By: ROEL T. AMAZONA

TACLOBAN CITY- The continuous rain brought by a low pressure area (LPA) that affected the region last week resulted to the destructions of crops and infrastructure worth over P100 million.
Reports reaching the regional office of the Office of Civil Defense(OCD), damage to infrastructure reached P75 million while agricultural products, mostly, palay, were also destroyed amounting to P34.72 million.
The flooding that hit the region affected a total of 5,256 hectares of rice fields with Leyte sustaining the heaviest damage at P18.2 million.
Of the 5, 256 hectare affected, 2,249 was totally damage and 3,007 was partially damage.
Areas with reported damages on agriculture in Leyte were the towns of Sta. Fe, MacArthur, Mayorga, Dagami, Pastrana, Capoocan, Kananga and Baybay City with a total damage worth of P18.12 million.
All are rice producing areas of the province.
Damages in crops in Samar were reported by the municipal governments of Basey and Sta. Rita amounting to P16 million.
In Eastern Samar, the municipal government of Hernani reported P224,100 worth of damage to crops while in Northern Samar, the town of Mapanas reported a total of P298,800 damage to crops affecting 35 farmers.
In Southern Leyte, the towns of Hinunangan, Macrohon, San Francisco and Silago reported loss of their palay production with total value of P51,388.
The flooding caused by LPA also resulted to landslides that damaged roads in several towns in Leyte, Southern Leyte, Eastern Samar, and Northern Samar.
The affected areas were the Tigbao-Pulak-Sta. Fe in Sta. Fe and Daang Maharlika Road in Brgy. Cabuynan, Tanauan; Daang Maharlika Road in Brgy. Balinsasayao, Abuyog town; Daang Maharlika Road in Brgy. Polahongon, Brgy. Baliacao and the Tacloban-Baybay South Road in Mahaplag and the Abuyog-Silago Road in Brgy. Hampipila, Abuyog.
Also damaged were the Junction Buenavista-Lawaan-Marabut in Brgy. Sto. Nino, Quinapondan, Eastern Samar and the Daang Maharlika Road, San Isidro Ferry Terminal- Caglanipao Section in Brgy. Mabuhay, San Isidro, Northern Samar.
In Southern Leyte, landslides were also reported in Brgy. Pancho Villa, Agas-Agas, Kahupian and Brgy. Olisahan in Sogod town and in Dinaghan, Padre Burgos.
Rockslide due to the incessant rain also occurred in Bil-atan, Brgy. Camang, San Ricardo, Southern Leyte.

Gov’t to offer as much as P300,000

TACLOBAN CITY – An affordable loan program will be launched in this city next week being one of the three pilot areas in the abolition of the so-called “5-6” money lending scheme popularized by Indian nationals in the country.
The new program is tentatively scheduled for launching at the city public market here on Jan. 25 with President Rodrigo Duterte leading the activity, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Regional Director Cynthia Nierras said.
The President, who ordered for a crackdown of loan sharks last week, is set to visit post-Yolanda housing projects in the northern part of the city on that date.
The city government provided a space at the public market for the office of Small Business Corporation (SBC), the DTI’s financing arm.
The office will be manned by three staff with two of them tasked to collect payment around the market on a daily basis.
“Tacloban is a pilot area for the Visayas because our market vendors are most in need of this kind of assistance due to reeling impacts of supertyphoon Yolanda,” Nierras said.
Other pilot areas are San Jose, Occidental Mindoro for Luzon and Alabel, Sarangani for Mindanao.
Priority beneficiaries include microenterprises and entrepreneurs that do not have easy access to credit, or are accessing credit at very high cost such as micro-entrepreneurs, market vendors, agri-businessmen and members of cooperatives, industry associations and co-operators.
Loanable amount per end-borrower can range from P5,000 for start-ups to P300,000 with maximum interest rate of 26 percent every year with no collateral requirement.
This rate is significantly below the hefty 20 percent per day, week, or month charged by “5-6” lenders. It is also lower than what is charged by most MFIs in the country.
The 2017 General Appropriations Act has included an initial funding of P1 billion for financial assistance, part of the planned P19 billion financing initiative for micro and small businesses in the next five years.
The program’s fund will be lent out in the business centers in selected provinces, where the participating microfinance institutions (MFIS) and the SBC can operate.
The national government earlier identified 30 poorest provinces in the country as priority areas for the micro-financing program, which include Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar, and Northern Samar.
In a meeting with his Cabinet on Jan. 9, President Duterte took up the “5-6” money lending scheme and ordered the arrest and deportation of foreigners involved in this practice.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO)

MACARTHUR, Leyte- A P2.9 million worth of mini-gymnasium was recently inaugurated in this town.
Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla, who led the inauguration of the facility in Barangay Palale I which has more than 780 residents, said that aside from barangay activities, the mini-gymnasium could also be used as the village’s evacuation center in times of calamities.
The construction of the gymnasium was funded by the provincial government.
But the governor said that the project was made through the initiative of the village’s former leader and now town councilor, Josephine Piga.
Meantime, Petilla also provided financial assistance to six other barangays of the town.
Receiving the assistance were barangay chairmen Christopher Dagami of Brgy.Burabod with the amount of P100,000 for the improvement of the barangay hall; Geronimo Luangco of Brgy. San Antonio of P100,000 for the purchase of waster/garbage segregation containers; Oscar Cañete of Brgy. Causwagan for P100,000 for the renovation of barangay tanod outpost; Elpedio Torres of Brgy. Batug of P100,000 for the construction of the village concrete road; and another P100,000 was received by Isaias Rapada of Brgy. Oguisan for the construction of barangay police outpost.
Daniel Esplanada, barangay leader of Brgy. Kiling received P200,000 for the construction of roofing of the civic center.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)

TACLOBAN CITY – The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) pointed to massive post-Yolanda reconstruction activities as the major driver in the improvement of poverty rate of the region, based on the 2015 full year report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The region’s poverty incidence among population improved to 38.7 percent in 2015 against the 45.2 percent in 2012.
Eastern Visayas is now ranked behind Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Soccsksargen in the poor list.
Based on the PSA’s Family Income and Expenditure Survey, at least 126,190 persons in the region graduated from poverty between 2012 to 2015.
“From being the poorest in 2014, we are ranked 3rd in 2015. This is a very significant improvement considering the scope of the damage that we incurred during Yolanda,” said NEDA Regional Director Bonifacio Uy.
Uy said that reconstruction activities after the 2013 supertyphoon have driven growth in the banking sector, tourism, and transportation services.
“The internal impetus coming from rehabilitation activities, as well as the revival of the business sector, induced economic growth in 2015,” he added.
NEDA noted an increase in cargo movement in both aviation and shipping industries, with the latter primarily fueled by the domestic demand for construction materials.
Land transport services and facilities resumed normal operations in 2015, hence, providing new job opportunities.
In 2015, banks had opened 14 new branches in the region, bringing the total number of banks in operation to 200.
“Multiplier effects of government spending for rehabilitation as well as increased savings and volume of remittances from international human organizations propelled the growth in deposit liabilities by 20.3 percent to P84.9 billion for the same period,” Uy explained.
Likewise tourist receipts rose by 31.8 percent to P9.3 billion as tourist arrivals registered 1.1 million, or equivalent to an addition of around 135,000 arrivals year-on-year. Hotel accommodations in major cities rose by 10 percent, with the highest increase in Tacloban City.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is eyeing to open additional 20 to 30 “Negosyo Centers” this year in the region in its bid to ease of doing business and facilitate access to services for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
DTI Regional Director Cynthia Nierras said they will finalize within the month the location of new Negosyo Centers for this year.
“The target from the central office is 19 but we can do more than that. There are some mayors who signified their interest to open a Negosyo Center but it will depend on our budget since we have to support the operation of existing facilities,” Nierras said.
Since June 2015, the DTI led the opening of 20 centers in Leyte province; six in Samar; five in Eastern Samar; and four each in Biliran, Northern Samar, and Southern Leyte provinces.
The DTI launched the first Negosyo Center in the region in Carigara, Leyte on June 22, 2015. The latest is inside the campus of the Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU) in Tacloban City that opened on Oct. 28 of same year.
“This is not just a DTI project because a negosyo center has lifeline with different national government agencies. In real sense, it is bringing government services closer to MSMEs, especially in areas far from the regional center,” Nierras said.
Setting up of business centers is in compliance to Republic Act No. 10644 or the Go Negosyo Act. The law seeks to strengthen micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to create more job opportunities in the country.
The centers are responsible for promoting “ease of doing business and facilitating access to services for MSMEs within its jurisdiction” such as business registration assistance, business advisory services, business information and advocacy, and monitoring and evaluation.
The MSME Development Council though the DTI is the coordinating and supervising body for all the agencies involved in the establishment and operation of the Negosyo Centers. It performs oversight functions and assigns personnel to fulfill the functions of the center.
As of end of 2016, there are already 447 business centers operating nationwide.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO)