TACLOBAN CITY – The province of Leyte was the top chicken producer in Eastern Visayas for the fourth quarter of 2018, a report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA–8) said.
Wilma Perante, PSA regional director, told Leyte Samar Daily Express in an interview that among the six provinces of the region, Leyte recorded the highest chicken population at 894,477 birds which comprised more than one third or 35.4 percent of the total chicken population in the region.
Samar ranked second with 693,208 birds accounting for 27.5 percent of the region’s total chicken inventory. Eastern Samar, meanwhile, registered the lowest inventory of chicken with 4.7 percent share or 117,668 birds.
Perante reported that the chicken industry in Eastern Visayas posted 20.0 percent increase in production during the fourth quarter of 2018.
Based on the preliminary data, the total chicken production in the region went up to 15,602 metric tons (MT) in the 4th quarter of 2018 from 13,006 MT in the same quarter of 2017.
“Eastern Visayas accounted for 3.1 percent of the country’s total chicken production during the 4th quarter of 2018. It ranked eighth among the regions with low chicken production in the country,” Perante said.
Meanwhile, chicken inventory showed that chicken population here in the region as of 1 January 2019 stood at 2,524,559 birds or an increase of 2.5 percent from its 2,463,777 inventory on 1 January 2018.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)

Councilor Villasin eyes political harassment

TACLOBAN CITY- A councilor of this city is facing perjury complaint filed by her political opponents claiming she is not qualified to run as board member for Leyte’s second district.
But Raissa Villasin, serving on her second term as a member of Tacloban’s Sangguniang Panlungsod, dismissed the perjury complaint as nothing but political harassment.
On their complaint, Nestor Abrematea, Benjamin Villegas, and Florante Ygana alleged that Villasin committed perjury when she declared that since September 11, 2018, she has been residing in Barangay Cuta, Barugo town or for two years now while on her certificate of candidacy she has been living in the said village for two years and seven months.
The complainants, who filed their complaint Tuesday(March 12) before the City Prosecutor’s Office and at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office based in Carigara town, secured a certification from Tacloban City elections officer Ma. Goritti Caña stating that Villasin still casted her vote in the May 14, 2018 election in Tacloban City.
Tacloban City is a highly urbanized city whose residents are not qualified to vote or be voted upon for any provincial elective posts.
The three claimed that Villasin is guilty of perjury under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code or a willful and corrupt assertion of falsehood under oath or affirmation administered by authority of law on a material matter.
Barugo municipal treasurer Dinah Avorque issued a certification that Villasin only secured a residence certificate on September 11, 2018 and municipal assessor Engr. Palcomar Canonce also issued a certification that the she has no real property in her name in their municipality.
Reached for her comment, Councilor Villasin dismissed the complaint filed against her saying it’s politically-motivated,citing the complainants were running for the same positions she is seeking for the May 13 elections.
She, however, said that she will answer the complaint once she formally receive of its copy. Still, she maintains that she did not commit any perjury.
Villasin added that she continue to function as a member of Tacloban city council as her term is set to expire yet on June 30,2019.
“Our family is taking this personally and there is no other reason but politics,” Villasin said, adding that she is confident that the complaint would be dismissed as it has not legal basis.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT, LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)