TACLOBAN CITY– Four government workers who died while on duty during the onslaught of supertyphoon Yolanda were honored by the Civil Service Commission.
Recognized by the commission in simple rites held last April 14 were Salvacion Avestruz of the Philippine Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) and three firemen from Tanauan, Leyte .
The firemen recognized for their bravery were FO2 Rolando Cinco; FO2 Melquiades Baguio and FO1 Felix Miranda.
CSC Regional Director Victoria Esber said that the four government workers deserved to be given honor as they died while they were in service at the height of supertyphoon Yolanda.
The families of the four deceased public servants received a citation, cash reward of P100,000 each, and scholarships in state universities and colleges for their dependents.
Avestruz is still missing, while the three firemen were rescuing the residents of Barangay Calogcog in Tanauan early morning of November 8, 2013, died when the fire track they were on board was swept away by the storm surge generated by Yolanda.
“This is a tribute to the men and women in the government workforce, who died while in the performance of their duties,” Esber added.
She said that the Pamanang Lingkod Bayani (PLBi) Executive Committee has initially selected four beneficiaries in the region. There were eight others who were selected from other disaster hit provinces.
The others who died in service, but lack the necessary documents, will be honored in another date and venue, Esber said.
The CSC Resolution No. 1302553, promulgated on November 29, 2013, provides for the guidelines on the giving of tribute to government officials and employees who were killed in line of duty or those who died while in the performance of their official duties. (VICKY C. ARNAIZ)
4 government workers who died in line of duty due to Yolanda honored by the CSC
Lee nabbed by NBI in Dolores, Eastern Samar
TACLOBAN CITY- Fugitive businessman Cedric Lee falls into the hands of government agents as he was arrested, together with a coaccused, in a beach house in Dolores town, Eastern Samar.
During the operation, Lee had tried to resist arrest from the agents of the National Bureau of Investigation only to be subdued.
Also arrested was Lee’s companion, Simeon Palma or Zimmer Raz inside a beach house located in Barangay Lunang, a kilometer away from the town proper of Dolores.
The two, accused of serious illegal detention filed by comedian Vhong Navarro, were nabbed by the NBI last April 26 at around 11:30 in the morning.
As of this writing, it has yet to be established how Lee and his companion, said to be a native of Santa Margarita in Samar, were able to hide at the said beach house whose alleged owner is living in the United States
A day after the two were arrested, they were booked on the first flight of the Philippine Air Lines for Manila where they were immediately detained at the NBI headquarters.
In his talks with the media, Lee vehemently denied that he attempted to resist the arrest as he claimed that he was ready to surrender.
The case filed against the businessman and his coaccused is a non-bailable offense.
Before Lee and Raz boarded PAL Flight Number 2982, passengers at the departure area of the Daniel Z. Romualdez, took their mobile phones to take pictures of the two.
Several passengers jeered Lee while he was whisked by the agents to the plane for their flight to Manila. The two were handcuffed though these were covered with t-shirt.
Arriving at the DZR Airport at 5:59 am, Lee and Raz were on board in a white tainted van in a convoy of vehicles.
Lee, when asked by reporters trailing him all the way to the tarmac on his arrest, declined to answer.
An NBI agent, who asked not to be identified, said that they were able to track on the whereabouts of the two by using the GPS (global positioning system) as they were using their mobile phones.
He said that the two were seen in the area days before the Holy Week. (JOEY A. GABIETA)
Policeman nabbed in a buy bust operation in Ormoc
ORMOC CITY- A policeman is now languishing in jail after he was arrested in a buy-bust operation inside a lodging house last April 28.
Arrested by police operative was PO1 Bernard Alvarez, 32 and was assigned at the police station in Matag-ob, Leyte. His still unidentified companion managed to flee during the operation.
Seized from the suspect was a sachet white substance believed to be shabu.
Alvarez was nabbed inside a room of a lodging house of this city which he turned into a drug den, authorities said.
Chief Inspector Ibrahim Jambiran, the station 1 chief and the team leader said that the police had bought drugs from Alvarez twice already during a one week surveillance.
He added the surveillance established that the room Alvarez rented for about two months now was used as drug den.
The police chased Alvarez’s companion who carried the marked P500 bill but failed.
Alvarez denied he owned the suspected drug recovered from his left back pocket during the body search that was witnessed by the village official, representative from the Department of Justice and media.
He also belied allegation that he was involved in the illegal drug trade and that he is hooked to shabu.
Large sachets believed to contain drug residue and used tin foils were also recovered inside the room.
Alvarez, who entered the police service four years ago, added he is currently on leave but his claim was denied by PO3 Dennis Sabundo, the Matag-ob police station Administrative Officer.
Sabundo said that Alvarez was supposed to report last April 24 considering the station have a new police chief.
He added that Alvarez texted on the 25th that he was sick so he was advised to produce medical certificate but until his arrest, the disgraced policeman did not report to duty without filing an official leave of absence.
(ELVIE ROMAN ROA)
Six months after Yolanda Tacloban economy inches up, city treasurer said
During the gathering, Mayor Romualdez shared some insights the experience of Tacloban due to Yolanda to the participants of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and OXFAM on Building Resilience & Effective Governance of ASEAN emerging cities.
With the mayor were his wife, Councilor Cristina G. Romualdez; cousin Benguet Mining president Benjamin Philip Romualdez and some mayors.
Mayor Romualdez articulated his experience, the immediate action he made and how Tacloban handled its disaster preparedness. ((Photo compliments / GAY B. GASPAY-TISAT)
TACLOBAN CITY-This city’s economy is slowly getting back on its feet, over six months after it was hit by Supertyphoon Yolanda as several business establishments are starting to reopen again.
In fact, the target collection of P30 million for the first quarter of the year was surpassed by over P10 million, records from the Business License and Permits Office (BLPO) has indicated.
From the months of January up to March of this year, the BLPO which is an attached office of the City Treasurer’s Office reported of revenue of P40.58 million.
“Our economy is slowly getting back. Several business establishments have started to reopen again after (Tacloban) was hit by Yolanda last year,” Zosima Cordano, city treasurer, said.
However, the income generated by the city government covering the first quarter of the year is relatively lower compare to same period of last year which was P86.16 million.
The revenue generated by the city government for the first three months of the year represents about 1,820 businesses. Before Yolanda, the City Treasurer’s Office approved 12,900 businesses.
Cordano had earlier reported that only 20 business establishment has renewed their licenses last January, the first month of the year for business renewal.
For this year, the office of Cordano has only projected of about P150 million generated from its tax and business collection which was a far cry from its pre-Yolanda collection of P400 million.
Aside from low collection from the business operators in the city, Tacloban’s income was further reduced by P8 million from its share from the national government in the form of internal revenue allotment (IRA).
The reduction of P8 million of Tacloban’s IRA share was due to the creation of San Pablo in Laguna as a new city.
“It’s a very big amount considering that our own local income had also reduced (significantly),” Cordano said.
Before the reduction of P8 million, Tacloban received an IRA share of P478.5 million in 2013.
Cordano appealed to businessmen in the city to return to business, five months after Tacloban was ravaged by Yolanda.
This call of the city official appeared to have been heeded by some local businessmen.
Soul now in Heaven
April 27 esteems another milestone in the Roman Catholic Church across the globe for on this day two popes will be elevated to the highest reverence for holiness – the sainthood. Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli of Lombardy, Italy) and Pope John Paul II (Karol Józef Wojtyla of Poland) will be canonized by Pope Francis in a no-flurry but unprecedented rite at the Vatican.
The Catholic faithful the world over will surely take the time to witness the unfolding of this event where two bishops of distinct personalities though having served as pope will be haloed and be titled saints on this day of grace.
A novel twist in this double-canonization, though, is that both Johns will be canonized without having to go through what tradition has dictated in centuries.
According to reports, at the time Pope Francis signed a decree recognizing the miracle needed for Blessed John Paul’s canonization on July 5 last year, the Vatican proclaimed that the pope had agreed with members of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes that the canonization of Blessed John should go forward even without a second miracle attributed to his intercession. (Catholic News Service)
It should be noted that except in the case of martyrdom, Vatican rules require one miracle for a candidate’s beatification and a second for his or her canonization as confirmations that the candidate really is in heaven with God. The Pope nevertheless could set aside this rule. (same)
In the case of Blessed John Paul, the cry for his elevation to sainthood was even at the outset overwhelming that at his funeral people were cheering and chanting “Santo subito!” meaning “sainthood now!” The world over has seen how this second longest-serving pope has dealt with his people across the globe drawing them much closer to God, although keeping the conservative outlook on issues affecting the church and its clergy.
Pope John Paul II appeared to be on a fast-track to sainthood. Normally, two miracles attributed to the deceased need to be verified to be considered. The first was a French nun, said to be cured from Parkinson’s. The second was a Costa Rican woman, cured of a brain aneurism. (abc Chicago)
Amidst this roaring development of double-canonization by a new Pope Francis is a controversy on the need of canonization among popes who are seen as epitome of holiness next to Christ, making them worthy to be saints even without going through the rigorous process and deliberations.
As a footnote, some experts question the whole business of assigning halos to popes. Generally it’s not because they doubt the personal holiness of these men, but because they worry it damages the process. First of all, Catholic theology holds that the Church never “makes” a saint. (bostonglobe)
“If someone is already in Heaven with God, which is what calling them a saint means, they don’t need a piece of paper from Rome certifying their status. Declaring someone a saint is really for everyone else, intended to lift that person up as a role model and a source of inspiration. With popes, such a gesture is arguably superfluous, since their election already made them highly visible figures. (same)
Further, the question with popes is, which ones do you canonize? Either you do it for all of them, which may cheapen the result by making it seem almost part of the standard benefits package, or you pick and choose, which risks making the process seem political. For those reasons, some theologians have quietly suggested a moratorium on declaring popes as saints. Whatever the merits of that case, so far it doesn’t look like Francis is buying it. (same)
This, too, rings aloud the question “How do we know if the person we pray for is already in Heaven?” A lawyer who holds a key rank in the Freemasonry has been posing this questions every time he would hear Catholics praying for the soul of the dead.
One student of Theology imparted his opinion on this. He commented, “We know that a person is in heaven if we know that in his life he lived a morally upright life and that the person died in the state of grace. We still pray for them because though they lived a good life while on earth, we cannot actually say 100 percent that they are in heaven. Perhaps they still need purifications due to sins in the past.”
The intercessory power of the dead, just like the two miracles that led to Pope John Paul II’s speedy beatification and canonization, is believed by Catholics as proof of the soul’s entry in heaven. But while it is so, Catholics likewise uphold the certain truth about communion of saints wherein the living incessantly pray for the souls of the dead until they reach heaven and the souls already in heaven to pray for the dead, according to this acolyte who requested anonymity.
The saints in Heaven, including the new ones Popes John and John Paul, are intercessors of those yet working their way through their sanctification in this journey called life. Although other Christian sects do not believe in saints, the latters’ help nevertheless felt are considered by Catholics of proof that indeed souls reach Heaven now in the company of angels, the Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Trust and Approval Ratings
President Noynoy C. Aquino III in the area of trust and approval ratings from the Filipino people is still high. Indeed it is high simply because he is doing his job to the utmost level of sincerity in leading in the affairs of governance day to day. Of course the drop of his trust and approval ratings in Metro Manila and some areas in the Visayas is understandable. Those respondents in the Yolanda-hit areas will surely express their negative reaction of how government responded to the calamity because of the many at times, unreasonable unmet personal desires and wishes, relative to their being victims of the supertyphoon. To the neutral observers they understand.
Metro Manila has always been a critic of government under any administration.
-oOo-
Government definitely has not failed to respond to what the victims need. In fact there are reports of some victims having received more than enough relief goods to have sold a good part of them to willing buyers considering the low-priced rice, canned goods, etc. since it has not incurred capital acquiring them.
One of the typhoon aide being awaited is the reported P40,000 as supposedly to be granted by the government to these victims. I was wondering, has government this much resources that it can distribute this amount to hundreds of households? I doubt.
-oOo-
The on-going construction and development of permanent housing units in some areas to be given to survivors of the super-typhoon is very touching.
The President while doing his job well and effectively, still receives negative feedback in spite. It’s the political opposition saying them as 2016 nears.
-oOo-
Hinunangan Enterprises of Hinunangan, Southern Leyte is ready to join the caravan of construction companies in the rebuilding and rehabilitation activities in areas that were badly hit by super-typhoon Yolanda especially in Leyte.
Engr. Ferdinand “Ferdie” Fernandez the proprietor and general manager of this construction establishment revealed that they are willing to receive contracts like repairs of structures both public and private like buildings, bridges, markets, classrooms etc., at a very minimal cost. Having been in the business for over 20 years they feel that they must contribute their share in this reconstruction and rehabilitation projects in Yolanda-devastated areas, sort of payback time, because most of the victims come from the poor.
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