CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, Leyte – Nine police units of the Police Regional Office 8 (PRO 8) received various awards for the 3rd Stage (Proficiency) of the Performance Governance System popularly known as PNP P.A.T.R.O.L. Plan 2030 during the conferment and awarding ceremony on January 16, 2019 at the PRO 8 Matapat Hall.
Eastern Visayas Police Director Chief Supt Dionardo Carlos told reporters in a press conference here that the awardees were as follows: Leyte Police Provincial Office and Tacloban City Police Office for Gold Eagle Award; Ormoc City Police Office; Eastern Samar Police Provincial Office; Biliran Police Provincial Office; Northern Samar Police Provincial Office; Samar Police Provincial Office; Regional Mobile Force Battalion; and Southern Leyte Police Provincial Office for Silver Eagle Award.
C/Supt Carlos also told reporters that said awards were the result of exemplary performances of all the Provincial and City Police Offices and the Regional Mobile Force Battalion contributing to PRO8 Headquarters’ conferment with Gold Medal Award last January 15, 2018 at PNP national headquarters in Quezon City.
Carlos explained that PNP P.A.T.R.O.L. Plan 2030 is the Philippine National Police strategy towards real and lasting transformation.
Its journey began in 2009 when it was selected by the Office of the President to be one of the six national agencies to participate in a landmark Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact Eligibility agreement for adopting the said Performance Governance System.
“With great appreciation, I commend the men and women of PRO8 with their zealous efforts for such a remarkable achievement,” Carlos said.
Currently, this PRO is doing its best foot forward heading its way to the last stage, the Institutionalization Stage, Carlos said.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)
PRO 8 confers awards to 9 police units in EV
Chief Supt. Carlos reassigns 3 police provincial officials
To ensure PNP will remain nonpartisan
CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, Leyte- At least three police provincial directors here in the region were reassigned from their posts as part of the police organization’s policy to remain neutral as the country is set to hold elections this May 13.
Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos, police regional director, said that the three affected officials have been in their posts of at least a year, a period which he said could have made them established ‘familiarity’ among the candidates running in the elections.
“Election period kasi. We rotate our field commanders, especially those in position of at least one year. We want to avoid familiarity with the incumbents who are running in the elections. This way, we cannot be accused of being partisan. This is also for the benefit of the organization,” Carlos said on Wednesday.
Affected by the orders were S/Supt. Dante Novicio of Leyte who was reassigned to Samar province; S/Supt. Nicholas Torre III,Samar police director who was assigned as chief of the regional operations division; and S/Supt. Felix Diloy of Eastern Samar who was replaced by S/Supt. Lito Bigoy.
The new police provincial director for Leyte is S/Supt. Rolando Bade whose previous post is now occupied by Torre.
Diloy, meantime, was temporarily assigned at the Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit.
Of the three affected police provincial directors, the most controversial was Torre who engaged Calbayog City Mayor Ronald Aquino of verbal tussle, accusing him of favoring Samar Governor Sharee Ann Tan.
Torre, however, denied the allegations saying he was only doing his functions as a police provincial director.
Not affected by the movements were the police provincial director of Biliran, S/Supt.Julius Coyme, Northern Samar, S/Supt. Reynaldo de la Cruz; and Southern Leyte, S/Supt. Nelson Eucogco.
The three police provincial directors are only at their present assignments of less than a year reason why they were not affected by the movement, C/Supt. Carlos said.
Carlos, however, said that the affected police officials should not considered their transfer as they were relieved.
“It’s not they are being relieved. After the elections, the possibility of putting them back is still there,” he said, adding that all were designated in acting capacities.
Meantime, Carlos said that he issued a directive to all police provincial officials to ensure that that conduct of the elections at their respective areas would be peaceful.
“They should follow the instructions of the leadership. Make sure that they will be nonpartisan and keep (the elections) peaceful,” the regional police director said.
BY: JOEY A. GABIETA/ROEL T. AMAZONA
On damaged roads
Damages to infrastructures to include roads and highways are common reports produced by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Such reports should have been just normal had the causes been expected, like worn out roads due to extended periods of time.
But most of these causes are unnatural, albeit caused by natural calamities. Look at how infrastructures get damaged by frequent typhoons that enter the country’s area of responsibility twenty times per year on average. This entails endless damages. Somehow, that’s what the country gets for being situated in front of the Pacific Ocean where typhoons are born year-round.
From the recent Tropical Depression ‘Usman” alone, road impairments amounted to P54.5 million according to DPWH. These are damages in Samar Island where the storm had landed. It’s just the beginning of the year, yet we already incurred such losses. How much more are we going to lose should the rest of the storms hit us in the course of 2019, then? Is there anything we can do to prevent the onslaught of these catastrophes?
Nothing. All we can do is to restore and rehabilitate the damaged portions, then expect for similar damages come those forthcoming calamities. Perhaps what the DPWH can do is to ensure they build tougher and stronger infrastructures that could resist disasters, not ones that do not follow specifications; not those that are drained of strength due to construction anomalies and irregularities.
We just hope that these damages are not due to inferior quality and workmanship of those damaged projects. We expect that those damages are due to the intensity of the calamities, not because of easily-damaged road quality.
Tacloban city gov’t opens its first ever OTOP Store
(D. Abarquez/CIO)
TACLOBAN CITY- the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in partnership with the city government through Mayor Cristina G. Romualdez, launched the first OTOP (One Town, One Product) Store in Tacloban City on Thursday (January 10).
On behalf of Mayor Romualdez, OIC Tourism Officer Ma. Lumen Tabao graced the launching at the lobby of the Kanhuraw Business Center along with DTI Leyte Provincial Director Desiderio Belas.
The OTOP Store sells an array of local goods from Team Coop Producers – a Tacloban-based Cooperative being supported by the local government unit of Tacloban and the DTI Negosyo Center.
The program provides the platform for Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to develop their branding, Packaging & labeling skills and effectively market their products. (CIO)
All set for 1st Eastern Visayas collegiate basketball tourney on Jan. 25
TACLOBAN CITY- The Eastern Visayas Collegiate Athletic Association (EVCAA) on Friday (Jan.11) announced the opening of the first season of the region’s inter-collegiate basketball tournament on January 25 at the Tacloban City Convention Center (Astrodome).
Eight of the 10 state colleges and universities (SUCs) in the region will join in the upcoming tournament, said EVCAA’s tournament commissioner Julius Ross Lacaba.
The participating SUCs are Eastern Samar State University (ESSU), Eastern Visayas State University (EVSU), Leyte Normal University (LNU), Naval State University (NSU), Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU), Samar State University (SSU), University of Eastern Philippines (UEP), and Visayas State University (VSU).
Presidents and representatives of the eight SUCs signed a memorandum of agreement on January 11 at the EVSU Graduate School campus in Tacloban.
“The game will start with the West teams. EVSU versus LNU, and NSU versus VSU,” Lacaba said.
Lacaba said the creation of the independent athletic association is patterned around the concept and structure of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), two of the premier collegiate athletic associations in the country.
“EVCAA aims to be the premiere Collegiate Athletic Association in the region and will conduct yearly sports tournaments as well as capacity building of in-house coaches supported by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, the basketball governing body authorized by the country and sanctioned by the International Basketball Federation,” Lacaba said.
He also acknowledged the support of Tingog Sinirangan party -list and Leyte First District Representative Yedda Marie Romualdez for sponsoring the first season of the college basketball games.
“We know that sports is another form of intelligence. Believing that student-athletes have a lot to offer, we have created this opportunity for them to not only showcase but further develop their talents,” said Jude Acidre, the second nominee of Tingog Sinirangan.
Acidre said that aside from supporting the basketball tournament, they are not also closing the option to sponsor women’s basketball and volleyball.
Jude Duarte, LNU president, hoped that the student-players in the region “will have good reasons to stay” with the opening of EVCAA’s college basketball.
However, Duarte said that more incentives, scholarships, and exposure to tournaments are important for the players to be enticed to join in the school rather than playing outside.
According to Duarte, the university will get better players if it has a good sports program.
(RONALD O. REYES)
DTI calls business owners to renew business registration in one-stop shop
BORONGAN CITY- The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) – Eastern Samar Provincial Field Office (DTI-Eastern Samar) calls on business owners to renew their registration.
The same appeal is done to new business owners to register their business names as this gives business owners an exclusive ownership to a business of their choice.
Ligaya D. Catuday, senior trade and industry development specialist, said that submitting applications to register business name by starting business owners this January 2019 is timely.
She added that getting a business name in DTI is the first step to secure a mayor’s permit and is also used to register at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Catuday added that Borongan City as well as other major trading centers puts up a one-stop shop at the start of the calendar year for processing the mayor’s business permit.
Included in the one-stop shop are the departments of the city or municipal government and some government agencies part in licensing like DTI, PhilHealth, Pag-ibig, BFP, DOH-City Sanitary Inspection.
The LGU one-stop-shop started operation from January 3, 2019 and will end on January 20, 2019.
Those who will not be able to register their businesses in the said dates are advised to just register at the Negosyo Centers.
Fees may differ depending on territorial scope. In the barangay level, one may pay P215; in municipalities and cities, P515; regional, P1,015.; and the national is P2,015.
The permit gets released within 15 minutes or the normal transaction through online registration. But due to slow internet connection and the high volume of applicants, the transaction is finished on the next day
Last year, DTI netted some 1,195 business establishments where most of these are retail trading. (SDC/PIA-E. Samar)