TACLOBAN CITY- Albuera Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr. has been charged for illegal possession of prohibited drugs before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday (August 11) by the Philippine National Police.
The complaint filed against the embattled mayor was in connection to the discovery and confiscation of methamphetamine hydrochloride inside his house in sitio Tinago II, Binulho of the said town last August 10 during a raid.
Provincial Prosecutor Arlene Cordovez said that her office has received the complaint on Thursday with the Leyte provincial and municipal police of Albuera as the main complainants against Espinosa.
The Leyte police office is headed by S/Supt.Franco Simborio while the municipal police is under Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido.
The complaint filed against the Albuera mayor was for violation of section 11 of Republic Act 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Act of 2002.
The section refers on possession of illegal drugs.
During the August 10 raid, the police authorities recovered 11 packs of shabu estimated to be worth P88 million, the biggest haul of shabu in the region.
“What I can confirm is that there was a complaint filed before our office late Thursday afternoon against the mayor for possession of illegal drugs,” Cordovez said.
She said that after her office received the complaint, she formed a three-member panel who will study the complaint.
Cordovez, for security reason, declined to identify the composition of the three-member panel.
The Leyte prosecutor added that considering that the case involving Espinosa is a high profile, it will be given a “priority.”
“But it does not mean that we will all focus on this case as we have also other equally important cases to resolve,” she said.
Mayor Espinosa will also be issued a subpoena for him to answer the allegation against him.
Asked where the subpoena will be address, Cordovez said that it would be at the “last known address” of Espinosa which is the municipal hall or in Brgy. Binulho.
The case is expected to be resolve by the three-member panel within 60 days as required under our law.
Espinosa, together with his son Kerwin is considered to be Eastern Visayas’ top drug lords. The elder Espinosa, however, denied the allegation.
President Rodrigo Duterte named Espinosa, who gone on leave officially on August 2, as among the mayors in the country who are in the illegal drugs activity.(JOEY A. GABIETA)

ORMOC CITY- A 14-year old girl who was raped by her two cousins and a foster father finally got her justice.
Last Saturday (August 13), one of the suspects, John Michael Palomo, was arrested by the city police inside his house.
However, his arrest was in relation to illegal possession of firearm charged against him, said Chief Inspector Castor Cabilogan, station commander of Police Station I.
The police recovered from the suspect a 38 caliber gun loaded with live ammunitions hidden at his bed in his room.
Also recovered from the 26-year old suspect, who work as a bar tender, was a small axe he also hid.
Palomo, who wore a rosary necklace when arrested, preferred not to comment on the allegations as he instead uttered “Only God knows” in vernacular.
Palomo has a pending arrest for raping his 14-year old cousin who was adopted by his mother who now works abroad.
Also charged for rape were Palomo’s brother and her foster father who were not identified by Cabilogan.
Both suspects remain at-large. The victim and the three suspects live in one house.
“The girl sketched the two firearms attached in our request for the issuance of a search warrant at the suspect’s house,” Cabilogan said.
“Upon verification at firearms and explosives office in Camp Crame, we learned that Palomo is not a licensed gun holder, in which we also attached in our application for a search warrant”, he continued.
The search warrant was issued by Judge Clinton Nuevo, presiding judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 12 of this city.
(ELVIE ROMAN ROA)

TACLOBAN CITY – Businessmen from the region are to meet with Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade to persuade him not to pursue plans to divert all Tacloban-Manila flights to Clark International Airport in Pampanga.
This was disclosed by Oliver Cam, a member of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Eastern Visayas chapter which registered its opposition to the rerouting plan.
Cam, a hotel owner, said that he had a meeting with Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino last Thursday (August 11) to air their opposition to rerouting plans.
“Dino spoke with DOTr Arthur Tugade and relayed the good news in our meeting at Cebu Country Club. We are looking forward to the consultation meeting with Tugade once Dino is able to confirm the schedule and venue,” Cam said.
Sec.Tugade had assured them that “any rerouting to decongest must have a win-win solution and if implemented should only affect up to 50 percent of flights with passengers to be offered a choice to fly via Manila or Clark,” Cam added.
“Tacloban should not be singled out but all other Visayas routes should also be part of the decongestion solution,” Cam, who sits as the private sector representative to the Regional Development Council (RDC) representing PCCI, stressed.
Various groups here in the region aired their concerns after Tugade announced in a Senate hearing Wednesday that the three airlines – Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, and Air Asia – agreed to transfer all Tacloban-Manila flights to Clark.
The DOTr initially planned to make Tacloban-Manila flights as pilot for rerouting to curb congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.
After the DOTr’s pronouncement, netizens have expressed their protest against the plan by using the hashtag #NoToClarkForTaclobanFlights on social media.
The opposition claimed that the transfer would be an additional burden to passengers, both in time and cost.
The Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport, one of the country’s busiest, is a gateway to the different parts of the region.
In the first quarter of 2016, the airport had 311,944 inbound and outbound passengers or a 12 percent growth than last year.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Sto. Niño Church is an iconic landmark and accessible structure in Tacloban and for the religious ones, a sacred place for worship.
However, these days the Church vicinity has become a more favored nook for those trying to catch Pokémons and establish lures in the Pokémon Go craze.
Fr. Ronel Taboso, parish priest of Sto. Niño Church, admitted that the Pokémon Go “wannabe trainers” lining up the side fence of the Church are not precluded from hanging out in the vicinity since they are already outside the church.
He nevertheless felt it incumbent upon the leaders of the society to caution those who get so hooked into this new online game.
“They should use their time and energy productively like study or read books and not waste their precious time and should go to Church for right reason,” Taboso advised.
A Pokemon Go is a reality game app that uses real locations and allows players the chance to search for Pokemons in the real world.
The online game has taken the world by storm to include the Philippines. The online game was launched in the country last August 6.
Players roam around to find Pokemons, Poke eggs and Pokemon stops where they can find beneficial stuff and Pokemon gyms.
Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin, who also observed lately the noticeable number of people standing by daily at the roadside outside the Sto. Niño Church, cautioned the public on the danger this may pose to them and the time wasted in locating Pokémons and lures like the one staged last August 10.
The significant number of players staying over to play Pokemon has become an eye catcher.
One female Pokemon player informed that there are two Pokemon stops at the vicinity of the church.
She said that Pokemon has established Pokemon stops in churches in other places not just in Tacloban City.
This, she said, is the reason why many young and not-so-old alike hang around church vicinities to put up their lures and catch Pokemons.
Greeneth May Torres, a junior lector in Sto. Niño Church and member of the parish youth ministry, could not help but post in her Facebook account on August 11 her observation that many people were lining up outside Sto. Niño Church playing Pokemon.
“This should be stopped. Someone has to. You rather go to church and pray,” she said in her post.
While other youthful individuals are in a frenzy over Pokemons, the youth ministry of Sto. Niño Parish are actively participating in the multifarious programs of the parish.
Last month, the youth conquered the attention of people at the Robinsons Place with its 20-minute flash mob where members of the Parish Pastoral Council gave short talk on the family and distributed family cards.
Youth, lectors and members of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) dance through medley of groove songs of the 90’s and the recent years.
This was part of the Month of the Family conceptualized by the parish leaders led by Taboso and Fr. Wilson Chu.
This month, the youth in the parish joins in observing SNP’s Month of the Sick under the charge of Fr. Fritz Francis Del Pilar.
The youth parish will also join in the parish ministry pilgrimage in all the Holy Doors (Porta Sancta) in the Archdiocese of Palo tentatively set this month.
In the Archdiocese, the youth are currently participating in the church events in the visit of the International Youth Catechesis Pilgrim Cross of Mercy. (EILEEN NAZARENO BALLESTEROS)

TACLOBAN CITY- A police officer was among those arrested during a separate buy-bust operations conducted by the Tacloban City police on Sunday (August 14).
Arrested was PO1 Bernardo Baltar, who was said to have gone AWOL (absent without leave) from the police service, during a buy-bust operation in Barangay 35, this city, around 7:30 pm.
Recovered from the suspect were five pieces of plastic sachets believed to contain methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu and a P500 marked money.
In a separate buy-bust operation, police operatives arrested Edson Tingzon,35 and a resident of Brgy.36-A, Imelda Village.About seven pieces of plastic sachets containing shabu and P300 marked money were seized from him.
Bade said that both Baltar and Tingzon are among the city’s high value targets arrested by the Tacloban police since they started their operations against drug users and pushers.
Last August 12, the city police arrested Rodel Ibanez and his brother Jerry, both of Brgy.36, Sabang district, during a buy-bust operation.
All the four suspects are now detained at the Tacloban Police Custodial Facility as cases for possession and selling to be filed against them.
(JAZMIN BONIFACIO)