TACLOBAN CITY- A jobless man who lives in one of the resettlement sites in this city was arrested for selling the prohibited drugs to police personnel who acted as a buyer-poseur.
Arrested by the members of the city anti-drug special task force headed by Chief Inspector Steve Castillote was Oliver Vero, 25, jobless and a resident of Barangay 106, Santo Niño, this city.
During the buy-bust operation, five pieces of heat-sealed transparent sachets believed to be shabu were seized from the suspect’s possession.
Also recovered from Vero were one unit caliber 38 revolver with four rounds of live ammunitions and two pieces of P100 bills.
Confiscated items were turned over to the Regional Crime Laboratory Office (RCLO8) for qualitative and quantitative analysis while the pieces of non-drug evidence were turned over to Tacloban City Police Office (TCPO) evidence custodian.
Suspect is now under the custody of TCPO custodial facility while cases for violation of sections 5 & 11, Article II of RA 9165 are being prepared for filing before the City Prosecutor’s Office.
The operation was conducted in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency under the supervision of S/Supt.Rolando V. Bade, officer-in-charge of the Tacloban City Police Office. (PR)
Man nabbed for selling shabu to police personnel in a buy-bust operation
Tacloban exec says temporary shelters to be demolished by October
TACLOBAN CITY – The city government wants to see all temporary shelters in this city vacant by October with the plan to transfer the remaining 339 families from makeshift houses to permanent housing units.
City housing and community development office head Maria Lagman said these families should be moved to their permanent houses with the onset of rainy season and availability of thousands of substantially completed permanent shelter.
“If we will transfer these families, there would be no additional effort on the part of the city government since we have been delivering (drinking) water there over the past years,” Lagman said, referring to the relocation sites located in the northern part of the city.
Families who totally lost their houses due to supertyphoon “Yolanda” devastation were relocated at the northern part of Tacloban.
Only temporary houses at the Cali transitional shelter site in Barangay Cabalawan will be spared from demolition since shelters there were built on higher grounds, and sturdier and the lot is owned by the city government.
“The plan is to convert the Cali shelters into evacuation centers,” Lagman added.
The city has 10 temporary shelter sites in five villages. Some of the properties are owned by the local government with the rest privately owned.
The 339 families will join the more than 2,000 households now in permanent shelters constructed by the National Housing Authority (NHA) in the northern part of the city for Yolanda survivors living in danger zones.
The city government is reluctant to bring more families from coastal communities to relocation sites due mainly to lack of water supply.
The local government has been delivering 80 tons or 21,521 gallons of water daily to resettlement sites since they were relocated.
Water supply has been tagged as the major setback to government’s effort to relocate more than 14,000 families to their new homes.
As of this month, only 2,036 houses of the estimated 5,000 completed units have been occupied.
Of the 2,036 houses, 1,028 were funded by the NHA and 1,008 by non-government organizations.
Most of them were transferred last April. Due to water supply problem, only less than 200 families from danger zones were moved to resettlement sites between April to September this year.
The national government earlier approved the proposed P152 million for long-term water system, which will take several years to complete.
“DBM agreed to release P90 million for the medium term solution so we could start the project using underground sources. We cannot transfer people without water,” Lagman said.
The city government is eyeing to relocate additional 3,000 families once the medium-term water supply project is completed. The target date is early next year. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO)
Archbishop Du calls dialogue between Church, gov’t amid campaign on illegal drugs
TACLOBAN CITY-Amidst the spate of killings due to the campaign of the national government on illegal drug proliferation, Palo Archbishop John Du underscored the need for a dialogue between the Catholic Church and the government.
“We respect each other’s ways and means but it is a matter of agreement,” Du said.
The region’s top prelate said that there is no need for the local church to come up with its own statement condemning the killings, described by human rights groups as extra-judicial killings (EJKs).
“No need for statement, they know what is the stand of the Catholic (Church) and it is their own responsibility because the Church and the state are not really to compete but are side-by-side,” Du said.
In an unofficial media tally, as of September 29, 3,509 persons were killed since President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs became full swing on July 1.
Of this number, 1,276 drug personalities were killed in police operations and 2,233 were victims of extrajudicial or vigilante-style killings.
However, in the senate probe on EJKs, PNP Chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa disclosed that the actual figure as validated by the PNP Directorate for Operations was only 1,105 as of last week.
The spate of killings whether in legitimate police operations or by unknown perpetrators has spurred concern from powerful foreign states such as the United States and the European Union and the United Nations.
The Catholic Church, particularly in general terms the bishops, even caught the ire of Pres. Duterte for criticizing his stance and the manner of executing the “Oplan Double Barrel” and “Oplan Tokhang” (Toktok Hangyo) flagship program of his administration.
This sparked misunderstanding between him and the leadership of the Catholic Church in the country.
Du stressed too that there is a no gag order on the clergy in the Archdiocese of Palo that will restrain them from speaking about this issue in their homilies.
“They can say something about (the EJKs) but the general principle but not very personalized because we have to respect the stand if that is the President’s way of really trying to put things in order, well that is his way,” Du commented.
He stood pat though that “the way of the Church is different.”
“That is the time that we have to come to what we call the dialogue, it is needed that we have to meet in middle ground,” he said.
“We cannot just go on world affair but we also have to put the spiritual as a part of the solution so that it is where dialogue would come in,” Du added.
Although the general impression is that the Catholic Church in the country is against the President, expressed a varied view.
“We are not disappointed because he is also got some good points especially that his intention is peace and order,” he clarified.
“It is only in the means and the process that we could not agree on,” he said.
As of now various parishes and vicariates in the Archdiocese of Palo are in the process of finalizing its formation module which will be part of the total package for the rehabilitation of drug surrenderees in their respective turfs.
Du underscored a necessary partnership between the Church, the government and the stakeholders in the reformation and rehabilitation of drug personalities.
Du is optimistic of the capability of the local Churches to carry on its part in the rehabilitation process that drug surrenderees will undergo with the “techniques and skills which so many of (Church) people have.”
(EILEEN NAZARENO-BALLESTEROS)
DENR-8 wildlife rescue center serves as educational place for wildlife conservation
TACLOBAN CITY-The Regional Wildlife Rescue Center (RWRC) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-8) now serves as an educational place for the conservation of wildlife in the region.
DENR-8 Regional Director Leonardo Sibbaluca said that the RWRC located within the premises of Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) in Barangay Baras, Palo town serves as the rehabilitation area for confiscated, rescued, and abandoned wildlife species found within the region.
Sibbaluca said that while the wildlife species are housed at the center for proper care, it is open for educational tours and family trips.
“Everyone is invited to take the opportunity of seeing wildlife animals while they are still in captivity at the center,” Sibbaluca said.
Sibbaluca said that the confiscated animals are released into their natural habitat as soon as they are fit and healthy.
At present the center is taking care of several kinds of birds, wild cats, snakes, monkeys, and other animals.
With many kinds of wildlife being taken care of, the center looks like at the same time a mini zoo wherein anyone can see and observe.
Sibbaluca said that the RWRC has been relocated from its previous location in Babatngon, Leyte after it was totally damaged by supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ in 2013.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)
Viaduct to rise along new alternative road in Southern Leyte
MAASIN CITY – A viaduct will soon rise within the new San Ricardo-Liloan Road, adding up to the list of tourist attractions in the southernmost tip of the province.
Instead of blasting hard rock to clear the area for road opening, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will instead build a 200-meter viaduct snaking through the rock formation.
The DPWH decided to build the viaduct after consultations with Rep. Roger Mercado and Governor Damian Mercado.
The project is in line with Southern Leyte’s local development plan.
“We all agreed to keep the natural beauty of hard rock intact by constructing a viaduct. This is in support to the provincial development plan and local tourism program,” said District Engineer Ma. Margarita Junia.
A viaduct is a long elevated roadway usually consisting of a series of short spans supported on arches, piers, or columns. This is the first structure of its kind in the province.
The structure will rise within the boundary of Barangays Kinachawa and San Ramon in San Ricardo.
The project is included in the P100 million funds next year meant to build an alternative road connecting San Ricardo to Liloan town.
Another P175 million is being proposed for 2018 to complete the circumferential road.
This year, the DPWH – Southern Leyte District Engineering Office (SLDEO) is currently implementing a P40 million opening of the alternative road.
For the 2016 allocation, the project aims to open about two kilometers of gravel road.
Other civil works include roadway excavation of hard rocks, installation of drainage system, and slope protection works. (PR)
Kerwin’s associate surrenders to Espenido; yields shabu worth P69,000
ORMOC CITY- A drug pusher who was said to be a close associate of Kerwin Espinosa, region’s top drug lord, surrendered to police authorities saying he feared for his safety.
Nick June Canin, considered as one of the top drug pushers of the nearby town of Kananga chose to surrender to Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido.
Espenido is the chief of police of Albuera where Espinosa run his illegal drug trade.
Espinosa has been in hiding with his father, Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr., sought protective custody with the local police.
Canin,35, surrendered to Espenido shabu weighing 8.7 grams valued at P69,600 and a caliber 45 pistol loaded with live ammunitions.
The suspect claimed to be a “trusted aide” of Espinosa who supplied him shabu that he sold in Kananga, 33 kms away from Ormoc City.
In an interview, Canin said that he opted to surrender to Espenido as he could be assured of his safety.
The Albuera police chief welcomed the surrender of Canin adding that he is open for other drug personalities associated to Espinosa to give themselves up to him.
“Whoever is willing to surrender even coming from other areas, I will accept them. We are open to help. There is no problem. We only need give and take,” Espenido said.
“I am happy to know of their response on our call for them to surrender and hopefully to stop (in the illegal drug trade). My principle is that peace starts on trust, surrender and renewal. Everyone wants to start anew,” he added.
But Chief Inspector Ricky Reli, chief of police of Kananga, said that Canin was a subject of a buy-bust operation on September 22.
Canin, however, engaged his policemen to a fire fight and managed to escape only to resurface to surrender to Espenido.
Reli said that they advised Canin to turn over to them two kilos of shabu which they believed he was in possession as well as a grenade, a caliber 45 gun and a shot gun.
The Kananga police are preparing charges against Canin for violations of Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 for drug selling and possession as well as illegal possession of firearm, both non-bailable offenses. (ELVIE ROMAN ROA)