BY: ROEL T. AMAZONA

TACLOBAN CITY – The entire province of Northern Samar is now under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) after the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease (RIATF8) and Regional Task Force on COVID-19 (RTF8) approved the request of Governor Edwin Ongchuan to place the province on a higher quarantine status.
The two councils issued Joint Resolution No. 33 on October 19, granting the request that will last for 15 days starting October 20.
The body also approved the request of Gov. Ongchuan to temporarily suspend the arrival of locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and returning residents for 14 days.
Under the joint resolution, except for the 23 villages in the municipal proper of Catarman, the capital town of the province that was placed under Modified ECQ, all other villages in the town and other municipalities in Northern Samar are placed under GCQ.
“As of October 18, 2020 The Department of Health Center for Health and Development VIII reported that there 343 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province of Northern Samar in 21 affected municipalities, with the capital town of Catarman recording the most number at 130 confirmed COVID-19 cases. In addition, the province has the second highest number of active COVID-19 cases in the region with 164 cases, 61 of which are in Catarman,” the resolution reads.
As of October 20, Northern Samar has a total of 384 COVID-19 cases where 299 are active cases, while 153 had already recovered, and two recorded deaths.Only two towns of the 24 municipalities of the province are still COVID-19 free or have no cases since the region first recorded COVID-19 in March.
These are the island towns of San Vicente and San Antonio.
Of the 22 towns with confirmed cases, Catarman has the most cases with 135, followed by Laoang with 97.
Other towns with double digit cases of COVID-19 are Gamay (18), Palapag (17), Mondragon (16), Allen (15), Lavezares (13), and San Roque (12).
Town with single digit cases of COVID-19 are San Isidro (9), San Jose (8), Capul (7), Victoria (6), Mapanas, Silvino Lobos, and Lope de Vega (4), Bobon (3), and Catubig, Lapinig, and Las Navas (2).
Majority of the COVID-19 cases Catarman are from 23 villages that are placed under MECQ, while most of 97 cases in Laoang are from the sub-provincial jail.

By: ROEL T. AMAZONA

TACLOBAN CITY-All is now set for today’s 76th Leyte Gulf Landings anniversary.
But unlike in previous anniversaries, this year’s commemorative event will not only be low-key but will go virtual amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
The annual event is split into two parts, the ‘live’ event for the flag raising and wreath laying ceremonies while the commemorative program will be a virtual event.
The decision to make the celebration largely in a virtual setup is due to the restrictions imposed under the quarantine due to COVID-19 pandemic like mass gathering.
Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla, who will spearhead the historic occasion, will deliver his speech at the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park in Barangay Candahug, Palo town, where the program is being held.
The virtual commemorative program will follow the usual sequence of the yearly event that starts with the invocation, then welcome remarks of the Palo Mayor Frances Ann Petilla.
This will be followed by the tribute to the veterans and lighting of the peace torch. A virtual solidarity greetings from Veterans Federation of the Philippines president Retired Justice Manuel Pamaran and Philippine Veterans Affairs Office Administrator (PVAO) Undersecretary Ernesto Carolina will follow.
Australian Ambassador Steven James Robinsons, New Zealand Defense Attaché Group Captain Nick McMillan, Deputy Head of Mission for the embassy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Alastair Totty, Naval Attaché of the United State of America Embassy Captain noel Corpus, and Japan Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Minister Yasushi Yamamoto are to deliver their message through online.
President Rodrigo Duterte is also expected to ‘attend’ this year’s commemorative program as he will deliver an online message.
Despite the threat of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), Gov. Petilla said that the province should continue celebrating the 76th Leyte Gulf Landing Commemoration to honor the bravery of the World War II veterans.
“We have to commemorate this big event that happened 76 years ago. We have to remember the patriotism, the sacrifices, and the heroism of the veterans. We still have living veterans, we have to honor them because of their bravery we learned how to face the crisis brought by corona virus and we ought to pray for them,” Petilla said during a virtual press conference organized by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).
Petilla added that the activities and program of the 76th Leyte Gulf Landing will be seen on social media for everyone to have access especially the youth so they will be aware and understand the vital role of the veterans played in shaping the future of the country.
“They sacrificed their lives to give us good life. Let’s make sure that we sustain that. That we have a good country and a good life in honor of our veterans. We hope that we can continuously instill awareness in our youth,”he said.
Petilla added that the province will also revisit the proposal to the Department of Education to include the significance of Leyte Gulf Landings in the school curriculum.
At present, the region has 92 surviving World War II veterans, were 58 are in Leyte; 21 in Samar Island, and 12 are from Biliran.
The oldest of these veterans is a 104-year old from Javier town.
The surviving veterans are provided assistance by the government with P20,000 monthly compensation aside from wheel chairs, canes, and disability pension of P1,700 per month, according to Paul Harry Lobrigo of Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO).
Leyte province annually commemorates the Leyte Gulf Landings which celebrates the arrival and return of the Allied Forces to the Philippines lead by General Douglas McArthur to end World War II and the occupation of Japanese Forces in the country.
The Leyte Gulf battle is considered the largest naval battle in recorded history.
His arrival signaled the fulfillment of Gen. MacArthur’s famous words, “I shall return,” after going to Australia to muster support from the Allied forces in the quest to liberate the Philippines from the Japanese occupation.

Due to the surge of COVID-19 inside the jail facility

TACLOBAN CITY – The mayor of Laoang town in Northern Samar had made a request to place under enhanced community quarantine(ECQ) the village where the subprovincial jail is located which has infected many of its jail guards and inmates.
In a communication addressed to Regional Director Lord Byron Torrecarion, who chairs the Regional Task Force on COVID-19, Mayor Harris Ongchuan want Barangay Doña Luisa be placed under ECQ as part of their zoning containment strategy against further spread of the coronavirus disease(COVID-19).
The Laoang subprovincial jail in Brgy. Doña Luisa, about 1.5 kms away from the town center, recorded 58 new COVID-19 cases based on the report of the Department of Health (DOH) here in the region.
Last Oct.9, seven inmates were confirmed to acquired COVID-19. Mayor Ongchuan immediately placed the entire facility under lockdown.
This means that as of Thursday (Oct.15), there are now 53 inmates and 15 jail guards who were tested positive of COVID-19 at the jail facility.
“While we are doing our best to contain the spread of the virus inside this detention facility, we are uncertain as to the extent of affectation specially that some of the Covid-infected are jail guards who in and out of the facility”, Mayor Ongchuan said on letter to Torrecarion on Wednesday (Oct.14).
“In this connection, we respectfully request for your approval to place Brgy. Doña Luisa where the Laoang subprovincial jail is located under ECQ as part of the zoning containment strategy,”he added.
Ongchuan also said that in just a week, COVID-19 cases in the municipality had increased to 67, the mayor said.
Ongchuan also said that a health worker and a government employee of their town were also infected of the dreaded virus. Both are confined at the Northern Samar Provincial Hospital in Catarman.
The infected inmates and jail guards are currently being managed and treated in a common facility inside the subprovincial jail.
Governor Edwin Ongchuan had provided assistance to the jail facility by giving additional food subsidy, vitamins and food supplements to all inmates and jail guards at the subprovincial jail, provincial information officer John Allen Berbon said.
“Last March, the facility allowed limited number of individuals who could visit the jail but when cases of COVID-19 in the region started to surge in June, the governor had advised to temporary suspend visitation rights,” he disclosed.
DOH Regional Director Minerva Molon said that they are looking at three possibility why COVID-19 infected the jail guards and the inmates.
Among the possible reasons were the arrival of new inmates, among jail guards and from those who visit the facility.
A team from their surveillance unit went to Laoang subprovincial jail last Thursday (Oct.15) to check and talk with the local government unit and jail officials on what assistance that they still need from the health agency to prevent the further spread of transmission. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)