TACLOBAN CITY – Waray Wikipedia has already surpassed one million articles, nearly nine years after its launching, according to automatically updated Wikimedia data released on June 9. Waray, a language spoken by about 2.6 million Filipinos in Leyte and Samar Islands, is making headway in open-source online encyclopedia with over 1,009,000 articles. “As of 10 June 2014, the Waray-Waray Wikipedia has 2,113,585 pages, 77 active users, and 5,002,407 total edits,” the online encyclopedia reported. Launched in September 25, 2005, the Waray-Waray Wikipedia has included more than twice as many articles as the Tagalog Wikipedia, the main language in the country, according to the report. Wikipedia reported that on 26 August 2010 the Visayan language Wikipedia “passed the 100,000-article milestone, making it the 35th largest language edition.”  The Waray-Waray Wikipedia is run by the Wikimedia Foundation, an American non-profit and charitable organization based in San Francisco, California, known for hosting Wikipedia, one of the top-ten most-visited websites worldwide. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO)

TACLOBAN CITY- A barangay chairman in Guiuan town, Eastern Samar was recently arrested by government operatives in a buy-bust operation. Nabbed was Nestor Cunanan, 49 and married, at his house in Barangay 3 of the said town, Liza Baoy, information officer of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said. “Being an elected official, he is considered to be a high value target. Of course, he denied the allegations against him as he claimed that the shabu seized from his possession was just planted,” Baoy said. Seized from the suspect was a sachet of shabu (hydrochloride methamphetamine) weighing 0.1453 gram. Cunanan is now detained at the Guiuan municipal police station as charges for violation of anti-drug law or Republic Act 9165 were filed against him. (JAG)

TACLOBAN CITY- Mayor Susan Ang of San Isidro, Leyte reported of series of incidents of houses being burglarized seven months after supertyphoon Yolanda hit their town. Ang said that after she received reports of these separate incidents, she right away called the town police chief to conduct a thorough investigation by identifying the perpetrators and file appropriate charges against them. “These incidents are not alarming but I will not allow the people of San Isidro being victimized to burglary and their houses being ransacked while they are sleeping, “the town mayor said. She said that she ordered the S/Inspector Jimmy Balasanos, town police chief, to conduct check point to protect the people against the perpetrators. Mayor Ang said that based on information relayed to her, three houses were already victimized by the perpetrators carting with them personal belongings, cash and gadgets like laptops and motorcycles of the victims. Board Member Alan Ang, former mayor of the town and husband of the incumbent chief executive, said that he was shock when he learned on the string of incidents at their town. He said that police authorities have yet to identify who could be behind to these incidents. But he board member said that based on the raw information he obtained, the perpetrators were not from the place but from Ormoc City. Board Member Ang said that based on his information that he received that the suspects in from Ormoc city and they are contacted in this municipality but the local police are in blank of the investigation. “We will make sure that the perpetrators will be identified and face appropriate charges. The people are still reeling from the effects and Yolanda and now they are again being victimized by these individuals,” Ang said. (LITO A. BAGUNAS)

TACLOBAN CITY–Seven months after supertyphoon “Yolanda” slammed the region, at least 100 young people in Tacloban City joined in a dance music video that was launched on June 8, urging government leaders to look on their condition. Dubbed as “Rise up to the top”, the music video, uploaded in the popular video-sharing site You Tube, aims to bring the message to the world that children and the youth in the devastated communities need attention and support. “This is our way of expressing ourselves that despite the tragedy, we haven’t lost hope and that we can still rise above the situation. Dancing is also a form of therapy for us,” said Ervie Nicolas, senior leader of Tacloban’s popular dance group Zero Gravity and co-producer of the music video. “The reason we are coming up with this video is to tell the world that the young victims of the typhoon still need help. We feel that they are not a priority in the recovery efforts of the government,” he said. Archie Omega, Tacloban’s top photographer and videographer at Pixel 8, said the music video is also a form of an advocacy campaign from the youth in the city. Supertyphoon Yolanda devastated Eastern Visayas on Nov. 8, 2013, killing more than 6,000 people and displacing 4 million others based on report of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council. (RONALD O.REYES)