PALO,Leyte– Regional Director Diosdado Mendoza along with the smiling officials and employees of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Revenue Region (RR) No. 14, Tacloban City greeted a large number of taxpayers who rushed to various BIR offices in Leyte and Samar to beat the income tax filing deadline last April 15, 2014.
The BIR Grand FiesTax, which is a combination of the words “fiesta” and “tax” which is now on its second year, was a big hit to the taxpayers as a fiesta inspired income tax filing deadline captured their attention and brought back the spirit of our local culture and added color and entertainment to an otherwise stressful income tax filing deadline.
Simultaneously held in all six district offices in Leyte and Samar, the people in long lines were pleasantly delighted upon being served with free-flowing native delicacies and drinks by officials and employees of the BIR that made tax (return/s) filing more friendly and refreshingly fun.
Folk music filled the air even as taxpayers were enchanted by the colorful performances of a series of folk dances and folk songs from guest artists in the region.
Moreover, free legal assistance was offered to the taxpayers who needed legal advice while paramedics were assigned to offer medicines and blood pressure check-up and formedical emergencies. A special lane dedicated for Senior Citizens, Persons with Disability (PWDs) and pregnant women has been set up to facilitate their transactions with the Office and address their needs.
“We need a renewed hope to move forward after this Region was devastated by Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, and the BIR Grand FiesTax is our way of inspiring the people to help rebuild Eastern Visayas,” Director Mendoza said.
“Despite of the calamity that we have experienced, the taxpayers came today to show how they support the BIR and the government by paying their taxes. Thus, it is but fitting that we express our heartfelt thanks to themand commit that we will continue this tradition every year,” he added.
The BIR has continually committed itself to work hand-in-hand with all its partners to help in the recovery efforts of all local industries in the region. Thus, the BIR Grand FiesTax is not just an innovative way to improve the image of the BIR but also an undertaking to encourage and entice taxpayers to pay their taxes as a symbol of patriotism in line with the current thrustof Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY- City Mayor Alfred Romualdez flatly denied allegations that he was behind the series of street protests against the national government in the aftermath of supertyphoon Yolanda.
Romualdez said that it was not his style to instigate people in staging a rally against the government, or against any one for that matter, saying that it would not help address the problems facing storm victims.
Earlier, rehabilitation czar Panfilo “Ping” Lacson named Romualdez to be behind the protest rallies against the national government staged in Tacloban.
The former senator and once the chief of the nation’s police agency said that he already informed President Aquino on this bit of information.
“As a mayor of Tacloban, I am faced with a huge task of rebuilding our city. I simply have no time to engage in rallies and other political activities. After Yolanda, you have seen me bring our collective concerns directly to the national government,” Romualdez said in a media interview.
“While I respect and recognize their right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, I don’t hide behind the rallyists, that is not my style and not definitely the solution to the problem of Tacloban,” the city mayor added.
For several times now, the People Surge, a coalition of different groups whose members were storm victims, staged series of protest rallies in Tacloban, considered to be the ground zero of Yolanda.
The group has demanded, among others, continued assistance of food items; granting of P40, 000 financial assistance and the non-implementation of the no-build zone policy.
The People Surge had also called for the resignation of Secretaries Corazon “Dinky” Soliman of the Department of Social Welfare and Development; Rogelio Singson of the Public Works and Highways; Jericho Petilla of Energy; Mar Roxas of the Interior and Local Government and Lacson himself.
Efleda Bautista, one of the leaders of the People Surge, also denied that their rallies have the support and encouragement of the Tacloban city mayor, adding that Lacson is again playing an old trick while he was top security officer.
“We were already tagged as ‘pawns’ of the New People’s Army. Now our rallies are allegedly backed by the Romualdezes. What else is new to this insensitive, callous and heartless government,” she said in a separate interview.
Bautista, a former dean of now defunct Divine Word University, reminded Lacson that no less than the Constitution guarantees the staging of rallies as a venue of the people seeking redress for their alleged grievances against the government.
“Rallies are guaranteed by our Constitution; that is a right to express the grievances of the people. For so long as the people feel aggrieved you will see the surge to the streets,” she stressed.
“We are devastated not only because of the havoc brought by Yolanda to our lives. Even more aggrieved we are with the governments’ criminal negligence and the continuing denial of our existence and needs. The petition of more than 17,000 survivors for the P40,000 cash assistance and other demands we submitted to the office of the President was never given any importance nor urgency until today,” Bautista said. (RONALD O.REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY – The 2nd Leyte Engineering District of the Department of Public Works and Highways have started the rehabilitation of school buildings in the district damaged during the onslaught of supertyphoon Yolanda.
According to 2nd LED district engineer Carlos Veloso, the district has prioritized the repair of roofs of damaged school buildings identified and assessed by the office.
Three big schools in the district namely Barugo 1 Central School in Barugo; Cassidy Elementary School in Carigara and the Granja Kalinawan National High School in Jaro are to be given priority among the 76 schools identified by his office which sustained damages during the supertyphoon.
Veloso said that with typhoon strength and frequency increasing yearly, the district aims to repair and rebuild classrooms with roofs that can endure maximum sustained winds of at least 300 kilometers per hour.
With an average strength of 314 kilometers per hour, Yolanda was the strongest typhoon to make landfall in the world.
A total of 256 classrooms in Leyte’s second district are being targeted for rehabilitation or reconstruction by the 2nd Leyte Engineering District.
Partially damaged classrooms are being given priority for immediate repair within the 76 schools in various municipalities of Leyte’s second district.
Veloso said ‘clearing operations’ have already been conducted in these areas but reconstruction has yet to formally start pending the availability of construction materials, including good lumber and GI sheets.
The DPWH will utilize available lumber and roofing materials including resources salvaged or still useful for the repair these classrooms.
Meanwhile, reconstruction of classrooms, assessed as fully damaged, will come later with the appropriated budget from the Department of Education (DepEd), it was learned. (AHLETTE C. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY-The XI Match Against Poverty held last March in Bern, Switzerland raised $190,000 for ongoing recovery efforts in the Philippines where more than 5,000 people lost their lives last November to Typhoon Yolanda, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The announcement was made after all proceeds from ticket sales, broadcast rights, and sponsorships from the March 4 event were received.
“We are proud that UNDP’s 11th Match Against Poverty provided an opportunity for the public to support the affected Filipino communities and help them rebuild their lives after the devastation caused by Yolanda,” said Maurice Dewulf, UNDP Philippines country director.
In a statement, Dewulf also expressed thanks to for the support of the Filipinos on the event.
According to UNDP, the funds for the Philippines will be used to increase awareness of disaster risks among the most disaster-prone communities.
“UNDP will undertake a major sensitization effort, which will include posting in a very large format recently prepared maps identifying specific locations where different natural disasters (such as storm surges, tsunami and earthquakes) might have the most severe impact,”Dewulf said.
“The meaning of the maps and the hazard impacts would be explained to the concerned communities. This initiative will thus make a major contribution to a better understanding of what the disaster risks might be and allow all concerned to prepare and protect themselves against such disasters,” he added.
The Match against Poverty is supported by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), where each year funds raised support specific development projects in different countries around the world.
UNDP said that proceeds from the matches have contributed to sustainable solutions to alleviate poverty in 29 developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. (RONALD O. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY- The spokesperson of the Philippine Army in the region has claimed that they are gaining some momentum on their campaign against the members of the New People’s Army.
According to Captain Amado Gutierrez, spokesperson of the 8th Infantry Division based in Catbalogan City, said that 34 alleged members of the rebel group were “neutralized” by government troops covering the first quarter of this year.
“On manpower, 26 rebels surrendered, seven were arrested and one was killed during an encounter, for a total of 34 rebels neutralized. On the part of the 8ID, one soldier was killed in action, while two were wounded in action,” Gutierrez said.
He added that government troops were able to recover five high powered firearms and 14 low powered firearms.
The Army spokesman added that 8th ID was able to hand over five of the 26 towns in Samar province and 10 of the 24 towns in Northern Samar province to their local government units as manageable conflict-affected and development-ready areas (MCADR) which is “a manifestation that the NPA rebels have lost their influence in these 15 towns that were handed over.”
“The provinces of Samar and Northern Samar in their entirety are scheduled to be handed over by 8ID to their respective provincial peace and order councils in June 2014 and December 2014 as MCADR areas,” Gutierrez added.
Maj. Gen. Jet Velarmino, commanding general of the 8th ID, said that they expect “strong resistance” from the rebels now that they are nearing of getting their goal which is to reduce the capability of the NPA to stage major attacks.
“But the rebels will not be able to stop the inevitable. In the coming months, we will press on with the fight but we welcome peaceful resolution to this armed conflict being waged by the NPA rebels. To pre-empt violence, we invite all stakeholders to get involved in winning the peace by pressuring the rebels to return to the mainstream and to abandon armed struggle. We all need peace for the security and well-being of our people and sustainable development in the region,” Velarmino added. (RONALD O. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY- Five minors, who were all victims of supertyphoon Yolanda, were rescued from possible child trafficking allegedly committed by four persons.
The minors, all girls whose ages ranged from 12 years old up to 16 years of age, were rescued by members of the city police and personnel of the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) at the Tacloban Bus Terminal at Abucay District last April 11.
Arrested by the government authorities were Flora Rovira, 52, Gina Aquino, 42, Jose Morteno and Clarabelle Talampas Sabunga, 67, who was said to be wearing a nun’s habit during their arrest at around 9 a.m.
The suspects were now detained at the Tacloban City Lock-Up Jail while the minors were temporarily housed in a center for abused women and children managed by the City Social Welfare and Development Office of Tacloban.
They were charged for attempted child trafficking based on Republic Act 10364 or the “Expanded Anti-Trafficking Act of 2010”.
During an interview, the three women strongly denied that they are engaging into trafficking.
Sabunga, who identified herself as a “yoga sister,” and vice president of their group, said that their intention is only to help the minors.
“They were the ones who approached us to help them and their parents even agreed. They issued a parental consent, written in the vernacular. We never forced the children,” she said.
Rovira said that they have no other intention but to send the minors to school as they have expressed to them.
“Our only mistake was that we did not seek clearance from the DSWD. We overlooked that but we are not recruiter. We have helped other children go to school,” Rovira, who identified herself as the president of their organization said.
Aquino said that they are on mission to help poor people.
“If we are recruiters, we could have given money to the parents of the children which we did not do. In fact, we don’t have money as we depend only on financial assistance from our foreign donors. I am just a volunteer of the group believing on its mission which is to help people in misery,” she said.
The three, along with their sole male companion, identified themselves to belong to group they described as Baba Nam Kevalam which they said to be a group that is advocating yoga but on the side conduct several missions like relief and sending children from poor families to school.
During their arrest on April 11, the suspects, together the minors were on board the passenger bus CUL Bus and bound for Manila, said social worker Asther Dadulla.
The minors were from Barangay Osmeña in Marabut, a town in Samar severely hit by supertyphoon Yolanda on November 8, 2014.
Dadulla said that a passenger, who was also on board of the same passenger bus, learned that the alleged suspects were not relatives or known to the minors, right away informed the police whose station is located within the vicinity of the bus terminal.
She added that the informant, who was not identified by Dadulla, suspected that the minors could be possible victims of child trafficking.
And upon investigation at the police station, it was learned that the alleged suspects were indeed not known to the minor victims and they were just recruited and convinced to leave their village in Marabut with a promise that they would be send to school.
“We can really say that that there was an attempted child trafficking in this case because the alleged suspects were not known to the victims, who were all minors and there was an act of inducement, promising them to send them to school,” Dadulla said, when asked why the incident could fall into an act of child trafficking.
Dadulla said that the suspects identified to be part of the Baba Nam Kevalam are on a relief and research missions.
“It is not a charity organization. Their act of recruiting the minors is already a violation of their registration,” Dadulla said.
During the questioning, they presented a document purportedly showing their registration before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with their address at #87 Malakas St., B6L8, Maharlika Homes, Pinyahan Quezon City. Rovira admitted that they only applied for a SEC registration on February of this year.
The group was said to have conducted a relief mission in Marabut last December, 2013 and later returned last April 6, bringing the minors along with them.
“And they said to be planning to return on May 6 and promised to bring more children to Manila to send them to school,” Dadulla said.
She added that the minors still have parents.
Marabut Councilor Ruben Alonzo, who chairs the town council’s peace and order committee, said that he was alarmed on the reported child trafficking incident on their town, still reeling from Yolanda’s wrath.
“This is really alarming if it is true. Our people could easily be persuaded with promises considering that we are still suffering from the hardships due to Yolanda,” Alonzo said.
He asked the DSWD to conduct a massive information drive in their town to avoid another incident.
Last February, 12 people from the town of Marabut, two of them minors, were also rescued from trafficking by the police authorities.
They were found to be working in a bakery in Angeles City. The suspects were later charged of human trafficking that resulted to forced labor. (JOEY A. GABIETA)