PALO, Leyte — The construction of the P1.62 billion diversion road with flood control and drainage systems will push through in 2019 to decongest traffic and curb flooding in areas bordering this town and the regional capital.
The proposed 2.87-km., four-lane road along Candahug, Pawing and Campetic villages will be the first of its kind in Eastern Visayas designed to decongest traffic and stop perennial flooding.
“Floodwater remains in these areas for weeks. That is why these have been idle lands until now. The road and drainage project will convert vacant lots into prime commercial districts,” Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 8 (Eastern Visayas) Director Edgar Tabacon told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Friday.
The project, to be implemented in six packages next year, will mitigate massive flooding in highly-populated communities in Marasbaras, Caibaan, Calanipawan and V&G Subdivision in Tacloban City; Candahug, Pawing, and Campetic villages in Palo town.
This is an urgent project identified by the Regional Development Council as part of the department’s mandate to construct new roads to enhance the national road systems nationwide.
The road will serve as an alternative route from Tacloban City going to the eastern and western parts of Leyte, addressing heavy traffic at the junction of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s regional office.
Palo, the nearest town to Tacloban, is the seat of most government departments, bureaus and regional offices in Eastern Visayas. It is also home to the offices of the ecclesiastical government of the Roman Catholic Church Archdiocese of Palo.
The infrastructure, included for funding in 2019, can be considered as a diversion road since it will start at a national secondary road leading to the airport (San Jose, Tacloban – Candahug, Palo Road) and ends at a national primary road (Maharlika Highway), Tabacon said.
Of the P1.62 billion proposed budget, P1.13 billion is intended for civil works and P490.18 million for right-of-way acquisition. The inclusion of outlay to acquire properties is expected to expedite the road construction phase, the official added.
Building alternative roads, widening, and connecting gaps along national roads has been the priority of Public Works Secretary Mark Villar to decongest traffic in two to three years. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)

NAVAL, Biliran- The P100 million worth of project of road opening and concreting of access road going to Germohenes Waterfalls in Biliran, Biliran has started construction.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) – Biliran District Engineering Office (DEO) implemented the project under its 2018 Local Infrastructure Program (LIP) with a total length of 2.9-kilometers.
According to district engineer David Adongay Jr., the project covers the construction of 100- meter length spillway and a rehabilitation of 60-meter existing local road that was washed out by tropical storm ‘Urduja’ late last year.
From its construction date on June 3, 2018, the project has accomplished 3% as of June 30, 2018. Road excavation works is on-going on the said project.
It is under contract with Samarinan Construction and Development Corp. and EZJones Construction Inc., a joint venture firm.
Adongay said that the completion of the project will reduce the walking time from 4-5 hours to just 30 minutes to reach the beautiful Germohenes Waterfalls.
Biliran is known as an island of waterfalls with more than 30 waterfalls in its mountainous province.
The road opening and concreting of access road project going to Germohenes Waterfalls will add another tourist destination in the province of Biliran that will encourage more local and foreign tourists to visit the place.
The project is proposed to be completed in January 28, 2019.
Meanwhile, Adongay reported that under its 2018 project implementation, Biliran DEO has completed nine projects with 38 on-going and 13 Not-Yet-Started (NYS) projects with an overall accomplishment of 29.49% as of June 30, 2018.
Biliran DEO has a total projects of 60 with a budget amount of P1.6 billion under the General Appropriation Act (GAA) of year 2018. (PR)

CALBAYOG CITY – DPWH-Samar First District Engineering Office (SFDEO) undergoes 2nd quarter inspection of service vehicles and equipment on July 18, 2018.
Inspectors from the Regional Office, Terencio Regala and Ma. Luisa V. Pedrosa inspected 25 service vehicles assessing their cleanliness, accessories’ functions and updated Land Transportation Office (LTO) registrations as well as the driver’s license of the operators of these vehicles.
“This inspection ensures that the service vehicles used by this office are safe for the roads and that their drivers have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities in compliance with not only DPWH standards but also to the standards of other government agencies such as the LTO and Highway Patrol Group,” said Inspector Pedrosa.
On the last vehicle inspection conducted last April 24, 2018, SFDEO ranked 2nd place among the 13 District Engineering Offices in Region VIII because it satisfactorily complied with all of the standards required in the use and maintenance of its service vehicles.
The final findings and assessment for this quarter will be communicated back as soon as it is evaluated in the Regional Office.
(JASON DE LOS ANGELES)

BURAUEN, Leyte- The long wait is over.
The Cadahunan Elementary School is one of the barrio schools of this town which is under the Burauen North District.
Before it was just a primary school with only two teachers and two classrooms with combination classes of Grades 1 and 2 and Grade 3 and 4.
The school became a complete elementary school when the Grades 5 and 6 classes were opened in the school year 2014-2015.
There was an additional teacher assigned for these grade levels. Because of the limited classrooms, the first classroom were occupied by the Grade 3 and 4 classes while the other classroom was shared by the Grade 1 and 2 classes and Grade 5 and 6 classes. They only put a division at the center.
Due to the mandatory opening of the Kindergarten class for the K to 12 program, the school head, teachers, and stakeholders find ways and means to build a makeshift to accommodate the Kindergarten class. Another teacher was deployed to handle the class.
Now, the long wait is over to have additional classroom because the school was given a 1-unit with 2 classroom building by the Department of Public Works and Highways Regional Office in partnership with the Leyte Division of the Department of Education.
The construction started on January 15, 2018 and was finished on June 19, 2018.
The newly-constructed building was turned over to the school on June 29, 2018 and now occupied by the Kindergarten and Grade I and II classes respectively.
It is a big help to the teachers and pupils and especially the children in Barangay Cadahunan, where the school is is located, to have a classroom that is conducive for learning.
(Note: The author is a school head of Cadahunan Elementary School in Burauen, Leyte).

SOUTHERN LEYTE- All public funds received have been duly accounted for.
This was the central message conveyed as the provincial government here sent a Fund Utilization Report to the city government of Davao.
The report, marked received by the city accountant office of Davao July 9, 2018, covered the P 3 million cash assistance donated to the province in the aftermath of typhoon Yolanda in November, 2013.
“As seen in the report, the total amount disbursed is P 2,992,678.68. Also enclosed is a check amounting to P 7,321.32 representing the balance thereof,” wrote Gov. Christopherson Yap to Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio in a letter dated July 5, 2018, a copy of which was obtained by PIA.
An official receipt was given to the returned, unspent money.
As gleaned in the report, the disbursed amounts were given to all the 18 municipalities and one city in an almost equal amount of P 100,000.00 per LGU, in order to aid constituents with partially damaged houses,
Other amounts were used to purchase medicines for disaster victims, and still others were given to individuals whose houses were totally damaged.
“We would once again take this opportunity to thank the City Government of Davao for your generous gift. It has helped many of our constituents who were victims of the typhoon,” Gov. Yap said in his letter. (PIA8-Southern Leyte)

Leading Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific (PSE: CEB) has signed an agreement with Switzerland-based IPR Conversions Ltd to convert two of its ATR 72-500 passenger aircraft into freighter planes. This will make Cebu Pacific the only passenger airline in the Philippines with dedicated cargo planes.
“We will be able to offer cargo capacity that no other carrier in the Philippines can provide,” said Lance Gokongwei, President and CEO of Cebu Pacific, “With the freighter aircraft, we will further support the growing needs of the logistics industry, especially as the Philippines’ e-commerce businesses expand rapidly and look for faster delivery schedules.”
Cebu Pacific expects to receive the first of two converted aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2018. The cargo aircraft will continue to be operated through CEB’s wholly owned subsidiary, CebGo.
IPR Conversions, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is one of the leading ATR freighter conversion service providers in the world. The conversion of two of CEB’s passenger ATR 72-500 aircraft into dedicated air freighters involves the installation of a large cargo door, allowing standard containers and pallets used throughout the aviation industry to be loaded. The aircraft will have space for seven (7) AKE Unit Load Device (ULD) containers; and can carry more than seven (7) tons of cargo.
Both aircraft will be converted at the facility of Sabena Technics DNR S.A.S. in Dinard, France. Sabena is one of France’s leading maintenance and modification services (MRO) providers for both civilian and military aircraft.
This marks the first foray of Cebu Pacific in operating specialized aircraft to transport cargo. With a longer body to fit in more freight, an increased wingspan and more powerful turboprop engines, the ATR aircraft is ideal for expediting the transport of high-value and time-sensitive commodities such as marine products, computing equipment and even heavy machinery to various points across the country. It is suited to landing and taking-off in airports with runways less than 1.2 kilometers long—which is too short for jet aircraft.
Only about one-third of the 90 airports in the Philippines can land jets.
Cebu Pacific has about 50% market share for domestic air cargo, currently utilizing belly space of its passenger aircraft fleet. CEB’s cargo services have grown considerably, with revenues growing 29% in 2017, to PHP4.6 Billion; and 26% in the first quarter of 2018, to PHP1.3 Billion. (PR)