Ship made emergency docking due to ‘Agaton’

CATARMAN, Northern Samar – Nine foreigners on board a Chinese-registered cargo vessel were rescued off the waters of Pambujan, this province, on Tuesday (January 2).
The cargo ship, Jin Ming No.16, was said to be on its way to Chile when it encountered heavy rains and strong winds spawned by tropical storm ‘Agaton,’ forcing it to have an emergency docking 300 meters away from the shorelines of Barangay Poblacion 2 of Pambujan.
The ship made a distress call which was received by the local police which immediately conducted its rescue operations at about 12:30 pm, said S/Supt. Felix Diloy, police provincial director.
The rescued passengers were identified as Hans Febie; Xu Xi; Yin Yui Q Jin; Lu Wei Long; Chen Xin Chuen; Lun Xi Long; Wunens Jin and Ho Sai Cheong.
One of the rescued Chinese nationals was not identified by Diloy as his name was written in Chinese.
Diloy said that the Pambujan police received a distress call from the Chinese registered cargo vessel which immediately conducted its rescue operation after assessing the safety of the waters.
Joining the six-hour rescue operation were members of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO), Philippine Coast Guard, Provincial Mobile Force Company 2nd Mobile Platoon and the Red Cross- Northern Samar chapter.
The rescued crew members were immediately brought to the rural health unit of Pambujan for a medical checkup and were made to stay at the residence of Mayor Felipe Sosing.
The Philippine Army’s 20th Civil Military Operations (CMO) Battalion reported that the ship was severely damaged.
“Said vessel sustained severe damage on its bottom portion which is the entry point of sea waters that gradually submerged the vessel in more or less 350-400 meters”, the report said.
Diloy said he has ordered a thorough investigation on the foreign ship and the rescued crew as it was possible that they are not ordinary fishermen.
He added that based on their interview to one of the crew member, the ship left China on December 12 going to Chile to buy some goods.
While on their way, their ship was battered by huge waves which resulted in the rupture of its hull and eventually the seawaters flooded the compartments and the engine room causing the engine to conk out.
Their ship drifted towards the municipal waters of Pambujan when the Coast Guard received a distress call from them.
The ship was loaded with 100 packs (cartons) of alcoholic beverages.
(RACHEL V. ARNAIZ)

ORMOC CITY- Police authorities here seized prohibited firecrackers from a Chinese businessman worth P4 million on December 30.
James Sy, 28, however, immediately posted bail of P2,000 as he was charged for violations of Republic Act 7183 and Executive Order 28 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte, both edicts mandate for the regulation on the sale, distribution, and manufacture of firecrackers and pyrotechnic devices.
Sy was arrested during an operation conducted jointly by the members of the City Public Safety Company headed by Supt. Joel Camacho and Police Station 1 led by its chief Supt. Reynaldo Torlao on Dec.30.
The police were armed with two search warrants against Sy and a certain Juliana Co issued by Judge Carlos Arguelles, presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court based in Abuyog, Leyte.
Co, however, was not around when the police personnel conducted their raid at a cellular store owned by the suspects located along districts 5 and 7, this city.
Ormoc City Police Office Intelligence Division Chief Senior Insp. Ian Salvador Po said a surveillance against the suspects were earlier conducted which resulted in the discovery that they were in possession of banned firecrackers which they sold in volumes to their prospective clients.
Confiscated from the suspects were 217 boxes of various firecrackers and pyrotechnic devices with an estimated value of P4 million.
Sy, who could not speak the local dialect, did not give any comment.
Camacho said that not all items seized from the suspects were illegal. However, they were selling without the required permit. (ELVIE ROMAN-ROA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Leyte II Electric Cooperative (Leyeco II) has already installed electricity in 6,014 permanent houses in the different ‘Yolanda’ resettlement sites under its coverage area comprising of Tacloban City and the towns of Palo and Babatngon.
More than 15,000 families from these areas lost their houses after super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ ravaged the region on November 13, 2013.
The National Housing Authority (NHA) was tasked to build houses for these families in resettlement areas identified by their respective local government units.
Christopher Garcia, institutional department head of Leyeco II, however, said that residents of Greendale Residences Projects 1, 2, and 3 in Barangay San Isidro, Suhi respectively and Salvacion Heights project in Brgy. Salvacion, Tigbao, all in Tacloban City, have yet to be lighted up.
Also, a resettlement site located in Brgy. San Jose, Palo has yet to be provided with power, Garcia added.
It was learned that the NHA and the National Electrification Administration (NEA) have set aside P38.70 million for the electrification of the 15,746 housing units in the 21 resettlement sites within the Leyeco II franchise area.
This reporter visited the NHA office to get more information on the status of the resettlement projects for Yolanda survivors but only to be told that an appointment must be made first to regional manager Rizalde Mediavillo and written questions must first be reviewed by them.
Here in Tacloban, NHA is to construct 14,400 houses for the same number of families but has only so far managed to relocate more than 9,000 families.
President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier ordered the NHA to finish its work by 2017, a directive which apparently it failed to accomplish.
(ALBERTO E. LESIGUEZ)

TACLOBAN CITY- The regional office of the Department of Agriculture (DA-8) is pushing for goat production in areas hit by super typhoon ‘Yolanda.’
In fact, goat raising has already been started in San Isidro, Leyte benefittingclose to 300 people, Francisco Rosaroso, head of the Agriculture and Fisheries Information Section (RAFIS), said in an interview,
Rosaroso said that their office allocated P14.7 million for this project whose source was taken from the Yolanda Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program (YRRP).
YRRP was put up to help restore or rehabilitate the farming livelihood of the farmers in areas hit by Yolanda that devastated Eastern Visayas on November 8,2013.
Rosaroso said that aside from goats, other farm animals like carabaos, swine, and cattle will be dispersed also to the farmers later on as an additional livelihood of the beneficiaries.
He added that the agricultural assistance is also packaged with modern farm machineries, equipment, tools, and inputs like seeds and fertilizers.
The beneficiaries of the goat production program in San Isidro are four associations which have 297 combined members.
These are the Barangay Cabungaan Farmers Association, San Jose Farmers Association, Duja Dako Integrated Farmers Association, and Duja Diot-Duj Dako-Bunacan Irrigators Association.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)

NAVAL, Biliran-The Department of Public Works and Highways – Biliran District Engineering Office (BDEO) will be implementing a total of P1.584 billion for the fiscal year 2018 Infrastructure Program based on the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for this year.
According to Engr. David P. Adongay Jr., district engineer, it is the first time that the district passed the one billion mark of infrastructure funds as the result of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “Build, Build and Build” mantra.
DPWH- BDEO’s lined up projects for the FY 2018 comprises of 57 projects, five of which are to be implemented by the Regional Office and 52 by the District Office.
Engr. Rosario B. Rosete, chief of the Planning and Design Section, revealed that the major projects with the biggest allotted budget are under Asset Preservation Program which has an appropriated budget of P409.166 million.
These include P75 million asphalt overlays; P14.166 million rehabilitation/ reconstruction from paved to concrete road; P190 million construction of road slope protection structure and P130 million construction of drainage structure along the road.
A total of P390.609 million was also appropriated under the Network Development Program with P300 million allocated for the road widening project and P90.609 million for the construction of a diversion road.
Furthermore, P34million was allocated under the Bridge Program with P10 million appropriation budget for the rehabilitation/ major repair of permanent bridges and P24 million for the widening of a bridge.
About P371.477 million was allocated for the construction of flood mitigation structure under the flood management program.
Under the Convergence and Special Support Program, DPWH-BDEO will implement construction of concrete road projects under the Department of Tourism (DOT) amounting to P175 million and under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) amounting to P133.972 million with a total appropriation amount of P308.972 million.
DPWH-BDEO will also implement a total of P70 million appropriation amount for the Local Infrastructure Program.
According to Engr. Rosete, out of the district’s 52 lined-up projects, 42 projects were already bid out, two are advertised and preliminary and detailed engineering activities for the 8 projects are still on-going as of December 2017.
The Planning and Design Section of the district is exerting its utmost effort to bid out all these projects within the timelines set by the Department. (CHELSEA QUIJANO-SALLOMAN/PR)