CABUCGAYAN, Biliran – The mayor of this town is encouraging its constituents, including the other municipalities, to plant trees in denuded areas so as to help prevent future landslides or floodings when heavy rains occur due to typhoons.
Town Mayor Edwin Masbang, in an interview, said that reforestation must be undertaken in particular in hilly or mountainous areas which are prone to landslides.
The suggestion of Masbang came in the wake of several landslide incidents that hit Biliran after tropical storm ‘Urduja’ struck the province on December 16 last year which killed 52 people, many still missing.
In his town, landslides occurred in the villages of Lo-ok and Balaquid though no one was hurt as the incidents happened far from where the houses are located.
Cabugcayan has a seven-hectare rain forest demonstration farm funded by the Yale University based in the United States and Visayas State University, based in Baybay City.
The model farm, which was started last October 2017, will serve as a show window for rainforest reforestation in the province, Masbang added.
Masbang disclosed that his town has also an ongoing agro-forestry reforestation project with the DENR 8 under its National Greening Program.
Carlito Tuballa, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-8) assistant regional director for technical services, said that their office is providing assistance to Cabucgayan of its efforts to rehabilitate and preserve its environment. (RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)
Biliran mayor encourages planting of trees as natural protection against landslides, floodings
Fire gutted down business establishment at Tacloban city public market
TACLOBAN CITY- A business establishment located at this city’s main public market was gutted down with fire on Tuesday (January 2) with faulty electrical wiring seen as the cause of the incident.
Fire Officer 2 Nelson Guiraldo of the Bureau of Fire and Protection (BFP), based here, said that the establishment, A. Salinas Trading, was gutted down by fire at about 8:15 in the morning.
Rescuing firemen declared a fire out after about an hour after the incident broke out.
Based on their initial investigation, faulty electrical wiring was seen as the cause of the fire at the said business establishment whose second floor was mostly made of light materials.
Guiraldo said that P1.2 million of properties were destroyed due to the fire incident.
No one was injured due to the incident, first in the city for this New Year.(EDIZON CAHINDO, LNU Student Intern)
Relief goods distribution ongoing in flood-affected barangays of Tacloban
TACLOBAN CITY (CIO) – Some 1,390 packs of relief goods were distributed by Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez and SM Foundation to flood-affected residents in Barangay 63-Sagkahan on December 20, 2017.
SM Savemore Tacloban head manager Marlon S. Tan and Mayor Romualdez distributed relief packs to residents containing 4 tins of canned goods, 4 cup noodles, purified water,1 kilo rice and hygiene kits as part of the ongoing relief efforts of the city government in barangays affected by flooding caused by tropical storm ‘Urduja’.
Many of those affected said their houses were submerged in knee or waist-deep waters.
The city government has dispatched its rapid assessment team in barangays to assess the damage caused by the flooding.
To date, the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) have provided relief goods to 5,035 families in 99 city barangays affected by floodwaters. (HENRY JAMES G.ROCA)
65 former drug users in EV avail livelihood training
PALO, Leyte- About 65 drug surrenderees will be given a new lease of life by the Philippine National Police(PNP) in the region through a skills and livelihood training.
This was disclosed by Chief Supt. Gilberto Cruz, police regional director, who said that the skills and livelihood training will start this month and will be held at the regional police headquarters, this town.
In all, the activity will cover 45 days and will involve training on welding, food processing, tailoring, electronics, cell phone repair, motorcycle and bicycle repair, and massage therapy.
According to Cruz, they have originally targeted 200 former drug addicts for this activity but due to the series of calamities that hit the region, only 65 of them managed to attend the orientation held last December 19.
The police regional director also said that the beneficiaries of this training program will also undergo survival training which they can help during a calamity; traffic management, and environmental protection and preservation.
“These training that they will undergo will help them become useful again and they could be of help during times of calamities and emergencies, with them acting as rescuers,” Cruz said.
The Technical Education Skills and Development Authority(TESDA), Department of Health(DOH), the local government offices of the six provinces and seven cities, Department of Labor and Employment(DOLE), Philippine Red Cross(PRC), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Tacloban City Rescue Unit, Bureau of Fire Protection(BFP) and Newfound way Treatment Center are the partners of the program.
Among the beneficiaries of the program are ‘Gilboy’ from Samar and ‘Kimberly’ from Southern Leyte who are to undergo training on massage therapy.
Both admitted that they tried using illegal drugs but were not addicted to it.
It was their friends who persuaded them to used illegal drugs with their respective family only learned that they were into illegal drugs after they voluntarily surrendered under the government’s ‘Oplan: Tokhang.’
“I want to grab this opportunity that is why I didn’t hesitate to sign up,” Gilboy said.
Gilboy and Kimberly said that they are willing to share the skills that they will learn with their fellow drug surrenderees so that they could live a normal life again.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
‘Urduja’ destroys P1.44-B agri products in E. Visayas
TACLOBAN CITY-Damage to agriculture in the region after it was pummeled by tropical storm ‘Urduja’ has reached more than P1.44 billion, affecting more than 44,500 farmers.
Reports from the regional office of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said that out of its six provinces, it’s the province of Samar that reported that biggest damage to its agriculture in the amount of P421.37 million.
Biliran, meantime, the hard-hit town in the region due to Urduja in terms of loss of lives (52), reported damage to its agriculture at P242.49 million.
Leyte posted damage to its agriculture at P397.55 million; Eastern Samar, P348.69 million; Northern Samar, P27.63 million and Southern Leyte, P5.49 million.
Urduja, which struck the region on December 16, affected 44,594 farmers with Leyte posting the highest number of affected farmers at 21,065.
Eastern Samar has 7,892 farmers affected; Biliran, 7,520; Samar, 5,580; Northern Samar, 2,403; and Southern Leyte, 135 farmers.
About 42,287.18 hectares of rice fields in the region were hit by the massive flooding spawned by Urduja.
Francis Rosaroso, DA regional information officer, said that as part of their assistance to the affected farmers, they are to distribute 6,000 bags of certified seeds to the affected farmers, particularly in Biliran.
“We are also waiting for the release of about 15,000 bags loan to the region by our counterparts from Region 3,” Rosaroso said.
He added that they are still confident that despite of the losses the agriculture sector sustained due to the storm, DA-8 remains confident of achieving its goal of 1.05 metric tons of palay production for the year.
Last year, more than 964.8 million metric tons of palay were produced by farmers in the region.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
Cavite double murder suspect surrendered before police in Borongan City
TACLOBAN CITY- The prime suspect in a gruesome murder of a mother and daughter in General Trias, Cavite has voluntarily surrendered before police authorities of the provincial headquarters of the Philippine National Police in Borongan City.
Ruel Galvan Cabatingan, 36, turned himself in before Chief Inspector Cirilo Nicart, Jr., operations chief of the provincial PNP at around 7:30 am Thursday(December 28).
Cabatingan, however, declined to narrate how he murdered Ruby Gamos,34, and her daughter Shaniah Nicole,7, Nicart, in a phone interview, said.
“He admitted to the crime but told me that he would only speak about it before the court,” the police officer said.
According to Nicart, Cabatingan has been staying with his brother, Fernando Cabatingan Jr., in Barangay Maybacong, Borongan City, since December 14.
Nicart and his men picked up Cabatingan at the house of his brother.
Cabatingan Jr. is residing and working in Borongan for years now.
The dead bodies of Gamos and her child were discovered on December 12 inside their house at Kensington, Barangay Navarro, General Trias City.
The suspect was immediately brought to Cavite, Chief Supt. Gilberto Cruz, police regional director, said.
“His brother was not aware that he was involved in a crime. But when he learned about it (through news), he convinced him to surrender to us,” Nicart.
Nicart and the suspect’s brother belong to Evangelical Church.
“We are happy that he decided to surrender considering that this is a sensational crime,” Nicart said. (JOEY A. GABIETA/ROEL T. AMAZONA)