ORMOC CITY– A 27-year-old farmer was shot dead in broad daylight by unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen inside a public cemetery in Barangay Cautod, Sta. Margarita, Samar, on Sunday morning, July 27.

The victim, identified by police as alias Alvin Villarante, single, and a resident of Barangay Burabud, died instantly after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds.

According to a report from the Sta. Margarita Municipal Police Station (MPS), a concerned citizen called authorities at around 9:50 a.m. to report the shooting incident. Responding officers arrived at the cemetery and found Villarante’s lifeless body lying in a pool of blood.
Initial investigation revealed that Villarante was walking through the cemetery at around 9:30 a.m. when two men wearing black hooded jackets, riding a black NMAX motorcycle without a license plate, approached and opened fire without warning. The suspects fled the scene immediately after the attack.

Police said they are still determining the motive behind the killing and have yet to identify the suspects.

A follow-up investigation is underway, and a dragnet operation has been launched in coordination with nearby police stations to track down the perpetrators.

Authorities are appealing to the public for any information that may lead to the identification and arrest of the suspects.

(ROBERT DEJON)

ORMOC CITY– A former teacher and her alleged live-in partner were arrested during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Can-unzo, Merida, Leyte, at around 10:00 p.m. on Friday, July 25.

Police Major Ronald Espina, officer-in-charge of the Merida Municipal Police Station, identified the suspects as alias “Sherwin,” 35, single, a resident of Brgy. Can-unzo, and alias “Fe,” 42, married, a former teacher from Brgy. Mas-in, Ormoc City.

According to authorities, “Fe” was previously dismissed from teaching service following multiple complaints from parents who accused her of attempting to recruit them into illegal drug use.

The couple was the target of the operation, with “Sherwin” allegedly handing over a sachet containing a white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu to a police operative in exchange for P500. During a subsequent body search, police recovered four more sachets containing the same substance, along with the marked P500 bill used in the transaction.
A female officer conducting the search on alias “Fe” recovered two additional sachets suspected to contain shabu, five improvised pickers, five pieces of folded tin foil used as makeshift drug paraphernalia, six empty sachets with traces of suspected shabu, one flashlight case, and a surgical forceps.

Both suspects were informed of their rights in a language they understood before being taken into custody.

Charges for violation of Sections 5 (sale of illegal drugs) and 11 (possession of illegal drugs) under Article II of Republic Act 9165, also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, have been filed against the two at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Ormoc City.

They are currently detained at the Merida Municipal Police Station.

(ROBERT DEJON)

TACLOBAN CITY– The provincial government of Leyte is undertaking an ambitious yet an essential initiative aimed at digitizing the government operations in a bid to improve public service delivery, increase transparency, and reduce bureaucratic inefficiencies.

Leyte Governor Carlos Jericho Petilla said a number of projects that have been started by the province since 2022 are part of a broader strategy to modernize the public sector and align it with global standards of governance in the digital age.

Leyte’s digital transformation is upgrading government systems with modern technology which covers a variety of sectors, including healthcare, education, disaster response, taxation, financial resource administration, and document management system.

“Our citizens deserve services that are quick, accessible, and transparent and digitizing our services can help us achieve that,” Gov. Petilla said.

The governor also made a similar push to business groups at the recently concluded 34th Visayas Area Business Conference held in Palo, Leyte.

The digitalization effort of the province is focused on simplifying procedures such as licensing, permit applications, and tax filings, making them available online for greater public accessibility. Additionally, the government have also worked on e-citizen portals where residents can access everything from medical records to business registrations.
The provincial government has already institutionalized its iTax system, a user-friendly interface for online assessment, billing, and payment. Taxpayers, particularly those in remote areas benefit from online payment platforms such as GCash, PayMaya, debit and credit cards, online bank transfers, and other accredited portals.

Another initiative is the PricEat Leyte which is an online price monitoring tool developed by the Leyte provincial government to help consumers and traders find the cheapest basic farm products. It can be accessed on the leyteprovince.gov.ph website and the tool displays the price, store name, and monitoring time for various commodities.

In its thrust to improve education, the Learn Smart initiative is aimed at enhancing digital learning and bridging the digital divide in schools and communities. This initiative involves providing digital resources, training, and support to teachers and learners in the province.
One of the more recent one is the Quick Medical Record (QMeR). This is a digital version of a patient chart which contains the medical and treatment history of patients. QMeR is designed to rationalize the clinician’s workflow by consolidating patient information in one easily accessible storage.

The governor pointed out these initiatives are not without challenges especially in the roll out of the projects to the municipal level such as uneven internet access, bureaucratic inefficiency, low digital literacy in some sectors and patchy government digital integration.
However, the governor vowed to make government services faster, more accessible, and more user-friendly. With the shift toward digital, residents can expect reduced waiting times and fewer trips to government offices, enhancing the overall experience.

He assures that digitizing transactions and services of the government is also in line with the national directives for digitalization in the government to improve ease of doing business and fight many forms of graft and corruption.

In a previous State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr directed all government offices to fully embrace digitalization to provide better service to the people, through its vital frontline services and its back-end functions.

Digitalization is the greatest and most powerful tool that will support the government’s data-driven, science-based planning and decision-making, he said.

(AHLETTE REYES, PIA-8)

TACLOBAN CITY — A religious group has spoken out against the Supreme Court’s decision to stop the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, calling the ruling “a delay of justice” and a “missed opportunity for moral clarity” in a time of deepening national disillusionment.

In a strongly worded letter titled “For Judgment Must Begin at the House of God,” the Apostolic Orthodox Church – Asia Pacific Diocese (Philippines) urged the public, the government, and the Church itself to reflect on the broader implications of the ruling, issued earlier this month.

“Has truth been served? Or merely postponed?” the letter issued Sunday, July 27 said as it lamented that legal technicalities have overtaken the people’s demand for accountability.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court halted the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Duterte, citing constitutional grounds.

But for the Apostolic Orthodox Church, the issue is far more than legal.

“This is not simply about a procedural bar or legal restraint. This is about the cry for moral clarity in a time when truth is bruised, institutions are doubted, and the people’s voice is left unheard,” the letter stated.

Without naming names, the Church’s statement implied concern over what it described as the increasing politicization of legal and democratic processes in the country.

“When the tools of accountability are deflected by technicalities, when power becomes its own defense, and when the guardians of justice are themselves cloaked in partisan lineage, we must not only examine the law—but ourselves,” the letter read.

The letter issued appeals to the Supreme Court and other courts that legitimacy rests not merely on appointments or procedures, but on a commitment to justice that goes beyond silence or delay.

It also appealed to the lawmakers saying that impeachment must never be reduced to political theater or blocked out of fear or convenience, but pursued with moral courage.
It also urged the public to remain vigilant, discerning, and engaged.

“We are not chaplains of the powerful,” the Church stressed. “We must resist the temptation to dress partisanship in religious language.”

While the letter stopped short of explicitly endorsing the impeachment complaint, it clearly called for accountability and truth, both in governance and in public discourse.

The Apostolic Orthodox Church – Asia Pacific Diocese, though not among the country’s largest religious institutions, has gained attention in recent years for its growing grassroots presence.

Vice President Duterte, for her part, has yet to publicly comment on the Supreme Court ruling. Her allies in Congress had earlier dismissed the impeachment effort as politically motivated and lacking in merit.

The impeachment complaint stemmed from various allegations, including questions over the use of confidential funds during her tenure as education secretary. However, supporters argue that she has not committed any impeachable offense and remains popular among many sectors.

(JOEY A. GABIETA)