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NSSDEO achieves 78.38% completion of Bantayan Flood Control

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The Department of Public Works and Highways – Northern Samar Second District Engineering Office (DPWH-NSSDEO) has announced significant progress in the rehabilitation of the Bantayan Flood Control Structure in the Bantayan River Basin. As of today, the project is 78.38% complete, with a contract amount of P48,982,964.54 under the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

The ongoing rehabilitation aims to enhance both flood control and road infrastructure in the area, which is crucial for the safety and development of local communities. The project includes the construction of 220.00 linear meters of structural concrete revetment, which will be supported by a steel sheet pile foundation. This vital feature is designed to reinforce the riverbanks, mitigating the risks of flooding and erosion that previously affected the area during heavy rains.

In addition to flood control, the project is focused on improving accessibility and road safety. The 220.00-meter roadway is concreted and widened, with a thickness of 280mm and a width of 3.35 meters. Adjacent to the roadway, 220.00 meters of road shoulder will also be concreted, providing additional space and ensuring safer travel for motorists and pedestrians alike.

One of the key features of this project is the installation of 14 solar-powered LED roadway lights. Standing at a height of 8 meters with 100W capacity, these solar lights will enhance visibility and safety during the night, benefiting residents, commuters, and visitors to the area.

The rehabilitation of the Bantayan Flood Control Structure and the accompanying infrastructure upgrades are set to have a lasting positive impact on the local community. For residents of San Roque, this project offers greater protection from flooding, especially during the rainy season. The improvements to the roadway will make travel smoother and safer for daily commuters and travelers passing through the area.

Passersby can expect a more reliable route with clearer visibility, due to the new solar-powered lights. The project is also expected to stimulate local commerce and attract more visitors, ultimately contributing to the region’s growth and development. With the project nearing its completion, the residents of San Roque can look forward to a more secure and accessible future. (PR)

Tacloban City steps up anti-rabies efforts with house-to-house vaccination drive this April

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VACCINATION CAMPAIGN. The City Veterinary Office of the Tacloban city government is conducting a month-long anti-rabies campaign in all barangays in the city. (TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)
VACCINATION CAMPAIGN. The City Veterinary Office of the Tacloban city government is conducting a month-long anti-rabies campaign in all barangays in the city. (TACLOBAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Tacloban City government, through the City Veterinary Office (CVO), has launched a month-long house-to-house rabies vaccination campaign for April 2025, as part of its intensified efforts to safeguard both public health and animal welfare.
According to the Tacloban City Information Office, the initiative aims to deliver free rabies vaccinations for dogs and cats directly to households across various barangays. The campaign officially began on April 2, with veterinary teams dispatched to scheduled areas throughout the month.

The City Information Office reported that the house-to-house strategy is designed to increase vaccination coverage, especially in densely populated barangays, and reduce the risk of rabies transmission in the community.

The program forms part of the city’s broader campaign to achieve a rabies-free Tacloban, aligning with national goals for rabies elimination. City officials also emphasized the importance of public cooperation to ensure the campaign’s success.

From January to March 2025, the CVO reported a total of 3,319 dogs and cats vaccinated in 29 barangays. In parallel with the vaccination campaign, the city’s animal population control program also recorded progress, with 134 neutering and 38 spaying procedures performed during the first quarter of the year.

Residents are encouraged to secure their pets and make them available to CVO teams during the scheduled barangay visits.

For questions or further information, citizens may contact the City Veterinary Office directly or coordinate through their respective barangay officials.

(PRINCESS MANZANARES, LNU STUDENT INTERN)

P536-M World Bank-funded infra in full swing in Region 8

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TACLOBAN CITY – Construction of six infrastructure projects worth about P536.29 million under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Scale Up is now in full swing, the Department of Agriculture (DA) regional office said.

The infrastructure component of the project PRDP is mostly farm-to-market roads designed to help in transporting farm products to commercial centers, hence raising the income of families in farming communities, Jonas Buhay, DA-PRDP infrastructure component head, said.

These projects are the P157.19-million Paa-Imelda Marcos-Tambis farm-to-market road (FMR) in Hilongos, Leyte; P153.82-million Cambaguio to San Andres FMR with bridge in Villareal, Samar; P57.43-million Magsaysay to Somoroy FMR in Bobon, Northern Samar; and the P53.84-million Ambao-Amaga FMR in Hinundayan, Southern Leyte.

The non-FMR project is the P114.01-million Baybay City Barangay Water System Project in Leyte. The project will provide an intake box, a four-unit reservoir, a multimedia filtration system, over 48 kilometers of pipelines, and over 400 communal tap stands.

These facilities and equipment are estimated to supply water to around 2,300 households or over 8,400 people. Of which, over half are farmer and fisherfolk families.

“Most projects will be completed within 2025, while big projects such as those in Villa Real, Samar, and Hilongos, Leyte, are targeted for completion in 2026. We are attributing the timely completion to the collaborations of local government units and meticulous planning throughout the approval process,” Buhay told the Philippine News Agency.

More than 20 projects in Eastern Visayas have been completed under PRDP with investments that ensure long-term results.

“We make sure that every investment is carefully evaluated for its long-term effects on society and the economy. We want the projects to benefit communities for many years to come, in addition to finishing them,” he added.

The PRDP-Scale Up is one of the flagship programs of the Department of Agriculture designed to address the gaps in the commodity value chains by improving the efficiency of the food supply chain towards greater connectivity, mobility, accessibility, availability, and affordability of food in the market.
(with reports from Desiree Daga & Allysa Verzosa, OJT/PNA)

Borongan City eyes flower and honeybee farming as livelihood boost, tourism draw

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TACLOBAN CITY – Borongan City Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda expressed his gratitude to various government agencies for lending their expertise during the recent Farm Planning and Stakeholders’ Analysis for the city’s Flori-Apiculture Program.

Representatives from the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Samar Island Natural Park (SINP), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) participated in the planning session, particularly the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis.

“We are hopeful that this program will significantly contribute to our goal of providing additional livelihood opportunities for our upland communities, while also enhancing our tourism potential by showcasing the beauty of our mountains,” Mayor Agda said.
The resource persons provided technical inputs and candid recommendations to support the city government’s plan of promoting agricultural initiatives focused on high-value flower farming and honeybee production.

The project is being developed on a one-hectare site near the scenic ‘sea of clouds,” in Barangay Hebacong, a rising ecotourism destination in the city.

Once operational, the flower farm is expected to support members of the Borongan Integrated Apiculture and Floriculture Farmers Association (BIAFFA), by offering alternative sources of income.

Recommendations from the stakeholders included establishing proper parking areas for tourists, identifying suitable locations for greenhouses, ensuring sufficient sunlight for crops, and crafting a city ordinance to institutionalize the first flori-apiculture initiative in Eastern Visayas. They also suggested creating a localized information and education campaign to support the program’s success.

The Flori-Apiculture Program aims to balance livelihood development with environmental sustainability while positioning Borongan City as a model for innovative agri-tourism practices in the region.

(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

Reflect to serve

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As the nation observes the solemnity of the Lenten season, political candidates are urged to reflect deeply on the true purpose of their candidacy. This period of sacrifice, prayer, and penance must awaken in them the awareness that running for office is not a privilege to be abused, but a promise to serve—honestly, selflessly, and with full accountability to the people and God.

In a country where politics is often polluted by ambition, deceit, and transactional favors, the Lenten call to conversion and renewal must not bypass those aspiring for public office. Their motives must be questioned not by others but by their own conscience. If their desire to lead springs from vanity, vengeance, or self-enrichment, then their presence in public service will be nothing more than a continuation of the dysfunction that has long held the nation back. A campaign that is not rooted in moral purpose is a betrayal even before the oath is taken.

This is not an abstract plea for idealism but a demand for ethical grounding. Political authority is not a trophy—it is a weighty obligation to uplift the lives of those long neglected by broken systems. Lent reminds Christians that greatness is found in service, not in status. Political candidates who profess faith while simultaneously weaponizing religion for votes or manipulating the poor for publicity are contradicting everything this sacred season stands for. Faith without moral discipline is hypocrisy in public form.

The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic nation, and yet its political culture remains widely corrupt, self-serving, and unrepentant. Elections are turned into carnivals of flattery and falsehoods. Public trust is bartered with cheap promises and petty aid. It is shameful how many of those who kneel in churches during Holy Week will later lie, steal, and exploit as soon as they are given power. This contradiction must be confronted. Lent is not a cultural routine—it is a call to inner transformation, especially for those who seek to lead others.

Candidates who are serious about their faith must demonstrate it through their campaign and, eventually, their governance. Let their words be clean, their strategies be honest, their spending be lawful, and their platforms be directed toward long-term development. Let them be reminded that public office is not a throne but a burden and that every act done in selfishness will be remembered by history and judged beyond this life. Living this truth means they may truly serve with dignity, accountability, and grace.

The calvary of securing permits

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The acquisition of government permits in this country feels like crawling through barbed wire—painful, slow, and full of hidden traps. What should be a straightforward process has mutated into a grueling obstacle course layered with redundant paperwork, delayed signatories, and the smug faces of people who know they hold power over your every next step.

The list of requirements alone reads like a cruel joke. One document demands another, which in turn requires a separate clearance from an office across town—each with its own set of signatures, fees, and arbitrary cut-off times. For ordinary folk who just want to run a small business, build a modest home, or apply for something as basic as a barangay clearance, it’s a bureaucratic purgatory.

And then comes the darker part—the part everyone knows but hardly anyone wants to talk about. Corruption doesn’t sit in some far-off high office. It lurks in the everyday desk drawers of permit offices. There are whispers, side glances, and “pa-kape lang” suggestions. I have seen it, heard it, been hinted at. A man trying to secure a permit for his eatery was told to come back “next week” unless, of course, he wanted to “speed things up.” A small brown envelope, discreetly passed, magically cleared a week’s worth of pending signatures in under ten minutes. You either play the game or wait indefinitely.

It’s no wonder people skirt around the process. Who would want to suffer through a maze only to be asked for grease money at the final door? I know families who opt not to register their backyard businesses because they’d rather not deal with the exhaustion. I know sari-sari store owners who quietly operate without full documentation, fearing not the law, but the paper chase and the draining transactions with fixers who feed off the helplessness of the uninformed. This avoidance isn’t born out of laziness—it’s a defense mechanism, a quiet protest, and sometimes, a desperate attempt to protect their already limited resources.

We can’t keep blaming the public for “non-compliance” when the system itself is often hostile, opaque, and unreasonably rigid. Try asking an office why they need a particular clearance, and you’ll either be met with a shrug or a stern “requirement po ’yan.” No explanation, no rationale—just blind obedience to forms. It feels like some requirements exist only to create jobs for more people who shuffle papers and sign things without accountability. In truth, the system doesn’t serve the public anymore. It serves itself, bloated and unbothered by the suffering it causes.

Meanwhile, those with connections skip the lines. They make one phone call and everything falls into place like dominoes—no queues, no waiting, no interrogations. It’s a parallel universe where things move with suspicious efficiency. And while the rest of us are drowning in photocopies, certified true copies, and vague requirements, the privileged few are waved through like royalty. This dual reality is one of the most painful truths of our governance: fairness exists only in speeches, not in practice.

What makes this even more frustrating is that we have the tools to fix this. Technology can automate clearances, reduce human interaction, and prevent bribery—but it remains underutilized or worse, corrupted too. A few LGUs have started to roll out digital platforms for permits, but the implementation is often half-baked, crashing mid-transaction or demanding in-person validation anyway. Instead of convenience, people are met with more confusion. It’s the illusion of progress without the reality of change.

What we need is not just simplification, but a cultural shift in how the government sees itself—not as a fortress to be approached with fear, but as a service provider to ordinary citizens. The paperwork must shrink. The explanations must flow. The processes must be transparent, timed, and free from the shadows of corruption. People will comply—not out of fear, but out of trust—if we finally build a system that serves, not swindles.

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