BOBON, Northern Samar- Mayor Reny Celespara of this town attended the “1st International Conference on Integrative Risk Reduction Management” held at the Eastern Samar State University (ESSU) in Borongan City. Mayor Celespara was joined by municipal disaster risk reduction management council head Jose Esquillo during the gathering held from September 3 to 5. The three-day gathering was participated by 250 representatives from various local government units, provincial and municipal risk reduction chiefs, colleges and universities representatives and even from the Mindanao region discussed on good governance in crisis situation as well as the monitoring of reconstruction efforts of local and international community. Both Mayor Celespara and Esquillo talked on their expertise on environmental and risk reduction management issues aside from the relief operations through humanitarian and emergency aids. Given emphasis during the gathering was on the climate change and disaster application of lessons during the onslaught of supertyphoon Yolanda. Also discussed which was anchored on five specific priorities were making risk reduction a priority; improving risk information and early warning; building a culture of safety and resilience; reducing risks in the key sector, and as well strengthening preparedness for response. On the last day of the conference, an “on-site planning workshop” was conducted, visiting communities in Eastern Samar that were badly hit by Yolanda’s wrath. Participants of the conference signed a “pledge of commitment” on Mother Earth and the involvement of the Catholic relief operations. (PETER D.PAREDES)

TACLOBAN CITY- All the 400 strong members of the Tacloban police will be on duty during the visit of Pope Francis to this city early next year. This was disclosed by city police director, Senior Superintendent Domingo Cabillan, who added that augmentation forces coming from the provincial and regional headquarters are also expected to help secure the Holy Father during his Tacloban visit.

The whole city of Tacloban is generally peaceful and there are petty crime was happened but this is manageable confirm before typhoon Yolanda, This was disclosed by SSUPT. Domingo Cabillan, City Director of Tacloban City Police Office.

Col. Cabillan disclosed that the entire city police force was directed by Police Regional Director Chief Superintendent Henry Losañes to take charge of Task Force Tacloban in preparation for the visit of the Pope.
Cabillan said that the security measure being laid down for the visit of the Pope is in close coordination with their national headquarters and Church officials. He added that policemen will also be assigned in the downtown areas of Tacloban to ensure that the millions of pilgrims expected to descend Tacloban will be secure from unscrupulous individuals. Cabillan disclosed that they have so far arrested 28 notorious snatchers in the city since August as part of their security preparations. Appropriate cases were filed against the suspects. (LITO A. BAGUNAS)

TACLOBAN CITY – The National Nutrition Council (NNC) admitted that their campaign to reduce the malnutrition prevalence in the region may not be attain, citing low coverage and failure of typhoon-affected areas to submit accurate reports. NNC regional nutrition program coordinator Catalino Dotollo said that the reduction of malnutrition prevalence to 11.31% last year from 13.72% in 2012 is not accurate with only 66% coverage of Operation Timbang (OPT) in 2013.

The 66 % coverage is lower than the acceptable 85% coverage.  “Actually we cannot determine whether the malnutrition rate has gone down, precisely because in 2013, OPT coverage is low particularly in the Yolanda affected areas because they do not have records,” Dotollo said. “The reason is valid based on the result of our field evaluation because they cannot retrieve anymore the OPT data, but we want to see a more accurate picture of the local nutrition situation,” he added. About 455,116 pre-school children (zero to five years old) were weigh in 2013, representing only 66 percent of the region’s estimated 692,644 pre-school population. Of the number of children weighed, 51,485 were found suffering moderate to acute malnutrition.

In contrast, of the 741,662 estimated preschoolers in 2012, at least 530,626 were included in the OPT or a coverage of 71.55 percent. OPT is the annual weighing of all preschoolers or below six years old in a community to identify and locate the malnourished children. Dotollo, however, remain positive that there could be some reduction in malnutrition rate after supertyphoon Yolanda due to the intensified effort of the nutrition cluster partners in disseminating the activities particularly Infant and Young Child Feeding Program (IYCF).

All areas recorded below the 85% weighing coverage – Biliran (82.68%), Eastern Samar (80.15%), Leyte (48.17%), Northern Samar (80.49%), Samar (74.32%) and Southern Leyte (77.23%). In terms of malnutrition prevalence, Samar posted the highest prevalence with 19.34%; Northern Samar with 13.87%; Leyte,13.79%; Biliran,12.83%; Eastern Samar with 10.87% and Southern Leyte,9.63%. The 2012 weighing result placed the six provinces in the same rank. Samar had the highest malnutrition prevalence at 17.88% followed by Northern Samar (15.80%), Leyte (15.12%), Biliran (12.38%), Eastern Samar (10.82%), and Southern Leyte (7.82%). (SARWELL Q.MENIANO)

TACLOBAN CITY – Dioni Manatbanat, a Mamanwa tribe leader, only finished first grade in elementary and he does not even remember to read and write, a plight that he won’t allow his young ethnic group members to experience. Manatbanat, who hails from the remote village of Kagbana, attended the launching of the government’s Indigenous People (IP) Education last September 25 at the regional office of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Palo, Leyte. “Life is hard for someone like me who doesn’t even know how to read and write. We really need help from the government because many of our tribe members have no money to send their children to school,” said the 40-year old tribe leader, the most respected males in their community of 50 members. Unlike him, Manatbanat’s five children made it to school. His eldest child finished secondary, the highest educational level attained by a Mamanwa member in Kagbana village, 40 kilometers away from the town center of Burauen, Leyte.

“For many decades, obtaining education was not part of our life. What was important to us is that we’re able to eat,” he recalled. The ethnic leader’s family migrated from Mindanao to Leyte in 1981. Providing education to the indigenous group has been implemented since 2011 after the issuance of DepEd Order No. 62 or the National Indigenous Peoples Education Policy Framework. However, it is only this year that the DepEd launched a regional convergence of IPED (indigenous people education) involving local government units, educators, national government agencies, and non-government organizations.

IPED employs mother tongue-based multilingual education, which starts from where the learners are and from what they already knew. The system is flexible as it allows schools to localize, indigenize and enhance the same based on their respective educational and social contexts. “It’s not about schooling, but it is also about respecting culture. IPED enable communities to ultimately determine the relevance and responsiveness of education,” said Rozanno Rufino, DepEd advisor to Secretary Armin Luistro on IP concerns.

The community where the Mamanwa resides only hosts an elementary school, said Manatbanat. The nearest high school campus is 40 kilometers away which can be reached through a two hour single motorcycle ride traversing bumpy roads and three hours hike crossing four mountains and three rivers. Each of the 10 families in the tribe earns an average of P1,500 monthly from gathering wildly grown rattan, a raw material for baskets and furniture which they sold through a five-hour hike to highway in Baybay City.

The Mamanwa group is one of the estimated 1,000 potential learners from the ethnic group in the provinces of Leyte, Samar and Eastern Samar. Rosemarie Guino, regional IPED focal person, said that there are three known indigenous groups in the region – Badjao, Manobo and Mamanwa. Badjao has established settlements in Bato and Isabel, Leyte; Mamanwa dwells in Burauen, Leyte; San Jose de Buan, Basey, Marabut, all in Samar; San Roque and Las Navas in Northern Samar. “Under IPED, they will be taught with the basic literacy through the alternative learning system. Teaching is designed in such a way that they will preserve their culture,” Guino said. (SARWELL Q.MENIANO)