TACLOBAN CITY-The regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has launched the beach forest plantations project for Eastern Visayas in Barangay 89(Payapay0, this city.
Leonardo Sibbaluca, executive director of the DENR-8, said that the launching of the beach forest plantation held last October 7 in a one-hectare area has planted around 8,000 beach forest tree species seedlings which included, Talisay, Bitu-on, Narra and Putat.

Sibbaluca said that the project is part of the Leyte Gulf mangrove and beach forest rehabilitation project of the DENR for Eastern Visayas covering 20,000 hectares with a funding of P1 billion. He added that the beach forest plantations cover around 8,800 hectares of beaches along the affected areas of supertyphoon Yolanda. The director informed reporters that the implementation of this project in the three provinces hardest hit by Yolanda – Eastern Samar, Samar, and Leyte, is a priority task of the DENR. “The agency taps the barangay local government unit through a cash-for-work program for the site establishment and development, planting, and maintenance and protection activities. This project hopes to bring back the lush beach and mangrove forest which serves as safety buffer for the people.”

Sibbaluca explained that beach forest plantation is established in areas which not inundated by water and the tree species planted are suited for the beaches while for the clayey, muddy and water logged areas mangrove species are planted. Meanwhile, Leyte provincial environment and natural resources officer Ranulfo Arbiol said that a total of 208 hectares of beaches in the province is targeted for planting until the end of next month covering four municipalities and Tacloban with a total of 36 barangays. Arbiol added that for this city, there are 15 barangays with a total of 128 hectares are covered; Palo, four barangays covered with a total of 22 hectares; Tanauan, five barangays with 15 hectares; Tolosa, six villages covering 19 hectares and Dulag with six barangays covering 29 hectares. (RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)

TACLOBAN CITY- In line with the forthcoming visit of Pope Francis to the country next year, a stamp design contest is to be held nationwide on October 24 sponsored by the Philippine Postal Corporation (PHILPOST).
In Tacloban, the contest is to be held at the Robinsons Place on that same day from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. The on the spot stamp design contest will be in two categories-student and professional. In a press statement, Marilyn Omar, postmaster VI of PHILPOST-8, the artwork must reflect the theme of the papal visit, “A Nation of Mercy and Compassion.” Entries must be made on 8 ¾ inches x 11 ½ inches on white illustration board in either portrait or landscape. The contestant must use any of the following-oil, acrylic or pastel-with no restrictions on colors used. Winners for either category are to receive P15, 000 with stamp album and a certification of participation. Two winners will be declared in both student and professional categories. Eligible in the student category are students in all levels either from public or private schools while in the professional category it is open to all designers, artists, illustrators and other interested parties. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY- A Turkish non-government organization treated students, teachers and staff of the Asian Development Foundation College (ADFC), this city, to a beef sharing. Kimse Yok Mu (KYM), a non-government organization carrying out humanitarian aid and development projects in 110 countries, was among the first international humanitarian groups to come to Tacloban and extend assistance to its people after supertyphoon Yolanda struck the city on November 8, 2013. Soner Malkoc, a volunteer to KYM, said that the beef sharing is an annual activity of their group wherein they share it to the poor people.
The activity is part of their campaign to promote peace and brotherhood, he added. The group bought cows and slaughtered them and shared fresh beef to the school’s staff and teachers. The school’s 1,600 students were also given their share of beef. KYM did similar beef sharing activity in 10 different cities in the Philippines, said Malkoc. Their organization, according to Malkoc, is happy to be part of Tacloban’s recovery and help the poor people affected by Yolanda. The beef sharing activity at the ADFC coincided with the month long celebration of the institution’s 30th anniversary last October 24. Malkoc said that they were happy to be of help to those in need and the smiles of the students during the beef sharing were enough compensation for them. (LIZBETH ANN A.ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY—About 102 indigent senior citizens from this city are to receive their monthly social pension of P500. According to Luz Peñaranda, social welfare assistant for social pension of the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), these senior citizens but indigents were the only recipients for this year since they were identified by the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).

“As much as possible, we wanted to cover all the indigent seniors to avail the said pension but the survey was conducted by DSWD and not by our office,” she added. The guidelines of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is based on the guidelines of Commission on Audit that mandates that only those surveyed are eligible to receive the social pension. The giving of social pension to indigent senior citizens is mandated under Section 5 of Republic Act 9994 or the “Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.” The P500 monthly stipend aims to improve their living condition by helping them in their needs such as medicines and food.

The priority and qualified beneficiaries of the social pension are senior citizens 77 years old and above who are frail, sickly, and disabled; without a regular source of income and/or support from any member of the family; and not receiving other pension benefits from the government and private agencies like SSS, GSIS, Veterans Pension, among others. The indigent senior citizens are identified through the NHTS-PR, also known as “Listahanan,” an information management system that the government uses in identifying who and where the poor are. “We requested to survey again the senior citizens of Tacloban in order to include all the members but we still don’t know if the DSWD will conduct such survey again,” Peñaranda shared. The NHTS-PR aims to address poverty through a scientific and target-focused strategy. The basis for identifying social pensioners is the Listahanan database and listing submitted by the Local Social Welfare Officers, and the Federation of Senior Citizens in the various localities. (JEFFREY D.CONSULTADO, LNU Intern)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has resumed its first post-Yolanda routine inspection of establishments in the region to come up with updates of destroyed establishments and check their compliance to labor laws.

The DOLE regional office targets 1,120 establishment for this year’s inspection launched two months ago and will be completed on October 31. “We are supposed to start the routine inspection early this year but we were preoccupied with emergency jobs and livelihood programs,” said DOLE regional mediator-arbiter Roy Buenafe. The official said that aside from tracking the establishment’s compliance to more than 70 labor laws, they will also assess the status of establishments in Leyte, Samar, and Eastern Samar after the super typhoon. “After the rapid assessment last year, we don’t have any survey of typhoon-related impacts to establishments. We need to know of their situation and find ways to assist them,” Buenafe said. He even raised doubts that the region will be able to meet the target of 1,120 firms since have not yet resumed their operation after November 8, 2013. As of end of September, 711 establishments have been inspected by nine labor laws compliance officers, accounting 63% of the target. This year’s inspection applies the rules on labor laws compliance system under Department Order 131 issued July of last year.

Henry Cua, president of the Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the national government should focus on assisting business owners instead of checking whether some standards are not followed.
“It’s hard to follow all the standard given our situation after Yolanda. The national government is very slow in assisting us so we just have work whatever is left in our business,” said Cua, who owns the Tacloban Ultrasteel Corp. Of the three branches that he owns, only one has resumed its operation.

Buenafe, however, said that the new routine inspection is not just design to detect violations but to encourage compliance. “The old inspection aims to compel owners to comply but the new one is developmental approach. If there are deficiencies, we will guide employers how to comply instead of punishing them,” he added. In the priority list are establishments with more than 10 workers, contractors, engaged in hazardous word, employing child workers, registered sea vessels engaged in domestic shipping and bus companies. “Others are also covered in the inspection but they are not the priority establishment. For smaller businesses, our intervention is training and advisory visit where we inform them of other options so they could be exempted,” Buenafe explained. The DOLE earlier reported that 2,290 business establishments have been destroyed by strong winds and storm surges here in the region due to the onslaught of Yolanda.
The destruction forced 1,558 firms to shut down their operations. (SARWELL Q.MENIANO)