CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON,PALO, Leyte- A total of 260 police recruits have taken their oath of office administered by Chief Superintendent Dionardo Carlos, police regional director.
The activity was held after the flag raising ceremony held on Monday (March 11) at the grounds held here, the regional headquarters of the Philippine National Police.
According to Carlos, the new police men were part of the 1,028 applicants covering the quota for the first quarter of the year.
He added that of the 200 recruits,62 of them were endorsed to the PNP Headquarters at Camp Crame, Quezon City wherein they will be given opportunity to commence their training to different regions nationwide.
Carlos said that these new breed of police officers will undergo the mandatory training, the Public Safety Basic Recruit Course (PSBRC) for six months at the Regional Training Center (RTC) at Kuta Kankabato, San Jose, Tacloban City which will be followed by another six months of field training program (FTP).
“Today is a new chapter of your lives. May this serve as your humble beginning in the PNP organization,” Carlos said.
Carlos advises interested applicants to secure the necessary initial documentary requirements while waiting for the opening of the 2nd Cycle Recruitments which is still to be announced by the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
Region has over 260 new police officers to beef up its current number of personnel
DPWH-Biliran allocates P222.88 million for the construction of access road leading to Ulan-Ulan Falls
NAVAL, Biliran-David P. Adongay Jr., District Engineer of Biliran District Engineering Office (DEO), has disclosed that the district office has allocated a total of P228.880 million for the construction and improvement of access road project leading to Ulan-Ulan Falls in Almeria town that is seen to boost tourism in the province.
He said that the project is to be implemented on multi-year fund from 2018-2022 under the convergence program of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Tourism (DOT).
“Ulan-Ulan Falls in Barangay Sampao, Almeria, Biliran is one of the most visited waterfalls by local and foreign tourists, thus prioritized for implementation,” said Adongay.
“With the accessibility of the tourist site, it will encourage more local and foreign tourists to visit Ulan-Ulan falls,” he added.
According to Adongay, the project covers a total of 7-kilometer two-lane road concreting of existing gravel road and rehabilitation of existing substandard concrete road from the national road junction of Brgy. Sabang, Naval, to Brgy. Tamarindo all the way to Brgy. Sampao in Almeria town where the Ulan-Ulan Falls is located.
Under the district’s 2018 implementation, Biliran DEO is presently implementing the 1.48-kilometer two-lane road concreting from Brgy. Sampao proper road going to Ulan-Ulan Falls which includes road opening, construction of drainage structures and slope protection structures amounting to P46.880M.
The project, as of February 28, has a 90% accomplishment.
“The completion of this project will reduce travel time from about 30-40 minutes hike from the barangay road, to just 5-10 minutes travel through a vehicle ride and another 5-10 minutes trail to reach the waterfalls,” said Adongay.
Meanwhile, Adongay said that this 2019, Biliran DEO will implement the rehabilitation of existing concrete road at the proper road of Brgy. Sampao, Almeria, Biliran to Brgy. Tamarindo section converting one lane road to a two-lane road with a length of 1.04-kilometer including drainage structure with an allocation fund of P30M.
Adongay added that the rehabilitation of existing concrete road from Brgy. Sampao road proper will continue down to Brgy. Tamarindo and Brgy. Sabang in the next coming years.
The project was prioritized because the existing concrete road from Brgy. Sabang to Brgy. Tamarindo and to Brgy. Sampao where the Ulan-Ulan Falls is located has already shown deterioration posing danger to the travelling public.
The completion of the 5-year project implementation will also provide a better road for around 5,000 residents in three barangays in the municipality, namely, Tamarindo, Iyusan and Sampao. (PR)
Congressional panel reviews feasibility of nautical highways system
HILONGOS, Leyte- The oversight committee on transportation at the lower house of Congress met here on March 5 to revisit an alternate shipping route across the archipelago using the roll-on, roll-off (RORO) system.
Led by House Speaker and former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the gathering was attended by representatives of regulatory government agencies and top players of sea transportation in the private sector, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao corridors.
Focus of intense discussion was the cost of handling goods while in transit along the lanes of the nautical highways from Davao to Manila and vice-versa, including other charges, mostly land-based, along the way.
Speaker Arroyo was joined by Rep. Manuel Zubiri of the third district of Bukidnon, Rep. Bayani Fernando of Marikina, Leyte Rep.Yedda Romualdez, the local officials of Hilongos led by Mayor Albert Villahermosa, and Southern Leyte lone district representative Roger Mercado.
Earlier, while waiting for the arrival of the House leader at the Maasin Airport in Barangay Panan-awan, Rep. Mercado shared the context of the meeting, saying the nautical highways system through RORO ports would be the main topic.
It can be recalled that during her term as president, Arroyo pushed for a function nautical highway as another channel for transporting goods and vehicles anywhere to and from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Under this concept, the western nautical highway connects the ports of Batangas to Calapan then on to Roxas, Oriental Mindoro; to Caticlan, to Iloilo City, Bacolod City, Dumaguete City, and up to Dapitan in Mindanao.
The central nautical highway jumps off from Camarines Sur to Burias Island, to Masbate, then on to Daan Bantayan and Bogo, Cebu; then Cebu City to Tubigon, Bohol; Jagna, Bohol to Camiguin, and on to Balingoan, Misamis Oriental in Mindanao.
The eastern seaboard departs from Pilar or Bulan, Sorsogon to Masbate; Cawayan, Masbate to Naval, Biliran, or Maripipi, Biliran to Naval, Biliran; land travel to San Ricardo, Southern Leyte, then off to Lipata, Surigao, in Mindanao.
At the oversight hearing, the consensus was that for now the cost for travelling perishable agricultural goods and trucking services along these routes, plus freight, stevedoring, and terminal fees, was high, details of which are to be taken up further by the technical working group to find ways and means at lowering these charges.
But a silver lining was the opening of at least seven (7) RORO missionary routes at different lateral points not indicated in the nautical highway, among them the Ubay, Bohol to Guadalupe, Maasin Port, which debuts its maiden voyage on March 8.(LDL/MMP/PIA-8, Southern Leyte)
Court convicts mother to 15 years for selling her 10-year child through online sex predators
In Samar
TACLOBAN CITY- The regional trial court in Calbayog City sentenced a 33-year-old mother to 15 years imprisonment after offering to stream live the abuse of her young daughter on March 8.
The mother, who was arrested last year, was sentenced to an additional one month in prison after she pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.
As part of a plea bargain, she was sentenced after confessing to the crime of attempted trafficking in persons before Judge Reynaldo Clemens, presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court-Branch 31.
After pleading guilty to her crimes, the accused faced her victims in a reconciliatory meeting facilitated by a social worker and a local church pastor.
“I was hurt when you took pictures of me naked. I felt guilty because I got separated from you for what happened,” the 10-year old girl told her mother, in the local dialect.
She then shared to her mother a verse from the Bible about God forgiving those who ask for forgiveness from people they have wronged.
“Forgive me for what I’ve done to you,” she said to her daughter and niece, also in the local dialect.
“I am ashamed of it. I hope you can forgive me, and we can be together again,” said the mother as acknowledged the crime and expressed remorse.
Aside from the prison terms, the trafficker was also ordered to pay combined fines totaling P775,000.
She was originally charged with qualified trafficking in persons which bears the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of not less than P2 million but not more than P5 million if the accused is convicted after a full-blown trial that can last several years, said the International Justice Mission (IJM).
“This conviction through plea bargaining affirms that in holding Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC) perpetrators accountable, child protection should always be prioritized,” IJM said in a statement.
Members of PNP’s Women and Children Protection Center –Visayas Field Unit (WCPC-VFU) arrested the trafficker during an entrapment operation on July 28, 2018 at her residence in Sta. Margarita.
She had offered to stream live sexually explicit acts involving her 10-year-old daughter in exchange for money from an online predator.
Police and social workers from the Samar Provincial Social Welfare and Development
Office rescued the girl and the trafficker’s 13-year-old niece and 8-year-old nephew.
Atty. John Tanagho, IJM Cebu Field Office Director said that government, through Prosecutor Jennylyn Sumagang-Durmiendo, obtained swift justice for the victims.
“(The State) also protected the children from the rigors of having to testify in court against their own mother and aunt,” added Tanagho in a statement.
Sta. Margarita Mayor Gemma Zosa also welcomed the conviction, saying “child trafficking is a crime that exploits girls and boys for numerous purposes including forced labor and sex.”
“As the local chief executive of the municipality of Sta. Margarita, it is our aim to protect children from being abused, and to rehabilitate survivors, and help them in rebuilding their lives,” she said, expressing her gratitude to authorities and non-government organizations that help rescued the child.
Regional Prosecutor Irwin Maraya, head of the Regional Anti-Trafficking Task Force – 8, said the plea-bargained conviction “is a product of the joint effort of government and private stakeholders.”
“This ‘one team’ approach is key to combating these depredations on the young and innocent,” he added.
WCPC-VFU Chief Romeo Perigo hailed the successful plea bargaining.
“Today’s conviction is a win for the government in its campaign against OSEC. The reduced [prison] sentence gives [the perpetrator] an opportunity for reforms – to reintegrate to the community after serving her sentence and take care of her family once she’s released from prison.”
Based on IJM-supported cases, 57 persons have been convicted in the Philippines for perpetrating OSEC since 2011.
The organization has supported Philippine law enforcement agencies in the arrest of 193 OSEC perpetrators and the rescue of 454 victims and children at-risk across the country.
(ROLAND O. REYES)
NHCP suspends plan of a school to demolish a centuries-old structure
In Maasin City
TACLOBAN CITY-The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) has issued a cease and desist order, suspending all activities affecting the 243-year-old watchtower within the campus of a private Catholic school in Maasin City.
“It has come to our attention that the proposed construction of buildings within the compound of Saint Joseph College will affect a Spanish-period watchtower,” said Dr. Rene Escalante, the NHCP chairman.
The letter, dated on February 27, was addressed to Bishop Precioso Cantillas of the Diocese of Maasin.
Escalante explained that since the watchtower is over 50 years old, it is considered to be an ‘important cultural property’ which is protected under Republic Act 10066 otherwise known as the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009.
The watchtower was built in 1776 by the Augustinian priests.
NHCP also requested from the diocese development plans and site map, with respect to the said watchtower.
It also informed Bishop Cantillas on their next move after they received their requested documents.
The NHCP also furnished the same letter to Maasin City Mayor Nacional Mercado.
Mercado, who furnished Leyte Samar Daily Express a copy of the letter, said he is happy about NHCP’s action.
“Many Maasinhons are also opposing moves to demolish the said structure or plans to demolish to make way for a commercial building,” said the mayor.
Earlier, Mercado disclosed they received the diocese’s letter dated October 22, 2018, requesting permission to remove the structure to give way for the construction of the additional building to accommodate the school’s “growing population.”
While he is not in the authority to approve the plan, Mercado advised the diocese to write to NHCP.
He also asked his constituents to allow NHCP decide on the matter as it’s not within their jurisdiction.
Residents of this city have expressed their strong resentment on this plan of the management of Saint Joseph College calling for the preservation of the structure instead of demolishing it.
The school management want to build a school building where the structure is located.
“I hope that the diocese won’t pursue this. I hope they won’t request further. But rather, save it, take good care of it, and use it to teach this generation more about Maasin, its history and culture,” said Amelia Fe Mancera, a cultural worker from the city.
“My suggestion for the last watchtower in Maasin City is to make it a memorabilia building in the significance of its historical heritage,” posted Armando Gaviola on Facebook.
On February 13, a concerned citizen Adel Macaldo also wrote to the NHCP, asking the commission “to have an exhaustive investigation on the alleged demolition” of the tower.
(RONALD O. REYES)