SAN ANTONIO, Northern Samar – Agrarian reform adjudicators from the region have convened here recently for the cascading of Administrative Order No. 02 series of 2014 which aims to protect coconut land tenants who are affected by fortuitous events or natural disasters like supertyphoon Yolanda. The rules and regulations on leasehold operations on leasehold operations on planted coconut lands affected by fortuitous events, natural disasters or calamities were discussed during the gathering. AO No. 2 of the Department of Agrarian Reform defines fortuitous events as not only events that are unforeseeable, but also those which are foreseeable but inevitable. It may either be an “act of God,” or natural occurrences such as floods or typhoons, or an “act of man,” such as riots, strikes, or wars. In a press conference, former DAR Assistant Secretary Augusto P. Quijano has explained the salient features of A. O. No. 2 which was issued last January as one of the actions of DAR to help the victims of Yolanda. Quijano has cited E. O, No. 2 Policy Statement (A) stating that “No tenant shall be ejected or dispossessed or removed from his/her farm holding due to the non-payment of lease as a result of a fortuitous event or natural calamity/disaster, except when his/her dispossession has been authorized by an appropriate body or court in a judgment that is final and executor. In the case of tenants who have left their farm holdings to look for temporary livelihood in other places like Manila, Quijano has explained that they should be given a chance to return once they have already rebuild their lives. A. O. No. 2 also states that “…tenant-lessee shall renegotiate a new leasehold agreement with the landowner specifying the new terms and conditions of their tenancy relation or agreements, particularly with respect to the payment of the lease rental, planting or crops, and change of crop, if necessary and upon agreement.” The consideration for the lease shall not be more than the equivalent of 25% of the average normal harvest during the three agricultural years immediately proceeding the date the leasehold was established after deducting the amount used for seeds and the cost of harvesting, threshing, loading, hauling, and processing, whichever are applicable. If the land was cultivated for less than three years, the initial consideration shall be based on the average normal harvest of the preceding year/s when the land was actually cultivated, or on the harvest of the first year in the case of newly cultivated lands, if that harvest is normal. Where the coconut trees on the subject landholding are heavily or totally damaged due to a fortuitous event or natural calamity/disaster resulting in a crop failure, the tenant-lessee’s security of tenure shall be maintained despite the failure to pay lease rentals. During the period when the landholding is being rehabilitated, through the re-planting of the principal crop (coconut trees) and while the said principal crop is still in the gestation state or where production has not yet attained its average normal harvest, the tenant-lessee shall be allowed to plant other crops subject to the preceding paragraph. The other crops planted shall serve as the temporary crop. (GARRY A. VACUNAWA)

PALO, Leyte – Barely two weeks before the classes opens, the Department of Education is rushing to complete the repair of 17,000 classrooms damaged by supertyphoon Yolanda last year. As of last week, only about 3,000 destroyed classrooms have been completed and many students are expected to hold classes inside tents and makeshift classrooms, said Education Secretary Armin Luistro in a press briefing held inside a camp of South Korea Armed Forces last May 19, 2014. In addition to repairs, the education department is also constructing 2,600 new classrooms along Yolanda’s path in the Visayas. Up for completion by June 2 are just one-storey classrooms with higher school buildings will be completed in the next six months. “Construction will never be finished because we always want to build back better. Most of our repairs are really temporary. We just want to make classrooms functional since our long term plan is to construct new ones,” Luistro said. Luistro claimed they are ready for the opening of a new school year on June 2, although he admitted that some students will still hold classes inside tents and temporary learning spaces. As of end of April, of the 5,000 target for the estimated 1.4 million school-aged children affected by the storm, 3,943 temporary classrooms have been built by various aid groups, according to latest education cluster report. The national government has poured out P5 billion for the rehabilitation and construction of classrooms in 188 strong-ravaged municipalities in central Philippines, on top of the P1 billion outlay for learning materials, according to Education Assistant Secretary Reynaldo Antonio Laguda. “There has been repair works since December last year. We keep on working and we don’t stop,” Laguda told reporters. (SARWELL Q.MENIANO)

TACLOBAN CITY- The Alpha Phi Omega South Eastern Visayas Administrative Region handed over last weekend a cash donation of P150,000 to the officials of the Sto. Niño SPED Center (SNSC) in a simple ceremony held during the school year-end conference of the school’s general parents-teachers association. The SNSC, a prime institution of quality education in the region, was among the hundreds of public schools that were severely ruined by the storm surges and tornado-like winds generated by supertyphoon Yolanda that devastated the entire Tacloban November 8 of last year. Among the facilities and buildings of the SNSC that were devastated by the supertyphoon were those belonging to the special education classes. The destruction, although affected significantly the holding of regular classes especially in the SPED program, did not badge the faculty from delivering the quality education that the pupils need. The SNSC administration and faculty endeavored to bring back the academic ambience to normalcy in January this year. The SNSC SPED program catered to the basic education needs of physically impaired and later, as pipelined, to the mentally or psychologically impaired. The financial assistance of APO to SNSC was the proceeds of the Race and Shine Marathon and Fun Run that the APO-SEVAR organized in April this year. APO, an international service fraternity and sorority, had donated learning supplies in December last year to schools affected by Yolanda, including SNSC. Jaro Municipal Trial Court Judge Cielo Velasquez-Martinez, a key officer of APO-SEVAR, stated that the donation was the group’s affirmation in reaching out not just to the members but to the community as well. “We deem it our social responsibility to help. We consider it a great privilege for us to assist the school in the renovation and rehabilitation efforts,” she said. Ledwina Eva Teston, an APO SEVAR member and SNSC SPED teacher, expressed gratitude to the SNSC community and all other individuals for the full support extended leading to the success of the Fun Run. She likewise expressed her thanks SNSC Principal Delilah De Los Santos for the great confidence reposed to the APO on this project. Teston underscored the need to help primarily the SNSC pupils with “special needs” and later the entire school on other concerns where the cash donation could ably ease the burden. This pursuit is the cornerstone on which APO moored its humanitarian assistance following the supertyphoon that killed more than 6,000 people and destroyed properties. De Los Santos and the GPTA officers extended mutual appreciation to the effort of the APO-SEVAR for the substantial contribution it is giving to the rehabilitation and build back attempts of the SNSC. (EILEEN NAZARENO-BALLESTEROS)