LIMASAWA, Southern Leyte- With the centennial celebration of the First Mass just five years away, Southern Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado is mulling of filing a bill making the historic event as a national holiday.
On Friday, Mercado led provincial and local officials on the 496th anniversary of the First Mass that marked the entry of Catholicism in the country.
“March 31 is a momentous event that should be celebrated by the whole country with a population that are faithful to the Roman Catholic Church,” he said.
At present, the First Mass celebration is considered as a provincial holiday.
Rep. Mercado, Gov. Damian Mercado, and town Mayor Nilo Petracorta led the officials in the holding of the 496th First Mass celebration amid downcast skies held at the Limasawa National Shrine.
An image of the Santo Nino de Cebu was brought from Maasin City, the provincial capital.
Limasawa was the second stop of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his men after docking in Homonhon Island off the town of Guiuan, Eastern Samar discovering the country in their journey to Moluccas, the “spice island”.
The first First Mass was officiated by Father Pedro de Valderrama at the shore of Limasawa, universally recognized as the first Catholic Mass held in the Orient.
After celebrating the mass in Limasawa, Magellan and his crew went to Cebu where he died at the Battle of Mactan.
Meantime, Mayor Petracorta said that this early, they are now preparing for the 100th year celebration of the historic event.
The centennial celebration will take place in 2021.
“It will be a big celebration,” the town mayor said.
Meantime, Bishop Precioso Cantillas of the Maasin Diocese, in his homily, renewed the strong opposition of the Church against death penalty approved by the House of Representatives.
“The First Mass tells us to protect life and communion with our community because this mass represents Jesus Christ that symbolizes giving of life through the Eucharist,” Cantillas said.
“As a Catholic country, we should live in protecting in life and have unity,” the Maasin bishop said.
Incidentally, Rep. Mercado was one of the congressmen who approved for the passage of the death penalty. (ROEL T. AMAZONA/VICKY C. ARNAIZ)
Officials prepares for the 100th celebration of the First Mass
Tacloban receives grant to finance coastal protection projects
TACLOBAN CITY- This city was chosen by the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) as one of the recipients that will receive a seed grant of more than P7.5 million that will be used for the construction of three pilot projects as part of the rehabilitation and recovery efforts in the aftermath of super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ that pummeled this city in 2013.
The grant will be used by the city government to fund projects concerning on coastal protection.
Earlier, the PRA requested the Netherlands government to access its Dutch Risk Reduction (DRR) facility which immediately responded.
The Dutch DRR team help the city government developed a master plan for a coastal protection strategy in Tacloban, to include Palo, another hard-hit town due to Yolanda in Leyte.
The grant will be used for the construction of identified pilot projects on selected areas in the city which will involve a series of training to be executed by local participants in partnership with the city government. (PR)
DOH: Diarrhea cases in E. Samar town now under control
TACLOBAN CITY – The diarrhea infections, which killed a five-year-old boy and afflicted 43 others in Dolores, Eastern Samar in the past four weeks, is now under control, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday (March 29).
The DOH categorized the incident as serious since it resulted to fatalities, prompting them to continue the close monitoring in the town, about 254 kilometers northeast from this city.
“Everything is now under control after a team from the regional office worked with local health workers to prevent the spread of the illness,” said DOH regional epidemiology and surveillance unit head Roderick Boyd Cerro.
The young fatality from Barangay 2 suffered dehydration. At least 15 victims were rushed to the Dolores Community Health Center since early March, Cerro said, citing a March 28 report.
Patients vomited and suffered abdominal cramps, watery stools, body weakness, and fever after drinking contaminated water, he said.
The illness was noted in eight villages, but the health department has not declared an outbreak in Dolores since the cases were sporadic. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO, PNA)
Education exec assures of no sexual abuse involving students in Tacloban City
TACLOBAN CITY- An official of the Department of Education (DepEd), this city, assured the public that unlike in other areas, no report of sexual abuse involving students has taken place.
However, Nilo Eder, spokesperson of the city schools division, issued an appeal to the students, in particular, to be vigilant.
“The Tacloban city (schools) division is prepared and convergence meeting is done regularly with the schools information officers to disseminate information for the safety and welfare of the children,” Eder added.
Earlier, DepEd has issued its alarm after several cases of sexual abuses involving school children were reported in different parts of the country.
Eder said that while they have not monitored such incident in Tacloban, they are not taking the issue lightly, thus, they are taking some preventive measures.
He said that he directed all the information officers of the city schools division to report any incident, if there is, so the division can act on it immediately.
He also calls on the teacher to remind them their responsibility over their students.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
Marcos, men charged for Espinosa murder
Detained at the CIDG lock- up
TACLOBAN CITY- For almost nine hours, controversial Supt. Marvin Marcos and 18 other members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) here in the region underwent the booking process and medical checkup inside their office, based this city, on Monday (March 20).
And during the entire proceeding, the CIDG men charged for the murder of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr. and Raul Yap, appeared to be “calm,” Supt. Teodulo Armada, CIDG-8 deputy chief, said.
The CIDG did not allow the local media to witness the proceeding that started around 8 am and ended close to 4 pm on Monday inside the CIDG regional office located inside the Tacloban Port compound.
On Tuesday (March 21) at about 6 am, Marcos and his coaccused were brought, on board in three vans and heavily guarded by CIDG and members of the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB), to Baybay City where the regional trial court that issued the warrants is based.
“They were all silent but were calm. We started the booking proceeding at 8 am and ended past 4 on Monday. At least two lawyers from them were present during the entire proceeding,” Armada said.
“We also conducted medical examination to them to ensure that they are in good health before we present them in court,” he added.
The mug shots of Marcos and his group were posted and shared in various Facebook accounts hours after the process was finished.
Aside from Marcos, also charged for murder for Espinosa and Yap were Supt. Noel Matira, Chief Inspector Leo Laraga, SPO4 Melvin Cayobit, PO3 Jhonny Ibañez, Chief Inspector Calixto Canillas, SPO4 Juanito Duarte, POI Lloyd Oeriguesa, Senior Insp. Fritz Blanco, PO1 Bernard Orpilla, Senior Insp.Doegracias Diaz III, SPO2 Benjamin Dacallos, PO3 Norman Abellanosa, PO1 Jerlan Cabiyaan, Inspector Lucrecito Candilosas, SPO2 Antonio Docil,SPO2 Mark Christian Cadilo, PO2 Jhon Ruel Doculan and PO2 Jaime Bascal.
Judge Carlos Arguelles, presiding judge of RTC-14 issued a no bail warrant against the accused.
Due to jail congestion at Baybay City Jail and the prohibition that only suspects who resides or committed the crime in Mahaplag and Albuera are allowed to be detained at the sub-provincial jail, Arguelles ruled that Marcos and his coaccused be detained at the lock-up facility of the CIDG-8.
All accused declined to be interviewed by the media.
Armada assured the court that they will comply with the order and that they would increase their security considering that the accused are considered as high risks.
Marcos and his men conducted a search at the Leyte subprovincial jail in Baybay City, Leyte on November 5 to serve warrant against Espinosa and Yap for alleged possession of firearms.
However, this resulted in the deaths of Espinosa, father of alleged drug lord of Eastern Visayas, Kerwin, and Yap, who is also accused of illegal drug activity.
According to Armada, he was not personally aware that warrants were already issued against the group until they came to their office “to voluntarily surrender” on Monday.
“I know that a warrant would be issued against them but not on that day. But at least, it was good that they chose to voluntarily surrender before any manhunt (order) could be issued against them,” he said.
The warrants were issued on March 17,a Friday.
Armada said that he has no idea why Marcos and his coaccused came to their office to surrender almost at the same time, 6:30 am.
“Perhaps they knew that there was already warrants issued against them and they exchange text messages and decided to surrender to our office,” Armada said.
“They chose to surrender before the CIDG probably, they will be comfortable considering that they belong to the unit,” he added.
Armada admitted that he was somehow sad that his colleagues have to undergo the process and accused of committing the crime of murder.
“But we cannot do anything. We have to follow the law,” he said.
By: ROEL T. AMAZONA/Joey A. Gabieta
CIDG men in EV to turn religious, observe professionalism
TACLOBAN CITY- Members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in the region will turn religious as part of its “internal cleansing.”
This was declared by Supt. Jason Aguillon, CIDG regional chief, in the wake of the filing of murder charges against its former head and 18 others.
Charged for double murder were Supt. Marvin Marcos and his men, namely,Supt. Santi Noel Matira, Chief Insp. Leo Laraga, Spo4 Melvin Cayobit, Seniro Insp. Deogracias Diaz 111, PO3 Johnny Ibanez, SPO2 Benjamin Dacallos, PO3 Norman Abellanosa, PO1 Calixto Canillas Jr., PO1 Jerlan Cabiyaan, Insp. Lucrecito Canolosas, SPO2 Antonio Docil, SPO1 Mark Christian Cadilo, PO2 Jaime Bacsal, PO2 John Ruel Doculan, SPO4 Juanito Duarte, PO1 Lloyd Ortigueza, Senior Insp. Fritz Blanco and PO1 Bhernard Orpilla.
All were accused for the killing of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa and Raul Yap inside the Leyte subprovincial jail in Baybay City on November 5 last year.
The CIDG personnel were to serve a warrant against the two for alleged possession of firearms.
Admitting that the incident has tarnished the public image of the CIDG, Aguillon said that he will now focus on internal cleansing and ensure that no member of the agency would be involved in any illegal act.
“We want our people to learn and trust the police again and that we are trying to impose a stricter selection process during police hiring and a stricter family background check among applicants,” he said.
Aguillon is also pushing to improve the spirituality of the CIDG personnel by having a mass every Friday and to professionalize the organization by adopting law enforcement standards.
This would mean that their personnel will have to undergo refresher courses on criminal procedure, interview techniques, and intelligence, he said.
The CIDG chief is encouraging the public to report to them any police officer that is involved in any illegal activities and assure them that he will immediately act on them.
For now, CIDG is now focusing on its campaign against illegal drugs, loose firearms, private armed groups, wanted personalities in the region and campaign against other forms of criminality.
(JAZMIN BONIFACIO)