TACLOBAN CITY – The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) together with the Prison Fellowship International Philippine (PFIP) inaugurated the “Bread of Hope Bakery,” a project that could provide livelihood income for inmates at the Tacloban City Jail (TCJ) on June 3. Silvestre Alforque, PFIP president, said that this is the first time a project like this was implemented in the region. “This will not only help our inmates in the holistic approach on rehabilitation but including their families,” said Alforque. He said that the undertaking will be of big help to the inmates once they are released from the jail facility considering that they are now equipped with skills which they could use to earn income. Alforque said that they could see the project will become self-sustaining in three months after its launching. The Swiss Solidarity funds the project. Alforque added that they want to provide dignity to the inmates by teaching them skills on livelihood training instead of giving them dole- outs. Vice Mayor Jerry “Sambo” Yaokasin, who was among those who witnessed the opening and the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the BJMP and PFIP, the Bread of Hope Bakery would not only provide food for the inmates but also provide them the bread of God’s grace. “I hope that in this therapeutic community you will find hope and the real bread of life who is Jesus Christ,” Yaokasin said. Jail Superintendent Elmer Riel, assistant regional director for administration of BJMP, said that he project fulfilled his dream when he was still the warden of the jail facility. “I support this project when this was presented to me but there were problems that hampered for its implementation that included the physical structure of the jail; the emotional well-being of the inmates and looking for fund for the project,” Riel explained. “I did not expect for this to materialize. I am very thankful to the PFPI for helping the jail management to look for funding for this project,” he added. He urged the inmates to support the TCJ officials to ensure the success of the project (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Samar I undertakes tree planting activity
District Engineer Virgilio Eduarte of the Samar First District Engineering Office (SFDEO) located at Brgy. San Policarpo, Calbayog City spearheads the tree planting activity on May 3, 2014. This activity is in line with the greening plan of the District Office.
There are more or less thirty (30) fruit bearing trees of different varieties were planted within the vicinity of the District Office like coconut trees, mango trees, caimito trees, avocado trees and more. SFDEO personnel are very hopeful that all those trees will live and will bear fruits after a year or two.
The tree planting activity is undertaken not only for the beautification of the office but also in adherence with the environmental campaign of various government agencies against global warming by providing a clean and green environment. This drive is one which the present administration strongly gives emphasis to fight against the disasters, calamities, and destructions that our country had experienced for the past decade including the wrath of super typhoon Yolanda which ravaged Tacloban City and other towns in Samar.
(By: Leviresa Getigan-Barnizo)
DENR-8 marks environment day celebration this June
TACLOBAN CITY- The regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-8) leads in the Philippine Environment Month celebration this month underscoring on a more heighten environmental protection. DENR-8 Regional Director Leonardo Sibbaluca, in an interview said that this year’s theme for the environment month of June celebration is “Raise Your Voice, Not the Sea Level.” He added that the theme recognizes the remarkable resilience of small islands to climate change. “Small islands contribute little to the problem of climate change yet they are especially vulnerable to the changing climate,” Sibbaluca said. He also said that this year’s observance of the World Environment Day and the Philippine Environment Month is geared towards increasing climate change awareness and an understanding of environmental preservation. “As we observe this month-long celebration, let us all join hands in trying to combat the ill-effects of climate change. Everyone’s participation is important, let’s all keep in mind that Environment Month is every year, everywhere, and it is for everyone,” Sibbaluca said. He said that to mark this event, DENR-8 in partnership with the Philippine Information Agency will conduct a simultaneous launching of climate change advocacy campaign with a distinct theme of “Nagbabago na ang Panahon, Panahon na para Magbago.” In launching the campaign, a mangrove tree planting will be held at the mangrove rehabilitation project site with 1,000 participants from various sectors including national government agencies, non-government organizations, private sector, media, and the academe to join the event, he added. He also said that DENR-8 will also conduct a multi-sectoral forum on climate change, alongside the awarding of environment and natural resources champions from the local government units (LGUs) and DENR employees. (RESTITUTO CAYUBIT)
PDRF introduces innovative Butterfly Housing Project to Tacloban City
As part of its continuing programs for the recovery and rehabilitation of Yolanda-stricken communities, the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation (PDRF) is introducing the Butterfly House Project to 50 pilot beneficiaries in a resettlement site in Barangay Bagacay, Tacloban City. Developed by Filipino – American businessman Rogelio Santos, Jr. in the aftermath of last year*s super typhoon, the Butterfly House Project features a compact and steel-framed housing facility which can be unfolded into an immediately liveable housing structure. These “butterfly houses” are engineered for portability and can be built in minutes even by non-skilled constructors. Designed to be more sustainable alternatives to tents and bunkhouses, these are also equipped with solar panels and built-in LED lights which can support up to 18 hours of basic lighting. Units may also come with the option of added bathroom spaces. “We have carefully crafted these houses to ensure quality living conditions in resettlement areas and provide residents with safe, secure and durable homes while they transition to permanent housing,” explains Santos. According to PDRF President Butch Meily, this will help address the immediate need to get people out of tents and transfer them into better housing facilities. “The Butterfly House Project is an innovative way to make this happen,” he says. PDRF is the world’s only permanent private sector disaster response organization. For more information on how to support its ongoing recovery programs for disaster-stricken communities, visit www.pdrf.org. (PR)
NGCP donates two classrooms to a Javier public school
TACLOBAN CITY- The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) with the support of the Department of Education (DepEd) held the turn-over of their 1-unit, two classrooms school building in Caranhug Primary School at Javier, Leyte. In his turn-over message, Ryan Añasco, principal specialist, Corporate Affairs Department of the NGCP, said that the newly-constructed school building will always look for opportunities to provide the younger generation to finish their studies and uplift their way of life.
Through its corporate social responsibility program, Añasco said that the NGCP has been providing development assistance to its host communities. The recent turnover of classrooms in public schools aims to accommodate the increased number of enrollees for this year. “In fulfilling our commitment to the Filipino people and as part of their corporate social responsibility program, education is one of NGCPs advocacy,” Añasco said in his message. The classroom school building will accommodate 120 students who have received also school supplies from the NGCP. “We are very thankful for the opportunity given to us in helping the Caranhug Primary School especially to the student,” Añasco added. Also, the NGCP is also thankful for the support of the Don Orestes Romualdez Electric Cooperative, Inc. who have donated blackboard to each classroom that the NGCP has constructed. With the new classrooms, the NGCP is hopeful that it will encourage students to go to class and boost the student population. (RYAN GABRIEL LLOSA ARCENAS)
Alibis and justifications
Six months after megastorm Yolanda created an unprecedented destruction across the Visayas largerly Leyte and Samar islands, various humanitarian agencies reported how far they have gone in their recovery and rehabilitation efforts. Thanks to the donors and benefactors who contributed, substantially or not, to the funds used for these efforts. Far beyond the people’s general impression, areas hard hit by Yolanda, such as Tacloban City and adjacent towns in Leyte and Samar, are constantly rising up and rebuilding things and pursuits better and safer.
Running eight months from the day of the Yolanda onslaught, survivors who are supposedly aided by the government in terms of shelter and livelihood are yet clamouring for what they ought to enjoy as citizens of this country. By operation of law, the state is to stand as the guardian of these ailing citizens, whose future and hope were ferociously ruined by the natural calamity. The government, among all institutions with or without juridical personality, should be the first to respond and provide the basic survival help the survivors need with dispatch or sans any delay.
Apparently this time, particularly in Tacloban, which is said to be ground zero in the sty Yolanda onslaught, the government is the blast to respond yet the institutions that has the greater bulk of donations, largely of foreign sources. If the non-government humanitarian agencies are simply requiring a soon disbursement of the cash needed to finance the recovery and rehab efforts for the typhoon survivors, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines has a litany of excuses for the delay in carrying out these efforts.
Albeit necessaries under the system of bureacracy, the voluminous requirements before one project is implemented and ensued once started make the delivery of services more sluggish than a snail’s pace to the point that the need is over before it is provided. Worse, lives are wasted before the help much sought for is given. Coping with the red tape syndrome in the government would be just fine if all money-based transactions in the government are treated the same way. What about the emergency purchases and rigged biddings in the guise of urgent need only to find out hpw corruption had gotten into the way.
The PDAF scam, which is now dragging hundreds of names of self-acclaimed noble statesmen, is a classic example how corruption has weakened the moral fiber of the entire bureaucracy and tainted the integrity of the government on financial matters. With the billions of pesos in donations dumped into the coffers of the government and occurence of natural calamities not something new to it, delays for non-availability of paper requirements should not be a reason, unless something is being cooked in the kitchen, which is not supposed to happen.