TACLOBAN CITY- Officials of both the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) promised to dig deeper into the misencounter between policemen and soldiers in a remote village of Sta.Rita, Samar on June 25.
Facing with members of the media, both AFP Chief Carlito Galvez, Jr. and Police Director General Oscar Albayalde promised that justice will be served to the slain policemen as their respective forces have now conducted separate investigation on the incident that shocked the nation.
On Wednesday (June 27), Galvez and Albayalde visited the wake of slain policemen lie in state at the gymnasium located inside the regional headquarters of the PNP in Palo.
Galvez said that the soldiers involved in the misencounter have already been disarmed and restricted at their camp in Calbiga, also in Samar as the investigation is now underway.
The AFP chief has maintained that what happened was an incident and could not be considered as an ambush.
“We cannot say that it is (an ambush).We really don’t know what happened. We really have to wait for the result of the investigation,” Galvez said.
Albayalde also vowed that justice would be given to the families of the slain policemen, all holding PO1 rank, as he asked the public to wait for the result of the team he formed that is tasked to conduct the investigation over the incident.
“We will find out after the board of inquiry release the findings of their investigation,” he said.
Both Galvez and Albayalde said that they want to know up to what level the supposed coordination made by both parties was reached.
The alleged lack of coordination was cited as possible reason why the incident happened.
“We don’t want to point fingers, to find faults. What we want to find out is what went wrong so that it will not happen again,” he said.
“If it is with coordination, then we probably might be able to improve the coordination between the police and the Army especially so with our operating units,” the PNP director general added.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

PALO, Leyte- Village officials were urged to become partners for change and create development programs that will help improve the economic conditions of their constituents.
This appeal was made by Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla during a mass oath-taking ceremony for the newly-elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials of this town.
Petilla said that barangay officials should take advantage of the economic boom now being enjoyed by Palo saying whatever economic gains the town is experiencing should also be felt in the communities.
According to the governor, barangay people, through their leaders, should be ready for any needs like additional work force.
“Many investors are now coming in to Palo and we need to sustain this. Palo has become an attractive investment destination not only for small businesses but even for multi-national firms,” Petilla said.
“As government officials, as local government and barangay officials, we need to prepare our constituents for this change. The investments coming in means more jobs that we need to fill in with applicants who will pass the job interviews,” the governor added.
Petilla also give this challenge to the newly-elected youth officials of the town.
“As youth leaders, you need to create and push programs that will provide and create better education to the youth,” he said.
In the same occasion, former Leyte governor Carlos Jericho Petilla also gave some advice to the barangay officials.
“Learn to know who your partners are,” the former officials said.
“Your budget is not enough to fund projects that you wanted to implement. Learn to seek help from other offices like the provincial government and the municipal government because these are your partners in governing your villages,” Petilla said.
Almost 600 newly-elected village and youth officials from Palo attended the mass-oath taking ceremony held at the Oriental Hotel de Leyte.
Also present were Vice Governor Carlo Loreto, Palo Mayor Remedios Petilla, Board Member Gina Merilo, Vice Mayor Ronan Christian Reposar, and Javier Mayor Leonardo Javier.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is calling pensioners who are 79 years old and below to have their UMID (unified multipurpose identification) cards revalidated by the end of this month.
Failure to do would mean possible suspension of their monthly pensions, GSIS officials said during a media forum on June 26.
GSIS branch manager Igmidio Ponay Jr. said that the affected pensioners should personally appear before their office or use GWAPS kiosk to reactivate their UMIDs and ensure that they could receive their monthly pensions.
Ponay said that pensioners who are 80 years old and above and those suffering from medical problems would not be required to personally appear before their office.
They could instead request any GSIS personnel to have the process be done right at their homes, he added.
Ponay warned that failure of the concerned pensioners to have their UMID cards revalidated would mean suspension of their monthly pensions for three months.
For more questions and clarifications, affected pensioners can call in this telephone nos. 323-2506 or 523-0125 or visit their website www.gsis.gov.ph.
(MARIA FELINDA CADA, HYDE OPADA, ESSU Student Intern)

TACLOBAN CITY- An information technology park property specialist was crowned as the first ever Ginoong Sangyaw held on June 25.
Cris Bernales, who is from Catbalogan City, bested 14 other candidates to bag the title.
Aside from getting the Ginoong Sangyaw title, the 25-year old Bernales also received several special awards like the Mister Robinsons Mall, where the pageant was held.
Bernales said that in his own right, he would like to help protect the environment, as he involves himself on marine protection and conservation.
The 5’9 looker received P30,000 as one of his prizes and the chance to represent Tacloban City in a national Ginoong competition.
Rounding up in the winners’ circle were: 1st runner-up Ginoong Turismo Leonel Lopez Cuyo; 2nd runner-up Ginoong Kalikasan Denver Sim; 3rd runner-up Joseph Ruel Geneston and 4th runner-up Clint Tyrone Capon.
All received cash prizes.
Criteria of the competition were based on the overall performance of the 15 candidates from day one to coronation day on professionalism, scored by the organization, talent and costume showcase, preliminary fashion show presentation on poise and bearing, stage deportment, fitness and audience impact.
The holding of the Ginoong Sangyaw is organized by the Sangyaw Foundation in support of the city government under Mayor Cristina Romualdez and part of the activities of the annual city fiesta of Tacloban.(GAY B. GASPAY,TISAT/SFI; MARIE CRISSALYN AGUJA, ADFC Student Intern; GILAME P.RONCALES, EDEN C. TEJERO, ESSU Student Interns)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) should be more cautious to avoid another incident of misencounter among themselves.
Thus said Senator Paolo Benigno ‘Bam’ Aquino IV, reacting to the incident in Sta. Rita, Samar that resulted in the death of six policemen and wounded nine others on Monday (June 25).
“Nangyari na po ang friendly encounter kahit nung sa Marawi and kailangan po talaga maging maingat po ang ating kapulisan at ang Armed Forces para masiguro na walang buhay na nawawala po dahil sa kasama rin natin sa gobyerno,” Aquino said.
The senator was in the city as a guest during the holding of Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals on Wednesday (June 27).
“Kailangan maging maingat po talaga tayo sa mga engkwentro. Hindi po naging malinaw sa akin kung ano po ang nangyari yun. May nag-banggit po na baka wrong intelligence; may nag banggit kanina na hindi daw nakita. Right now, ang mahalaga po ay magbigay po tayo ng kalinga dun sa mga pamilya ng namatayan and hopefully very soon, kapag malinaw na po ang mga detalye, makita na po nating kung ano ang pwedeng gawin upang hindi na po ito maulit muli,” Aquino said.
Following the incident, the 8th Infantry Division and the Police Regional Office 8 immediately conducted separate investigations.
The incident in sitio Lunoy, Sta. Rita resulted in the death of six policemen- PO1 Wyndell Noromor, PO1 Edwin Ebrado, PO1 Phil Rey Mendigo, PO1 Julius Suarez, PO1 Rowell Reyes, and PO1 Julie Escalo.
Wounded in the same incident were nine policemen- PO1 Elmer Pan, PO1 Cris Angelo Pialago, PO1 Romulo Cordero, PO1 Joenel Gonzaga, PO1 Rey Barbosa, PO1 Roden Goden, PO1 Jaime Galoy, PO1 Rommel Bagunas and PO1 Jomark Adones.
The policemen are part of the 805th Mobile Company of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 8 while the military personnel belong to the Charlie Company of the 87th Infantry Battalion. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY–Maasin city mayor Nacional “Nikko” Mercado has disclosed that they already have a “person of interest” who was allegedly behind the contamination of the city’s water source by pouring it with kerosene which sent panic to some residents recently.
Despite what happened, Mercado clarified that the no one was killed or harmed when the breach took place at the Maasin Water District’s (MWD) main source in the mountain of Canlited, Barangay San Jose on June 15, 2018, contrary to some reports.
“Official police report in Maasin City does not record of any fatality caused by intake or use of water from Maasin Water District,” Mercado said in an interview.
“In fact, according to the police, no complaints of any harm or injury caused by MWD water were ever received by its station since June 15, 2018, the day when the intentional pollution of MWD water allegedly occurred until the present,” he added.
According to the mayor, no hospital, public or private, or any health clinic in the city has reported of any such incident.
Mercado stressed that police and security personnel are strictly guarding the reservoirs of MWD to prevent similar malicious mischiefs.
Water district employees had already decontaminated and conducted flushing procedure at the said water source.
It was learned that it was the first time that this incident happened in the water district in its over 30 years of operation.
Authorities also conducted an investigation over the incident.
(RONALD O. REYES)