BORONGAN CITY- The Department of Public Works and Highways-Eastern Samar District Engineering Office (DPWH-ESDEO) has conducted inspections on infrastructure projects after a series of earthquakes were felt in this province.
Manolo Rojas, district engineer of the ESDEO, said in an interview that he directed all project engineers to conduct post disaster damage assessment on all on-going infrastructure projects due to recent earthquakes that hit the province.
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake hit the town of Hernani on January 27, 2019 and another magnitude 4.8 jolt struck the same town on January 30.
The recent earthquake, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that jolted Surigao del Norte last Friday night, March 8, reported by Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) was felt at intensity 3 in Borongan City, the provincial capital.
Rojas said that DPWH’s disaster response team is automatically activated when there is calamity.
“Our maintenance crew and heavy equipment are on standby and ready for possible quick response to any eventualities,” added Rojas.
Rojas disclosed that no infrastructures were affected by the earthquakes based on the report of the project engineers.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)

GUIUAN, Eastern Samar – The suspended mayor of this town continue to question the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman removing him from office for six months.
On Wednesday (March 13), Vice Mayor Susana Lourdes Gaylon formally assumed the mayoralty post after the regional office of the Department of Interior and Local Government formally served the notice to suspended mayor, Christopher Sheen Gonzales.
The anti-graft issued a preventive suspension order against Gonzales on February 12 for corruption related to alleged misuse of funds intended for the rehabilitation of public markets and barangay halls destroyed when the town was hit by super typhoon ‘Yolanda.’
This complaint was contested by Gonzales, who is serving on his second term as mayor of the town, calling it ‘political harassment.’
He also disputed the complaint saying it’s baseless as he insisted that the rehabilitation of these facilities were done above board.
Gonzales’ lawyer, Christopher Coles, said that there was a grave abuse of discretion committed by the anti-graft court when it handed down the suspension order as it was released during the election period.
“There was a grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Ombudsman to issue a suspension order against Mayor Gonzales because they issue the suspension order during the prohibited period,” Coles said.
“(The) suspension order is not a penalty but since they are enforcing it during election period, there is still a grave abuse of discretion because of its timing,” the lawyer added.
Gonzales, in his letter to Interior Sec.Eduardo Año on March 8, he cited that under Section 261 (x) of the Omnibus Election Code, suspension of an elective provincial, city, municipal or barangay official during the election period requires prior approval from the Commission on Elections unless the suspension will be for the purpose of applying the anti-graft and corrupt practices act.
Coles stressed that the complaint filed against his client is administrative in nature and not criminal.
Prior to the serving of the order, thousands of Gonzales’ supporters went into a vigil to show their support to him.
In his message to his supporters, Gonzales cried political harassment with the complaint instigated by his rivals.
Gonzales is running for the lone congressional district of Eastern Samar against Borongan City Mayor Ma. Fe Abunda and Vice Mayor Conrado Nicart III of San Policarpio in this year’s May 13 elections.(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

‘New Beginnings’

TACLOBAN CITY-Tacloban’s homegrown drug rehabilitation program was given due recognition recently by the Department of Health (DOH) Eastern Visayas when it was included in the regional awarding of health achievers.
Aptly named “New Beginnings” – the drug rehab program being implemented by the city government under the leadership of Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez was one of the first local-government-initiated programs implemented in support of the national government’s war on drugs.
It was also instrumental in the declaration of the city in 2017 as the first drug-cleared highly urbanized city (HUC) in the Visayas by the Local Dangerous Drug Board.
The six-month wellness and recovery program is a multi-stakeholder initiative that implements several recovery modules, coaching and therapeutic sessions handled by trained doctors and nurses of the city government for the well-being of Persons Who Used Drugs (PWUDS).
PWUDs also undergo lectures on Basic Life Support and First Aid, the prevention of diseases and promotion of healthy lifestyle, as part of the program’s holistic approach to rehabilitation.
As of March 13, 2019, some 1,235 PWUDs coming from 40 barangays are currently undergoing the program, while 352 have already undergone rehabilitation.(CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)

TACLOBAN CITY- A cause-oriented group has urged the city government here to enforce its ordinance banning the selling of cigarettes within 100 meters from schools and public playgrounds.
“(The)City Hall should enforce the law prohibiting stores from selling cigarettes if they are located near schools and areas that minors regularly visit,” said Vince Basiano of the Rural Poor Institute for Land and Human Rights Services, Inc. (Rights Inc.) for Tacloban.
“Children should be insulated from the dangers of tobacco as much as possible so that they won’t be exposed to the highly addictive nature of nicotine and take up dangerous habit of smoking,” he added.
Basiano said they have observed that cigarettes and other tobacco products continue to be freely sold by stores in the city despite being located near schools and places that children frequent.
“Moreover, smokers continue to light up in public places without regard for the environment and the health of their fellow residents,” he said.
Meanwhile, City Vice Mayor Jerry “Sambo” Yaokasin said that concerted effort is needed to educate the public regarding the ill effects of smoking to health.
“We have asked the Traffic Operation Management Enforcement and Control Office (Tomeco) to remove billboards of cigarette brands from sarisari stores,” Yaokasin said in an interview.
According to Cynthia Esquillo, heads of Rights’ anti-tobacco advocacy program, the full implementation of the said ordinance “will protect the health of its children and enhance the reputation of the city as a child-friendly city.”
Rights cited Tacloban City Ordinance No. 2009-10-160 which was enacted to “protect the populace from hazardous products and promote the right to health and instill health consciousness among them.”
Section 11 of the ordinance, which was passed in March 2009, also prohibits “the sale, distribution, or promotion of tobacco products is prohibited within one hundred meters from any point of the perimeter of a school, public playground, or other facility frequented particularly by minors.”
Earlier, the Department of Health (DOH) regional official urged local government units to attain smoke-free environments.
(RONALD O. REYES)