TACLOBAN CITY- The members of the Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has submitted a copy of their proposal to Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino listing down priority areas considered as key for the region’s development. The proposal was personally given to Dino by Oliver Cam, an official of the LCCI during a gathering attended by President Rodrigo Duterte’s point man for the Visayas last July 29 here in the city.

LCCI, in particular, identified three priority areas which include the expansion of the Leyte Industrial Development Estate (LIDE); pushing for the establishment of an economic zone in the northern part of Tacloban city and support to tourism sector. On the expansion of LIDE, the chamber hopes to bring in more inclusive types of industry. “Right now the existing industry there is the copper smelting plant which their effect on the area is not inclusive simply because they import everything they export it all out,” Cam said.

Although the smelting plant has good impact to labor and its surrounding areas, what the chamber wants is to convince more industries to come in and establish operation in LIDE to generate more jobs not only for Leyte residents but also for those coming from Samar. LIDE is a 425 hectare special economic zone located in Isabel, Leyte, which was established in 1978 thru Letter of Instruction 962. It is the home of two major industries: Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp and the Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. The establishment of economic zone in the northern part of Tacloban is a long term solution that will provide great impact to more than 80,000 residents in the area. The northern part of the city, consisting of 18 barangays, has been declared as the new township of this city where families that were displaced by supertyphoon “Yolanda” and those that are living along danger zones were relocated.

The government thru National Housing Authority together with private donors is constructing 16,000 housing units in the said area. “The absence of livelihood is one of the challenges why it is hard to move these people to that area. There is no job in the north but only housing. If you are moving people you should not only focus on housing but on holistic approach. That is why we are really pushing for the establishments of economic zone in that area,” Cam said. Electricity and water supply also hampers the relocation of displaced families to the northern barangay, added Cam. The LCCI is also pushing for support on tourism industry of the region that was able to recover immediately after the devastation of Yolanda in November 8, 2013 and contributed a lot to the regional economy.

“The problem right now is the funding for the proposed major tourism rehabilitation program that was proposed by the regional office of Department of Tourism that until now almost three years after the typhoon are not yet funded,” said Cam. DOT-8 reported that the region has experienced a resurgence in the tourism sector after the devastation of Yolanda. From 731,000 in 2013, tourist arrivals in 2014 reached 964,000 or a 31.9% increase. Last year, 1.099 million tourists visited the region resulting to a P 9.4 billion tourist receipts. “That is why we are really struggling with our tourism effort because our office of tourism here is not given the budget. They just become creative in trying to address the needs of our tourism industry here in the region,” he added. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY-Harmony and synergy are basic rule of thumb in achieving goals in any institution and these are what move the administration and the general parents-teachers association of Leyte National High School this school year. In a recent regular meeting of the GPTA board, attended by the school principal Jane Codilan, lack of water supply was discussed. This scarcity was a chief cause of the lack of functional lavatory facilities and comfort rooms within the campus to serve more than 7,000 students. Codilan, who is the adviser of the GPTA, informed that she tried to tap the cooperation of the alumni association in installing rain catchment facilities to address the need for water supply.

This, however, are not enough considering the number of school buildings in the campus that have comfort room, thus prompting her to seek same support from the GPTA board in putting up additional rain catchment structures. “If the GPTA can help put up at least one or two rain water catchment facility, this will be of great help in making comfort rooms functional again,” she said in the meeting. The GPTA board led by its president Nelson Balagusa is yet to consider this proposal as the board has just created and named the new composition of various essential committees jointly consisting of certain GPTA officers and teachers.

In the meantime, the board and Codilan agreed to allow homeroom PTAs to hire their own laborers who could help maintain functional comfort rooms, provided that those to be hired are personally recommended by the teachers in charge of each building in the campus. A greater challenge that the school now faces is providing enough classrooms for the Grade 12 students next school year. In this year’s statistics, the number of enrollees in Grade 11 reached to more than a thousand needing 26 classrooms, but to which only 15 are yet all that the school could afford.

“We could not deny them from enrolling because this is a public school,” stressed Codilan. She informed that besides the on-going construction of school buildings, there will be repairs to be done in some buildings in the campus. As of now there are over 40 buildings inside the campus including the administration office. The GPTA board, which has named Balagusa, GPTA vice president Harold Lacaba and treasurer Maria Lorna Garnace as members of the projects and programs committee, will take into account the current pressing needs of students LNHS in prioritizing help to be extended to the school.  (EILEEN NAZARENO-BALESTEROS)

ORMOC CITY- Five men who claimed to be under the employment of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa were arrested in a buy-bust operation on Thursday (July 28) which resulted to the confiscation of firearms and of suspected shabu valued at P1.9 million. Arrested were identified as Marcelino Adorco,40; Jose Antepuesto,36; Jeffrey Pesquera,39; Ernesto Dumalat,20 and Jessie Ocaris,34. Ocaris is a resident of Barangay Sherwood while the four other arrested men were residents of Brgy. Binulho where the 5:30 pm sting operation jointly conducted by the local police and the Regional Police Safety Battalion took place. Seized during the operation were 238 grams of suspected shabu worth P1.9 million, two caliber 45 pistols loaded with live ammunitions, cash and several drug paraphenalias, said Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido, Albuera police chief.

All the arrested men claimed to be workers of Espinosa, the police official said. They were arrested in a tennis court located near to the house of Espinosa, who just won as mayor of Albuera during the May 9 polls. Espinosa could not be contacted for his reactions. Leyte Samar Daily Express called his office but was informed by his staff that he was not available for an interview. An unconfirmed report had said that the neophyte mayor had gone on leave.

Espenido said a surveillance of the subjects few days ago triggered the buy- bust to Antepuesto that also led to the arrest of the four others. In a body search, the police yielded from Antepuesto two sachets of suspected shabu weighing 14.8 grams and marked money worth P300. Seized from Adorco was a Glock 21 caliber 45 pistol with 17 live ammunitions and large sachet believed to be shabu weighing 121 grams and P9,500. Found in Ocaris possession was a Glock 21 caliber 45 with 16 live ammunitions and several sachets of suspected shabu weighing 84 grams and cash worth P4,700. Both claimed to be security escorts of Mayor Espinosa reason why they were in possession of firearms.Found in Pesquera’s possession was a sachet of suspected shabu weighing 7 grams while a sachet of shabu weighing 3.7 grams were confiscated from Dumalat. Pesquera, Dumalat and Antepuesto were said to be working in a cockfight farm of Espinosa. All five suspects denied they were in the illegal drug trade. “Before we left the station, all of us prayed so no one will be hurt or killed. And I thank God for hearing my prayers, that none of the suspects prompted to open fire,” Espenido, who just assumed the post last month, said. Cases are being prepared against the suspects at the Baybay City Court.
(ELVIE ROMAN ROA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The population of this city has increased by 8 percent making it still the most populated area in the entire region. Based on the 2015 census conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Tacloban has a total population of 242,089 or an increase of 8.6 percent compare to the 2010 survey. In 2010, Tacloban was only populated by 221,174 people. The population survey was conducted two years after Tacloban was pummeled by supertyphoon “Yolanda” which reduced its population by more than 2,200 people who perished due to the typhoon considered the world’s strongest to hit inland. Interestingly, the barangay that was considered as the worst-hit by Yolanda, Barangay 88 in San Jose district, remain to be one of the city’s most populated based on the survey.

The village, which has a population of 5,880 people, is Tacloban’s number six most populated barangay. However, its population was reduced by 3,926 compare to the 9,806 in 2010.  “This is not actually surprising considering that Tacloban City is the regional center. The immigration that was noted after Yolanda hit the city was among its reasons,” Cielito Esquibel, city population officer, said. She added that the population of the city during day time could even reach to a million as people coming from across the region are coming in for some purpose like studies, work and business. Esquibel, however, said that they do not have a figure on the number of people coming from other parts of the region who resettled in Tacloban after the November 8, 2013 massive disaster that hit the city.

“But they settled here in Tacloban on the hope that they could availed many opportunities after Yolanda like housing and even employment,” the population officer said.
After Yolanda hit the city, nongovernment agencies, both local and international, as well as government agencies from around the world have provided assistance to the survivors like housing and jobs albeit on temporary basis. But Esquibel admitted that while the increase of Tacloban’s population could be seen on a positive sign, they are still alarm. For one, she said, this could result to problem on illegal settlers and degradation on the quality of life. “We have also to consider the kind of people coming in which could impact its peace and order situation,” Esquibel said. Her office is planning to put up its migration information center that could help them monitor the people coming in to the city. (JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in partnership with Southern Leyte State University (SLSU)-Sogod Campus and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) held a one-day jobs fair on July 13, 2016 at SLSU-Sogod multi-purpose covered court in Sogod, Southern Leyte. The jobs fair aimed to help the unemployed and underemployed graduates of SLSU-Sogod and other people from Sogod and its neighboring towns find a window of opportunity for possible employment locally and abroad.

Prose Ivy Yepes, the university president thanked the participating agencies for their valuable time and support to the jobs fair.  She added that the recruitment activity is a manifestation of SLSU-Sogod’s social responsibility to extend assistance to the unemployed people of the municipality particularly its graduates. She also proudly announced to institutionalize the conduct of yearly jobs fair to facilitate employment not only for their graduates but also for the entire jobseekers in Southern Leyte.

DOLE Southern Leyte Chief Fe Norma Valuis, who relayed the message of DOLE Regional Director Elias Cayanong, said that the labor department is collaborating not only with the local government units but also with academic institution like the SLSU-Sogod in looking for opportunities for graduates to find jobs. “The DOLE’s employment facilitation services like this job fair would spare our jobseekers from having to incur so much expenses just to look for job, by bringing this opportunity right at the backyard of the SLSU-Sogod”, Valuis added.

She also gave helpful tips to the jobseekers on how to conduct themselves during interview.  “In applying for jobs it is like selling yourself. Hence, you have to convince the company that you are the best person they are looking for”, Valuis explained. Seven overseas recruitment agencies and twelve local employers participated in the mega jobs fair with 1,801 job vacancies. A total 209 applicants were interviewed, 137 of whom have qualified, and 29 applicants were hired -on –the- spot (HOTS) representing 21% of the total qualified applicants. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY – For prospective overseas workers living in remote communities, securing a passport means waking up early, enduring a long trip, go to different agencies to process requirements, and queue at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) regional consular office here.
Eric Lara, 28, left their village of Botaera in Zumarraga, Samar at 4 a.m. on Thursday (July 28) to take an hour boat ride to Catbalogan City.
From Catbalogan, he travelled nearly three hours by bus to get to this city, where the regional DFA office is located.
This is his second time to be at the DFA office. He was here three weeks ago, only to be told that he needs to return home to bring more requirements.
“I just heard from our neighbors who secured passports few years back what the basic requirements are but I found out that I still have to bring more legal identity documents,” said Lara, a carpenter, who wants to obtain a job in Israel.
Accompanied by his wife, Lara has already spent about P4,000 in the processing of requirements, to include fare, food and even lodging.
Since there’s only one daily trip back to Zumarraga, they have to stay overnight in Catbalogan and catch the next day trip.
Every day, hundreds of people, mostly prospective overseas workers, showed up at the DFA office to process the requirements. They write their names down in a book that will gain them first preference in processing.
Waiting nearby the door of DFA field office was Rowena Sabandal, 32, of Barangay Taglibas in Matalom, a town in Leyte, 169 kilometers south from the regional capital.
She left home before sunrise, took a single motorcycle ride to the town center and took a four-hour bus ride to Tacloban.
Sabandal, a single mother, needs a passport to be able to secure a domestic helper job in Saudi Arabia.
This is her second time to be in the city. She was here last Monday (July 25) to get her certificate of live birth from the Philippine Statistics Authority regional office and National Bureau of Investigation clearance.
“It’s very hard for me to travel here. I just borrowed money from a friend. I speak Bisaya and I don’t understand the Waray dialect. Last Monday, I paid a penalty of P200 for violating the jaywalking ordinance,” Sabandal shared.
Both Lara and Sabandal completed their requirements on Thursday. They will come back after more than two weeks to get their passport.
The DFA admitted the inconvenience, but they are implementing measure to reduce the burden of processing. The consular office kicked off the online appointment system on July 1.
“We are implementing the system, but we still entertain walk in applicants since we are still on the transition period. We have been encouraging people to get online appointment because eventually we will not entertain walk-ins,” said DFA Tacloban consular head Karen Terado.
Appointments may be obtained by visiting the website: https://www.passport.gov.ph/
Exempt from obtaining confirmed online appointments are applicants entitled to the courtesy lane – senior citizens, minors aged seven and below, overseas Filipino workers with contracts, and persons with disabilities. The exemption is, however, subject to certain conditions.
“The system aims to make passport application and renewal more efficient. This will address the problem of queuing,” Terado added.
But for Lara, the online appointment will not work in their coastal town where most people are computer illiterates; no computer shops; no internet connectivity; and mobile phone signals are weak.
The system accepts 180 online appointments for Tacloban office daily. The DFA reserves up to 70 slots for walk-in applicants who are exempted from the system.
During his first State of the Nation Address, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered to simplify the process of securing passports to alleviate the inconvenience of applicants.
Responding to the clamor for timely issuance of Philippine passports, Duterte vowed to work towards amendment of the 1996 passport law to lengthen the validity of the passports from the current five years to 10 years.
The consular office is still waiting for new directives from the DFA central office, heeding the President’s order, according to Terado. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO)