection from local taxes of P 64 million.
The city mayor also reported that Catbalogan’s share on internal revenue allotment has now reached P547 million which is higher compared to last year’s P466 million.
In her report to her people, Mayor Uy-Tan also said that she had initiated several other projects that could help Catbalogan become a competitive city in terms of attracting more investors and in the process, help it become economically developed.
For one, she established the City Economic Enterprise and Investment Potentials charged to coordinate with potential investors to the city for them to look, for instance, their desired locations where they could put up their businesses.
Mayor Uy-Tan also said that she is also strengthening their campaign to attract more tourists by putting up tourism center and tour packages within the city.
Protecting and preserving the city’s environment from continued climate change is also among the priority programs that she initiated in her first 100 days in office which included adopt-a-estero campaign and proper waste management.
She also reported that a housing project has been initiated by her administration. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)

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