TACLOBAN CITY- Big business investors are coming to his city of Ormoc.
This was disclosed by Mayor Richard Gomez as the city will be hosting for the first time the 25th Visayas Business Area conference this month.
Gomez, an award-winning actor, said that among the big ticket investors that will do business in his city are SM, Ayala and the Gaisano companies.
The city, which has a population of more than 191,000, is soon to have its shopping mall as the construction of the Robinsons shopping mall is underway and is expected to be operational by October 2017.
“It will be a full shopping mall just like in Tacloban City with cinemas and a hotel,” Gomez said. The city’s Robinsons’ sits in a 11- hectare lot.
The mayor also said that he had already met with officials of the SM and Ayala companies who expressed their intention to put up investments in Ormoc.
Gomez said that for one, the SM will be putting its own hypermarket in the city.The planned hypermarket will sit at one hectare lot.
He, however, said that he has no idea when the construction of the SM hypermarket in Ormoc would start.
Meantime, Mayor Gomez also said that the Ayala group has also signified their desire to set foot in the city.
“But they are still scouting around for a location,” he said.
The Metro Gaisano, the mayor added, will also come in to the city.
“What I am doing is to make Ormoc a business-friendly city. We don’t demand anything from them. Wala kaming hinihingi na kutong. Ang sinasabi lang namin, pumasok kayo dito kasi this will be good for our people and anything good for our people will also be good for Ormoc City,” Gomez said.
He said that as part of his campaign to entice investors to come to Ormoc, he make sure that the city is not only clean but peaceful.
Meantime, Mayor Gomez said that he is excited with Ormoc hosting this year’s Visayas Business Area Conference slated next week.
The three-day conference will start on Sept.14 and will be attended by 2,500 businessmen from across Visayas.
He said that the conference will be a good event for businessmen to take a look on Ormoc’s potential as a business center.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY – Rhoel Ladera is excited to travel to Manila because this is the first time he is joining the Philippine Travel Mart at SMX along with other friends to sell group tours of tourist destinations in Eastern Visayas at this event.
Ladera is a young businessman who lost almost everything after supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name Haiyan) decimated Eastern Visayas last November 8, 2013.
Not only his printing and car rental business bounced back, he and his friends Jadway Go and Wowie Veloso, who share the same passion in helping sell the region, put up Aqua Momentum Company this year.
“We are happy to put up a booth at the 27th Philippine Travel Mart from September 2-14 which serves as platform for selling your products. Thousands of travelers flocked at the event looking for destinations and new adventures,” Ladera said.
Interestingly, the Tacloban City booth was awesomely designed by Nick Guarino and his team using indigenous materials in the region, won second Best Booth in the booth competition of the said event.
The Philippine Travel Mart now on its 27th year is organized by the Philippine Travel Tour Operators (PHILTOA). It is an annual travel and trade exhibition to help travelers explore treasure destinations in the country and other countries for amazing deals.
Aqua Momentum is promoting Tacloban City with the San Juanico speedboat tour as its added attraction. It showcases the beautiful San Juanico Strait and the San Juanico Bridge, the longest in Southeast Asia at 2.16km length.
“We will let the tourists experience history by landing at Red Beach in Palo, Leyte just like General Douglas MacArthur did in World War II liberation. Then an excursion follows at the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park,” Ladera said.
“The tourists will be excited with our tour of San Pedro Bay and the famed Rock formations of Marabut, Samar. It will start off at Tacloban City then to Marabut, Samar. They get to explore the hidden lagoon of Marabut too,” he added.
Not only that they will be selling speedboat tours for Tacloban, they also have tour packages for Kalanggaman Island in Palompon, Leyte; Sambawan Island in Maripipi, Biliran and the Kalanggaman/Malapascua tours.
People may not know this yet that Tacloban City is the fastest way to go to Malapascua in Cebu. They can have a day tour in Tacloban and hopped to Kalanggaman, now considered as the jewel destination of Leyte, then to Malapascua.
“We want to show the people that Tacloban has bounced-back beautifully after being the ground zero of Yolanda. Aqua Momentum, as a new player in the tourism industry, has tour packages that range from P1,600 and up,” Ladera said.
(VICKY C. ARNAIZ)

GIPORLOS, Eastern Samar – Almost three years after supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ destroyed hundreds of houses in this coastal municipality, the local government has yet to draw a list of beneficiaries for the housing units and secure a land where to construct them.
Many residents are getting restless as they are not aware if there is any plan to relocate them, all they know is that the community where they lived from the start is now marked a “no build zone” and that sooner or later they will be asked to leave the place.
“The people are kept in the dark. They don’t know what the plans are for them,” says Rina Reyes, project manager of nongovernment Katarungan-Eastern Visayas.
Over 200 residents from four barangays of Giporlos trooped to the municipal office on Thursday (Sept.8) to seek an audience with Mayor Mark Biong regarding the housing plan for them.
Biong admitted that they are having problems looking for a suitable land for the relocation site.
“It is difficult to find a titled land that is 4.5 hectares big where the 700 houses can be constructed,” he told the audience.
He said some residents volunteered their land but more paper works have to be done like lack of records or the land size that not match what is in the land title.
Biong said there is no final list yet because he does not trust the list given to him by many barangay captains.
“They came from barangay captains. There are times that those who are deserving are not listed, and some who are on the list are not deserving,” he said. (ELMER V. RECUERDO)

As host province

NAVAL, Biliran- Governor Gerardo Espina Jr. exhorted the young players of the province to make good as they prepare for the hosting of the regional athletic meet next year.
Espina led the opening of the provincial meet on Wednesday (Sept. 7) held at the Larrazabal Sports Complex, this town and attended by 1,858 athletes both from the elementary and secondary levels.
Biliran will host the EVRAA (Eastern Visayas Regional Athletic Association) Meet in January, 2017.
In his talk, Espina said that the repairs of the provincial sports complex and its facilities are now ongoing and ready for next year’s sporting event expected to draw 10,000 young athletes across the region.
Naval Mayor Gerard Roger Espina challenged all athletes to go for gold and represent the province with impressive performances during the regional competitions.
Biliran Schools Division Carmela Tamayo led the official declaration of the opening of the Provincial Athletic Meet with students from the Naval National High School performing during the opening ceremonies.
Members of the band bugle corps from different elementary and secondary schools also accompanied during the parade.
The provincial sports meet ended last Friday (Sept.10).(REY E. FAJARDO)