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Typhoon victims jeered President’s Sona

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TACLOBAN CITY- At least 1,000 Yolanda survivors here in the region staged their protest in the city’s downtown area as President Benigno Aquino was to deliver his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 28. Carrying placards and effigy of President Aquino, members of People Surge and other progressive groups called for his ouster for failure to implement massive reconstruction projects more than eight months after the supertyphoon devastated Eastern Visayas.

Protesters tied black and purple ribbons at their arms to dramatize in seeking justice for those who died during the massive disaster. “Last year’s typhoon is a global issue and the government should be accountable of their response,” said Marissa Cabaljao, spokesperson of People Surge. Also joining the rally were workers, students, farmers, and urban poor. Protesters set up a sound system to listen to the President’s Sona, closing half of the major road of Rizal Avenue.

The group convened at the University of the Philippines Tacloban campus for four hours in the morning of June 28 and marched to downtown area. While Aquino was praising Cabinet members and bragging about accomplishment in Yolanda response, all protesters were shouting him calling the President as “liar.” The President reported of the immediate resumption of the Leyte water district opening of first gas station, road clearing, restoration of power, food packs distribution, and debris clearing.

The People Surge criticized the President for prioritizing infrastructure. “Noynoy mentioned that we need to rebuild infra. Has he ever realized that we need recovery in agriculture?” the group asked.

Rallyists also refuted accomplishments on livelihood recovery, disaster preparedness, and weather forecasting. “If the government was prepared, how come thousands of people died? Where are the hazard maps? It could have saved lives,” Cabaljao added. Before the President ended his speech, protesters stopped listening the Sona and delivered their own version of state of the nation. The group voluntarily dispersed before dark. (SARWELL Q.MENIANO)

DAP funded projects in Leyte benefits public-DILG

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TACLOBAN CITY-Two projects funded by the controversial and outlawed Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) in Leyte are “visible” and benefit the public. Thus said regional director Pedro Noval Jr. of the Department of the Interior and Local Government who identified the DAP-funded projects as the dietary building of the Leyte Provincial Hospital (LPH) based in Palo town and the truck scale/weighbridge in Ormoc City, both in Leyte.

The dietary building of the LPH was constructed at a cost of P7 million while the truck scale/weighbridge, a component of the ecowaste center of Ormoc city government, was worth P3 million. “Definitely, these projects funded by the DAP are being enjoyed by our people. These are visible,” Noval said. It was learned from Noval that the both the provincial government and the city government of Ormoc received the respective amount after being awarded of the Seal of Good Housekeeping, a program of the DILG initiated during the time of former Secretary Jesse Robredo. Noval said that the prizes given to the local government units were sourced from the DAP, which was declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and widely perceived as President Aquino’s own pork barrel by his critics.

Rodrigo Jusay, administrative officer of the LPH, said that he was not aware that the construction of the dietary building of their hospital was sourced from the DAP.
“We don’t have any idea what was the source of the funding for the construction of the building. But whatever its source, the building is being used by (us),” Jusay said.
But Jusay admitted that they were only able to use the building, occupying around 600 square meters, last February, 2014.

He said that the building was destroyed during the onslaught of Supertyphoon Yolanda. It was constructed on July and was finished third week of October. Yolanda hit Leyte on November 8, 2013. The building, which also serves as seminar area, was repaired by the contingents from the South Korean government. For his part, Mayor Edward Codilla of Ormoc said that the scale/weighbridge is also beneficial to them.

“Considering the benefits and advantages of having a weighbridge, the city government is very much positive that it will yield results and contribute much in our solid waste management undertaking and even in the generation of locally sourced revenues,” wrote Mayor Edward Codilla to Noval last July 17, 2014. The sanitary landfill of Ormoc, located at Barangay Green Valley, was inaugurated December of 2012. The Seal of Good Housekeeping is awarded to local government units which complies the full disclosure policy and has no adverse report from the Commission on Audit.

NCCA offers grants for the restoration of historical, cultural sites damaged by Yolanda

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TACLOBAN CITY-The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCAA) announced of a grant for a project that deals on the restoration of heritage sites that sustained damages during the onslaught of supertyphoon Yolanda.

This project grant was announced by the NCCA in a press conference held in Tacloban, considered the ground zero of Yolanda, on July 30. The NCCA representatives present during the press conference were Corinnah Anne Olazo together with Gina Barcelon of the sub -commission of cultural heritage and Claren Aguilar of the sub- commission of arts.

According to them, Yolanda had caused the destruction of several heritage sites which needs to be restored back. Thus, the NCCA would help repair these heritage or historical and cultural sites by providing a grant to individual or a group of individuals. The representatives from the NCCA encourage the local government units, the non-government organizations, schools and individuals to have an initiative to propose a project on rehabilitation on the heritage sites found in the region that saw damages due to Yolanda. (ELIZABETH HUGO, LNU-Intern)

Sinkhole found in a remote Leyte village

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The reported sinkhole that was found in Barangay Santa Cruz Butason, Tabango in Leyte. Incessant rains last week resulted for this sinkhole to developed, says local residents. (ELVIE ROMAN ROA)
The reported sinkhole that was found in Barangay Santa Cruz Butason, Tabango in Leyte. Incessant rains last week resulted for this sinkhole to developed, says local residents. (ELVIE ROMAN ROA)
The reported sinkhole that was found in Barangay Santa Cruz Butason, Tabango in Leyte. Incessant rains last week resulted for this sinkhole to developed, says local residents. (ELVIE ROMAN ROA)

ORMOC CITY- Mayor Maria Corazon Remandaban of Tabango town in Leyte said a sinkhole was found in one of the remote villages of her town with the continuous rains last week cited as the cause. Remandaban said that the sinkhole at Barangay Sta. Cruz Butason has a one-hectare wide whose depth has yet to be determined as it was full of rain water. At least four families lives nearby the sinkhole and were directed by her to vacate for their safety, the town mayor said. Remandaban added that a team from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office who inspected the area disclosed that the sinkhole poses a risk of possible flashflood to the nearby village once the soil breaks. The village could be reached by a two-hour hike from the town proper. But the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) assured that sinkholes contain porous kind of soil and do not easily crack. The MGB was scheduled to conduct inspection in Tabango on July 31. (ELVIE ROMAN ROA)

Aquino declaration on Yolanda rehab But when? asked Romualdez exec

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TACLOBAN CITY- It’s about time. 

Thus said the spokesperson of Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez, reacting on President Aquino’s declaration that the rehabilitation plan of Tacloban was already approved by him, along with other plans of provinces hit by Supertyphoon Yolanda. Bernardita Valenzuela said that the Tacloban Recovery and Rehabilitation Plan (TRRP) was submitted to the national government through the Office of Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPPAR) headed by Secretary Panfilo Lacson last May of this year by Mayor Romualdez.

Romualdez could not be contacted as he was in the United States, Valenzuela said. She said that while they welcome the pronouncement of Mr. Aquino, they just hope that the rehabilitation works would actually start immediately since its been eight months now since Tacloban was pummeled by Yolanda, strongest typhoon to ever hit the country.

“It is easy to say that it was already approved. But the question after he approved it, then what?” Valenzuela, reached on the phone, said.
She added that they hope that the work would start before the first year anniversary of Yolanda’s devastation that resulted to the deaths of more than 2,000 people in Tacloban.

The TRRP is the massive rehabilitation plan of Tacloban involving an amount of P28 billion, an amount that is beyond the financial capacity of the city whose finances have been drastically affected. From its previous income of more than P800 million, half of which was taken from its local sources with the remaining its share of internal revenue allotment, its projected income for this year was placed at more than P620 million.

During his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, President Aquino announced that the rehabilitation plans of Tacloban and other areas hit by Yolanda were already approved by him. But Valenzuela said that they just hope that after the President’s pronouncement actual rehabilitation work in Tacloban would commence right away.

She particularly mentioned that the construction of houses for the thousands of families who totally lost their homes during the typhoon would start immediately.
“There are still 800 families living in tents in Tacloban. And it’s been eight months now and living in tents is intolerable,” she said. Valenzuela said that personally she does not care whether it will be the city government or the national government that will do the rehabilitation works. “It does not matter as who will do the repair so long as this will be done,” the spokesperson of Romualdez said. Earlier Romualdez complained that the national government is not providing financial assistance to Tacloban, derailing his plan to undertake his rehabilitation efforts. (JOEY GABIETA)

Affordable SSS savings scheme reaches 74,000 workers from 748 ISGs

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 Offering social protection for as little as P11 per day, the AlkanSSSya program of the Social Security System (SSS) has attracted more than 74,000 members from 748 informal sector groups (ISGs) nationwide as of May 2013.

Amalia Tolentino, SSS AlkanSSSya Program Director, said informal sector workers who save at least P11 per day – about the price of cellphone load or softdrink — can complete the minimum P330 monthly AlkanSSSya contribution based on a declared monthly income or “salary credit” of P3,000. “The growth in participating ISGs reflects the AlkanSSSya’s appeal to the needs of informal sector workers such as affordability and convenience, especially since many among them have busy work schedules and tight budgets,” Tolentino noted.

A total of 180 ISGs representing over 17,000 members joined the program within the first five months of 2014. Luzon-based groups account for 337 out of the 748 covered ISGs – nearly half of the nationwide total – while 179 ISGs were from the National Capital Region, 116 ISGs were from Visayas, and 116 ISGs were from Mindanao.

To date, the transport industry accounts for about half of the AlkanSSSya-enrolled ISGs, including groups for operators and drivers of tricycles, jeepneys, trisikad, vans, shuttle buses and habal habal; motorboat and pumpboat operators; airport service providers; and bus dispatchers. A total of 332 out of these 389 transport-based ISGs are tricycle operators and drivers associations.

Apart from transport workers’ groups, other covered ISGs include associations for ambulant and market vendors, farmers and fisherfolk, jail inmates, garbage pickers, pottery makers, lay ministers, beach cottage owners, and members of cooperatives and community-based organizations, among others. Workers’ savings are placed in a communal AlkanSSSya unit that houses dozens of secure box-type “piggy banks” owned by the ISG members. Recently, the SSS has also started the e-AlkanSSSya program, which primarily caters to job order (JO) and contractual workers in state-run institutions who are excluded from the mandatory coverage of the Government Service Insurance System.

“The e-AlkanSSSya employs automatic deduction of contributions from workers’ salaries and wages, which the government office will then remit to the SSS. Like the regular AlkanSSSya, this program helps promote an active SSS membership among workers by putting in place a system for the regular remittance of their SSS contributions, as facilitated by their respective organizations,” Tolentino explained. Out of the 106 government-based ISGs, 73 are enrolled in the regular AlkanSSSya program while 33 opted for the e-AlkanSSSya scheme. Workers benefiting from these partnerships include JO and contactual workers in government offices, barangay employees and tanod, street sweepers and daycare workers. (PR)

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