TACLOBAN CITY- Three years after supertyphoon “Yolanda” hit Tacloban, the city government has never been more aggressive in enticing businessmen to invest in the city.
A Local Incentives and Investment Code (LIIC) intended to lure local and foreign businessmen to put up business in the city have been endorsed before members of the city council.
The investment code aims to encourage local and foreign investors to put money in priority areas or industries for development in Tacloban.
The administration of Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez is intent on enticing more investors to Tacloban.
Mayor Romualdez believes that encouraging more investors to the city would mean additional job opportunities for Taclobanons.
Once approved, the LIIC will make available fiscal and non-fiscal incentives or tax holidays for investors in order to entice them to priority areas or industries for development in the city.
It is also expected to enhance the processing of business permits and access to business information.
Among the priority areas for investment highlighted in the proposed LIIC is the development of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) hub in the city.
City Administrator Atty. Irene Chiu said Tacloban is ready to host Business Processing Outsourcing (BPOs) Companies or call centers.
According to Chiu, Tacloban’s edge over other cities is its low-cost of living and cheaper minimum wage.
While other IT hubs are congested, Tacloban still offers enough “legroom” for IT companies to thrive, she added.
Last November 10, the city government wasted no time in promoting this possibility when it hosted the gathering of ICT practitioners and stakeholders throughout the country.
Other come on for investors is the relatively low crime rate in city. In fact, on November 7 the city government with the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines inked the joint Declaration of Stable Internal Peace and Security.
A new township in the north –Tacloban North– which has designated Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Zones suitable for the light industries, is also being developed to make the highly urbanized city “attractive” to potential business locators.
Tacloban North is considered a flagship project of Mayor Romualdez outlined in the Tacloban Recovery and Rehabilitation Program (TRRP) as it is located in one of the safest areas of the city away from storm surge and geophysical hazards as indicated in Government hazard maps.
Other priority industries for development are tourism and infrastructure services.
(HENRY JAMES G. ROCA/CIO)
Tacloban city gov’t to lure investors with passage of investment, incentive codes
Popcom teaches proper parenting for adolescents in Eastern Samar
TACLOBAN CITY- Parenting can be the most rewarding work of adult life.
Nothing brings more joy and pride than a happy, productive, and loving child. But parenting adolescents has never been easy. It may seem harder today in this too-much-information-and-everything-else age, but the basic principles haven’t changed.
It’s a balancing act: allowing more freedom while maintaining limits that hope help them live long enough to become their own persons.
Both parents and adolescents may find help through the Commission on Population’s (Popcom) Learning Package on Parent Education on Adolescent Health and Development (LPPEAHD) in understanding and managing each other these adolescent years—years that can be both exhilarating and daunting.
Since LPPEAHD’s inception, Popcomc-8 has conducted several trainings to parents in various parts of the region to help them provide the best type of guidance and advice to their adolescent children on matters pertaining to adolescent health and development, most especially on human sexuality-related issues.
On November 14-18, 2016 about 60 nurses, midwives and teachers who are already from different towns across Eastern Samar were trained by Popcom on how to prepare themselves and their children for a smoother transition and greater success in achieving the tasks of adolescent development. They were also trained to conduct a similar training to their fellow parents in their respective communities.
The training was sponsored by the Department of Health Provincial Office in Eastern Samar headed by Dr. Jean Marie Egargo.
“We enjoyed the sessions as we went through focus group discussions and role playing,” said Maria Marcelina Crodula, a participant from Guiuan town.
She said she learned that adolescents need many skills in order to successfully achieve their goal of increased independence. (MEL CASPE)
Rural health units damaged by “Yolanda” to undergo repair
TACLOBAN CITY – Eight rural health units in Leyte will be rehabilitated by the Second Leyte Engineering District (2nd LED) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) through funds provided by the Department of Health (DOH).
Under the Health Facilities Enhancement-Program (HFEP) of the Department of Health (DOH), this ensures the construction, upgrading, enhancing, equipping of all necessary healthcare facilities particularly in the barangay.
In Leyte’s second district, a total P 25 million in budget is given for the rehabilitation of rural health units in Capoocan, Jaro, Pastrana, Burauen and Carigara.
2nd LED District Engineer Carlos Veloso assured that the rehabilitation of these facilities will promptly be undertaken and are right on track of projected date of completion.
Facility design will also take into account climate change impacts.
Veloso said that just like the way they have built schools, buildings for the RHU will also be designed to withstand strong winds and heavy downpours during the typhoon season.
When supertyphoon “Yolanda” devastated Leyte in 2013, many RHUs in municipalities were damaged which made healthcare delivery critical to all affected communities.
The rehabilitation of these RHUs will for more healthcare facilities for children and the elderly, consultation rooms, minor surgery and treatment rooms, pharmacy, dental clinic, labor room, breastfeeding area and birthing clinic, among others.
The facilities enhancement program of the DOH builds rural health care infrastructure in the selected districts to a level such that they have the physical capacity to address the service requirements of the National Health Program (NHP).
(AHLETTE C.REYES)
“Yolanda” survivors staged protest on planned transfer to unfinished relocation sites
(JAZMIN BONIFACIO)
City officials assured to look at their grievances
TACLOBAN CITY- Close to 500 individuals staged a protest rally at the Sangguniang Panlungsod building to dramatize their opposition on the reported plan of the city government to transfer them at the relocation sites before the end of this month.
The rallyists, who all lost their houses when supertyphoon “Yolanda” hit Tacloban three years ago, claimed that the resettlement sites are not yet ready for occupancy and if ready, there are no provision on water and power.
“We are not opposing on the transfer but what we are asking is for the government to make these houses liveable,” Belinda Ginu-o, a resident of Barangay 90, Baybay, San Jose district.
City officials like Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin and councilor Aimee Grafil, who chairs the committee on urban poor and resettlement, assured the families that they would seriously consider their grievances.
The move to transfer the families living in coastal areas, declared as danger zones in the aftermath of the storm surge generated by supertyphoon “Yolanda,” was in the wake of pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte during his visit here in the city on the third year commemoration of Yolanda’s onslaught.
The President directed government agencies to transfer all the families still living in temporary shelters to include those in danger zones to the permanent resettlement sites.
In Tacloban, more than 14,400 families who lost their houses due to Yolanda are to be relocated. However, three years after the massive disaster, only more than 2000 families have been permanently transferred to the relocation sites located in the northern part of the city.
While there are houses, constructed by the National Housing Authority, that could be occupied by the families, lack of water supply, power and livelihood opportunities stops the beneficiaries to transfer to these housing units.
Joli Torella of the Urban Poor Associates (UPA) said that they received an advisory that the city government of Tacloban plans to undertake a “massive” demolition of structures in areas located in the “no build zones.”
According to Torella, such move will lead to force eviction of around 1,000 families per week living in coastal areas, particularly in Magallanes and San Jose districts.
The UPA provided assistance like temporary shelters to the families located in these areas. (JAZMIN BONIFACIO)
President Duterte’s speech earns praises from ‘Yolanda’ survivors
TACLOBAN CITY – Survivors in coastal communities badly hit by supertyphoon “Yolanda” has welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to move them to permanent homes as early as next month.
In the past two years, single mother Marilyn Singh, 51, and her children and grandchildren have been staying in a bunkhouse.
She commended the President for giving attention to them. “I agree with President Duterte. Why delay the housing projects if funds have already been available?” she asked.
Lucia Etolle, 61, shares a room with 10 other family members in the same bunkhouse made out of coconut lumber and plywood.
She lauded the President for being apologetic to the plight of survivors, who are compelled to stay in low lying coastal communities and makeshift houses.
“Suffering for nearly three years is too much. We really want to move to a new house with own toilet, stable water supply, and electricity,” said Etolle, who earns meager income from tailoring.
Weeks after Yolanda devastated the region, the government built bunkhouses for displaced families.
Each unit is divided into 24 rooms for each family. The room measures 8.64 square meters—roughly the size of two ping-pong tables.
The two mothers are among the 50 families still living in bunkhouses built in a government-owned lot in Barangay Kalipayan, this city.
These families are scheduled for transfer to housing projects in the northern part of the city funded by an international non-government organization.
In Brgy. San Roque, Tanauan, Leyte several families opted to stay in makeshift houses built near the shoreline even after the turnover of permanent housing units to them.
“Living here is more convenient. It’s closer to the sea where we earn about P300 daily from fishing. What’s the point of having a new home if we have nothing to eat?” asked Yiyi Quista, 44, a mother of five.
“With the President’s order, I am positive that concerned government agencies will address the livelihood aspect of relocation,” she added.
During the 3rd Yolanda anniversary on November 8, Duterte asked concern agencies to fast track the assistance to survivors, especially housing-related concerns.
“I am not satisfied. In three years only few families were transferred to their permanent houses. The national offices, the respective departments, they’re only given one month to process the paper and it must be out,” the President said.
Thousands of Yolanda survivors converged in town plazas and mass grave sites to celebrate resilience and remember those who perished when Yolanda the Visayas in 2013.
(SARWELL Q.MENIANO)
3rd Yolanda anniversary: Mayor Cristina urges Taclobanons to keep the faith, hope for a better city
TACLOBAN CITY- “Keep the faith and hope that we will rise again,” so said Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez after the commemorative mass at the Tacloban City Convention Center, this city on Tuesday (Nov.8) coinciding with the 3rd anniversary of supertyphoon “Yolanda” attended by key national government officials and foreign dignitaries.
Attending the ceremony remembering the onslaught of Yolanda were former Tacloban mayor Alfred Romualdez, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., Rep. Yedda Romualdez, ViceMayor Jerry Yaokasin, Raymund Romualdez and formercongressmen Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Anton Lagdameo of the 2nd district of Davao del Norte.
Also joining the scores of Tacloban residents who attended the event were national officials and foreign dignitaries, namely Senator Cynthia Villar and Climate Change Commissioner Emmanuel de Guzman,US acting Ambassador to the Philippines, Michael Klecheski, Israeli Ambassador Effie Ben Matityau, Bangladesh Ambassador John Gomes and a representative of the Australian Embassy.
The commemorative mass was officiated by Naval Bishop Filomeno Bactol.
According to Mayor Romualdez, the city government is concentrating its efforts on transferring Yolanda–affected families living in transitional shelters to permanent homes.
Currently, the city government has helped move 2,500 families from temporary shelters to their permanent homes at the National Housing Resettlement Project situated at North of Tacloban. Still lacking potable water amenities, the city government conducts daily rationing of water to the transferred families.
The new township is where the city government plans to transfer some 10,000 to 15,000 families living in identified danger zones in the next two years.
Tacloban North has been identified in hazard maps by the different DOST agencies as some of the safest areas in the City.
Three years after Yolanda, tourism in the city is vibrant according to Mayor Cristina; from 40 hotels before Yolanda, Tacloban now has 63.
Speaking at the commemorative program, she thanked the various international non-government organizations which contributed to the rehabilitation of Tacloban and encouraged Taclobanons to pin hopes on the City now heeding the lessons of Yolanda.
Rep. Romualdez, on the other hand, said she re-filed in the House of Representatives a proposed law authored by former senator Marcos which seeks to create a national agency that will oversee government emergency and rehabilitation efforts during a disaster.
Recalling what happened at the height of Yolanda three years ago, former Mayor Alfred Romualdez said the city government evacuated some 7,000 residents to the Astrodome which only has a total capacity of 3,500.
He also contradicted reports that the evacuation center had several casualties.
Former Mayor Romualdez and Senator Bongbong Marcos were presented with certificates of appreciation
Capping the commemorative program was the launching of the book“Legacies of Leadership Book II”, which compiled the personal narratives of Yolanda survivors. (HENRY JAMES ROCA/Tacloban City Information Office)