TANAUAN, Leyte- The mayor of this town want to propagate their local cultural festival for better understanding of the residents.
Mayor Pelagio Tecson, Jr., said that he want his people to be more aware and conscious of their own culture reason why he want to push their own festival, dubbed as Pasaka Festival, within the town.
The Pasaka Festival, now on its 25th year, was conceptualized during the administration of mayor Roque Tiu and his wife Olive, depicting the town’s culture showing Tanauan’s main sources of livelihood, namely, farming, weaving, fishing and pottery.
It is held a day before the August 15 annual town fiesta.
For this year’s edition, seven contingents from various elementary and secondary schools of the town joined the festival.
In elementary division, Tanauan District 1 bagged was declared as champions winning P15,000 and also won 1st runner-up for the festival float category.
The Tanauan District 2 bagged the 2nd place and won P10,000.
For secondary division, Tanauan School for Craftsmanship and Home Industry (TSCHI) was declared as champion and won P30,000.
TSCHI also bagged best in choreography, musicality, costume, street dancing and float.
Tanauan National High School was named as 1st place and won P15,000 while Tanauan School for Arts and Trade bagged 2nd place and won P10,000.
Isabela Balboa, lead dancer of Assumption Academy was the first Pasaka Festival Queen.
Tourism Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes, who served as the chairman of the board of judges in this year’s festival, said that this year’s presentation was better and the performance of the contingents were comparable to contingents joining the province-wide Kasadyaan Festival. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Tanauan mayor wants to cultivate local festival for better appreciation of its people
Improvement of ‘dangerous’ saddle road in Southern Leyte goes full blast
PINTUYAN, Southern Leyte – The saddle road leading to Benit port in San Ricardo town is currently the region’s most dangerous road section but this will soon change as improvement project goes full blast this year.
The Department of Public Works and Highways Southern Leyte District Engineering Office (DPWH-SLDEO) is halfway done with the P48 million road realignment concreting project.
“The ongoing works is part of three-year activity designed to prevent road accidents in the area,” said District Engineer Ma. Margarita Junia.
The saddle road, within the boundary of barangays Son-ok and Manglit of the town, forms part of Liloan-San Ricardo Road. It leads to Benit port, one of the major exit points to Mindanao from Visayas.
The road earned the tag as the “region’s most dangerous” after several road accidents killed and injured drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
Consolidated report from the local police showed that from 2010 to 2014 alone, four people have been killed and 20 other were seriously injured in saddle road accidents.
The P48 million outlay for this year covers road concreting activities, construction of slope protection works, installation of line canal and metal guardrails.
In 2014, the national government has allocated P20 million for the 560-meter alternative road opening works.
The budget rose to P50 million in 2015 for the opening, widening and lowering of grades.
About half of the 1.6-kilometer critical sections will be transformed into four-lane road by doubling its existing 6.10-meter width to 12.2 meters. Blasting of rocks is ongoing to complement widening projects.
Junia is optimistic to complete all improvement projects for saddle road within the year.
The highway is tagged as a vital link that connects Eastern Visayas to Mindanao.
The DPWH observed that more buses and rolling cargoes use the Benit port in San Ricardo town instead of nearby Liloan port considering the former’s proximity to Surigao.
The route is being serviced by Montenegro Shipping Lines Inc. using a roll-on roll-off vessel, which makes four round trips daily.
Sea travel from San Ricardo to Lipata port in Surigao del Norte takes an hour, way shorter compared to more than three hours of travel time through Liloan port.
San Ricardo is about 40 kilometers away from Liloan town, traversing a paved road.
Although Benit port is closer to Surigao, some motorists prefer to take the Liloan port despite irregular trips, considering the difficulty in maneuvering along the saddle road in Pintuyan town.
The road steep incline and blind curves besides deep cliff make the road section the most dangerous in Eastern Visayas. (PR)
Mt. Nacolod: Eastern Visayas’ next major ecotourism destination
TACLOBAN CITY- The Mount Nacolod is emerging as the next major ecotourism destination here in the region, a report from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources regional office 8 (DENR-8)said. DENR-8 Regional Director Leonardo Sibbaluca said that Mount Nacolod, located in Southern Leyte, is rich in biodiversity and one of the 228 key biodiversity areas in the Philippines.
The area has very high potentials for ecotourism, he added. Sibbaluca said that Mount Nacolod with an area approximately 14,000 hectares was declared as a forest reserve on November 25, 1996 by Proclamation No. 121 covers the municipalities of Silago, Saint Bernard, Hinunangan, Libagon, and Sogod in Southern Leyte and Mahaplag and Abuyog in Leyte. The DENR-8 head said that Mount Nacolod hosts Buac Watershed Forest Reserve and Hinabian-Lawigan Watershed Reservation which are the two significant watersheds of Southern Leyte, he added.
Sibbaluca said that the biodiversity assessment revealed that various endemic species are present in the area. The study which was conducted in 2011 covered both the flora (plants) and fauna (animals) in the area, he added. Sibbaluca claims that research disclosed that Mt. Nacolod is rich in flora wherein there were 65 families and 229 species of flora identified in the area. Also, there were 112 species of birds belonging to 42 families were recorded during the study period.
Sibbaluca said that the most interesting is the discovery of the two new species of frogs known to inhabit the montane and mossy forests of Mount Nacolod. The two new species of frogs which belong to the genus Platymantis, only found in Mount Nacolod, were nationally unveiled at the Marble Hall of the Museum of the Filipino People last April 17, 2012. (RESTITUTO A.CAYUBIT)
P88-M worth of shabu seized from Espinosa’s house
ORMOC CITY – The discovery of P88 million worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu inside his house might just prove a strong evidence that Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. is engaging in the selling of the prohibited drugs. On Wednesday (August 10), police operatives raided the house of the embattled mayor which resulted for the discovery of around 11 kilograms of shabu valued at P88 million, considered the biggest haul of shabu so far in the region. The raid in the house of Espinosa, located in sitio Tinago II, Barangay Binulho, was by virtue of a search warrant issued by Judge Carlos Arguelles, presiding judge of Regional Trial Court-Branch 14 in Baybay City.
Aside from the local police, the 5 am raid was participated by the members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, provincial and regional police. Espinosa, 53, while being accused to be in the illegal drug trade, has repeatedly denied the allegation. His son, Rolan but most known of his alias as “Kerwin,” is considered to be the region’s top drug lord whose illegal operation also includes Cebu. Kerwin, who is the subject of a shoot to kill order, remains at large while Mayor Espinosa is said to be confined in one of the hospitals in Cebu City. The mayor had earlier surrendered before Police Director General Ronald de la Rosa. Chief Inspector Jovie Espinido, town police chief, said that the illegal drugs were found in the kitchen of the house. This is the second time that the packs of shabu were found inside the house of Espinosa, who is serving his first term as mayor of Albuera, 15 kms away from this city. Last July 28, police operatives found and seized shabu worth P1.9 million and several high powered firearms. The latest raid to the house of the mayor also yielded several bomb parts and dozens of police camouflage uniforms. The firearms recovered are being used by the alleged armed men of Espinosa, Espenido said. Espenido believes that everything happens through the guidance of God Almighty. “Praise the Lord for leading us to all these accomplishments,” the Bible-quoting police official said. “If ever there is information that other houses of the Espinosas contain illegal items, we will apply search warrant”, Espenido said. Anti-Money Laundering Act has been applied against the new mayor to temporarily put a freeze on their property while investigation is going on, Espenido declared.
Mayor Cristina spearheads tree planting
TACLOBAN CITY- City Mayor Cristina Gonzales Romualdez led a tree planting activity underscoring her desire to nourish back the environment of the city that suffered the most impact when the world’s strongest typhoon hit inland in 2013.
The tree planting activity was conducted in Barangay Tagpuro, the last barangay of the city last Tuesday (August 9).
The tree planting is part of the clean, green and resilient Tacloban that Mayor Romualdez envisions for the city of more than 240,000 people.
About 500 trees of various species were planted in Tagpuro.
“Planting trees will spare us from flood and provide us a clean and healthy air and environment,” the mayor said.
“We should help each other by planting more trees for our own good,” she added.
Last November 8, 2013, the city was devastated by supertyphoon “Yolanda” that was described by scientists and experts as climate change-induced typhoon that killed more than 2,200 people and destroyed properties of more than P10 billion.
Joining the city mayor were Vice Mayor Jerry “Sambo” Yaokasin and Councilors Evangeline Esperas, Elvira Galapon Casal, Aimee Grafil, Eden Pineda, Rachelle Pineda, Raissa Villasin and Jose Mari “Jom” Bagulaya.
Also present were heads of different departments and offices of the City Hall and representatives of different non-government organizations.
Representatives from different government agencies like Pagasa, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Office of Civil Defense, Department of Public Works and Highways, United States Agency for International Development and Department of Health.
Private groups like the JCI, CSC and students from different schools were also around to witness the activity.
Mayor Romualdez said that the city government will also plant trees, include those fruit-bearing ones in other barangays in the city. (GAY GASPAY, TSAT)
Leyte mayor says he has nothing to fear on the name and shame campaign of Pres. Duterte
CARIGARA, Leyte- If you have done nothing wrong, there is nothing to fear.
This was the reaction of Mayor Eduardo “Boy” Ong of this town as President Rodrigo Duterte has named several elective officials, among others, as either directly involved or serves as protectors to those in the illegal drug trade.
Ong, who has just won his second term as mayor of this town, said that he fully support the campaign of Pres. Duterte to end the proliferation of the illegal drug activity in the country.
“If you have done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to fear but if you have made a mistake, admit it,” he said.
The name and shame campaign of the President, however, is being criticized by some groups.
In the region, among those mentioned by the President who are allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade were Laoang Mayor Hector Ong and his wife, Madeleine, herself a former mayor and governor of Northern Samar and the late judge Roberto Navidad of Calbayog City.
Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. and his son, Kerwin, were tagged by the President as the top drug lords in the region.
The President has ordered the immediate revocation of police supervision from the mayors and licenses of policemen were cancelled tagged as such.
According to Mayor Ong, the surveillance made by the government itself does not threaten privacy unless they uncover illegal activities.
Mayor Ong said that they are intensifying their campaign against illegal drugs and those behind it.
“We will pay extra attention to drug suspects who have arrest warrants issued against them,” he said.
Since the local police in coordination conducted “Oplan Tokhang” in Carigara, about 350 drug users voluntarily surrendered.
“The situation is very good now though we must maintain a high level of awareness in our crackdown on (illegal) drugs,” Ong said.
(JAZMIN BONIFACIO)