ORMOC CITY- A fire reportedly caused by a substandard flashlight gutted down an old house this city in the evening of December 6. Razed down due to the more than three hour fire incident was the two-storey house inhabited by siblings Carmen Aranez, Nancy Sode, Ivy Pical and Jocelyn Soliva, located along San Nicholas Street. Based on the report of SFO2 Roel Wenceslao of the Ormoc Fire Bureau and Protection, the incident started at around 7 p.m. at the second floor of the house, which was divided into four doors. The fire was said to have originated from the area occupied by Sode’s family who were not around during the incident.

Wenceslao said Soliva told her daughter to check when she smelled an odor like a burning rubber that was later discovered due to combustion inside the area of the Sode family. Soliva and her daughter tried to force open the door only to retreat back due to the huge fire that already consumed the area. The fire incident was declared under control by the responding firemen at around 10.21 p.m. or more than two hours after they received the fire call at 8:35 p.m. No one was hurt on the incident.

Wenceslao said a reinvestigation was performed the following day that revealed that a charging flashlight had caused a short circuit resulted to the fire incident. Sode, a former electrical foreman abroad conformed to BFP’s findings, SFO2 Wenceslao went on. The incident had a damage of worth P1.5 million. (ELVIE ROMAN ROA)

KANANGA,Leyte- Water sampling conducted by the regional office of the Environmental Management Bureau(EMB) for the past three years, beginning in 2011, showed that the total suspended solids and total coliform found in Ormoc Bay and its major bodies of water are increasing. This was according to Engr. Carlos Cayanong during the Ormoc Bay Water Quality Management Area (WQMA) Test result conducted on several sampling stations within Ormoc Bay showing the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) in some areas exceeded the passing level of maximum of 50mg/ L.

This means that the result of the water sampling conducted last year in seven identified areas have exceeded 50mg/L with high total suspended solids fronting YMCA with recorded 82- 83 mg/L. The portion of Ormoc Bay, specifically the body of water fronting Don Felipe Hotel failed for two sampling conducted last May and June 2012; with total suspended solids of 53 and 56mg/L respectively. Other sampling sites also failed since their total suspended solids exceeded 50mg/L. These include portion of Ormoc Bay in poblacion Merida, portion of the Bay fronting Philmag, Sal’s Beach, Anilao River and poblacion Albuera.

For the test result of the total coliform, it showed that four sampling sites failed due to the fact that the total coliform present in these specific areas have exceeded the passing level of only 5,000 MPN/ 100 ml. This means that the coliform found in these areas are high. These include portion of Ormoc Bay fronting YMCA with 5,400 MPN, Poblacion Merida with 9,200 MPN, Portion of the Bay in Anilao River with 16,000 MPN and Portion of Ormoc Bay fronting Don Felipe Hotel with 16,000 MPN.

Cayanong explained that the there are three parameters in doing the water sampling/ test, these include the physical parameters that tests the temperature, total suspended solids, and total dissolved solids, the biological parameters that checks the level of the fecal coliform, total coliform, and dissolved oxygen, and the chemical parameters that tests the following; acidity, heavy metals, and as well as the presence chemicals such as boron, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, etc. (PR)

ORMOC CITY- The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-Philippines provided the city government of Ormoc of a large format printer/plotter that will be used for the production of large format printing and hazard mapping. UNDP area coordinator Dario Cubelo turned over the 36-inch HP Design jet T920 A0 size large format printer/plotter to Mayor Edward Codilla on December 1 following the weekly flag-raising ceremony witnessed by the city government officials and employees. Mayor Codilla expressed his appreciation for UNDP’s generosity. The printer was designed for the production of large format printing of Geographic Information System (GIS) under the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) as a requirement for the comprehensive land use planning (CLUP).

It is also intended to provide mapping requirements among villages here and nearby municipalities’ CLUP, mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction, among others that are assisted by UNDP. UNDP charged the program under “Typhoon Recovery and Resilience in the Visayas” with funds taken from donations in Sweden. The city takes charge of the equipment maintenance and ensures secured operation. (ELVIE ROMAN ROA)

CALBAYOG CITY- A total of 30 beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) from the three village of this city are to undergo a farmers’ field school (FFS) season-long training on organic vegetable production. The training is to be participated from five 4Ps beneficiaries from Barangay Palanascara; 15 from Anislag and 10 from Lonoy. This is a joint undertaking of the city link and City Agriculture Office, and part of national government’s undertaking known as the “Agrikulturang Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program” or “AgriPinoy 4Ps” which, through local government units, aims to increase agricultural productivity and provide training, sustainable livelihood and short-term jobs to poor farm families in agricultural areas in the countryside. This AgriPinoy 4Ps will provide them with enough skills and livelihood activities through seedlings distribution and technology transfer that will make them self-reliant. Engr. Guillermo Calderon, assistant city agriculturist, said that this weekly FFS will include field activities, lectures and group dynamics.

He likewise mentioned special topics to be discussed in the entire duration of training which will include the importance of vegetable farming, production and consumption; nursery technology and management; soil sampling, seeding rate computation, land preparation and field layout; organic foliar fertilizer and pesticide; field management practices like transplanting, trellising and pruning; integrated nutrient management; and pest ecology identification and management.

In his talk with the 4Ps member-participants, Mayor Ronaldo Aquino thanked them for their attendance and further expressed high hopes that this will become their continuing program in coordination with their village officials for a desired productive and healthy barangays in the years to come. Mayor Aquino likewise urged the participants to contribute to the city’s progress, and shared his belief that as the city become economically progressive, the standard of living of every Calbayognon likewise changes for the better. (AIMEE A.CATALAN/PR)

TACLOBAN CITY- A two- day seminar workshop on Regional and District Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) teams was conducted by resource persons from the Bureau of Maintenance headed by Engr. Ma. Vishna Manio aimed to review and enhance the participants on the Incident Command System (ICS) as well as the details of their roles and responsibilities during disaster. Members of the DRRM team from district offices of Biliran, Eastern Samar, Southern Leyte, Northern Samar I and II and Samar I and II are in attendance. This is the second batch to attend said training in Region VIII.

The participants were made to realize the varying disaster risks brought about by climate change where Republic Act. 10121 – Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction Management Act & RA 9729 Climate Change Act were enacted paving the way for the creation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) chaired by Secretary of National Defense and cascaded down to the 17 Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils, 79 Provincial DRRM Councils, 122 City DRRM Councils, 1,512 Municipal DRRM Councils and barangay DRRM Councils. The four pillars of DRRM includes prevention and mitigation; disaster preparedness; disaster response; rehabilitation and recovery. The resource speakers stressed more on managing incidents using the incident command system which provides for the achievement of tactical objectives, efficient use of resources and having common operating procedure.

As discussed this ICS is headed by the incident commander whose support staff includes the PIO, safety officer and the liaison officer. The IC’s general staff is lead by operations section chief composed of the operations, logistics, admin-finance and planning units. To fully operationalize the incident command post, incident facilities on site were presented which would guide others in responding once the team mobilizes.
Georeferenced photographs are most helpful, according to Bryan Telmo and other mobile applications to keep the public abreast of incidents in various areas nationwide. Submission of appropriate situational reports were tackled as per D.O. # 38 series of 2010 and a reminder of D.O. # 96 regarding funding request for structures damaged by disaster. It cannot be denied then, that climate change is here to stay and disaster may occur anytime of the day. (MARIANETTE Y. GOMEZ/PR)