BORONGAN CITY,Eastern Samar – The Department of Public Works and Highways Eastern Samar District Engineering Office (DPWH ESDEO) is set to implement 16 school building projects of the Department of Education in Eastern Samar during the upcoming school vacation.

These school building projects with a total budget of P79.8 million funded under the DepEd Basic Educational Facilities Fund (BEFF) FY 2024 involve the construction of one-storey – two classroom school buildings across several schools in the province.

The schools benefiting from this budget allocation include Bulawan Elementary School in Maslog; Guiuan East Central Elementary School, Tubabao National High School, and National High School in Guiuan; Naparaan Elementary School and Tagbacan Elementary School in Salcedo; San Isidro Elementary School and Hilabaan National High School in Dolores; San Jose Elementary School in Mercedes; Tinago Elementary School in Quinapondan; Can-avid National High School in Can-avid; Eastern Samar Comprehensive National High School in Borongan City; Malinao Elementary School in Taft; Giporlos Central School in Giporlos; Llorente National High School- Barobo Extension in Llorente; and Maydolong Central Elementary School in Maydolong.

DPWH ESDEO District Engineer Domcelio M. Natividad announced that the Notices of Award for these school building projects were already issued within this month of May, 2024. The timing allows for the optimal implementation of the construction projects while the students are on vacation minimizing disruption to their classes.

The district engineer emphasized the importance of this period for contractors to expedite construction efforts.

“We urge contractors to take full advantage of the vacation period to ensure timely completion of these projects,” said DE Natividad.

In 2023, DPWH ESDEO has also implemented 21 school building projects with a total appropriation of P152.898 million under DepEd BEFF FY 2023 funding.

The district engineer mentioned that out of the 21 projects, 20 school buildings have already been completed and turned over to the schools while the remaining project, located in San Isidro Primary School in Lawaan Eastern Samar, is nearly complete with an accomplishment of 95.07%.

Furthermore, DE Natividad assured that the district office is fully committed to the fast-tracking the implementation of these projects.

“We are dedicated to ensuring that these school buildings are constructed efficiently and in accordance with DPWH standards specifications. Also, this initiative underscores the commitment of the DPWH to improve educational infrastructure, providing better learning environment for students in the province,” the district engineer added.

These school building projects are convergence projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways Eastern Samar in partnership with the Department of Education.

(JAYSON ESPESO/PR)

ORMOC CITY-Operatives of Police Station 1 of the Tacloban City Police Office are now conducting a thorough investigation surrounding the death of a foreign national found dead inside his apartment at about 8:41 pm on Thursday (May 30) t Room 10, Barreda Apartment in Barangay 79, Marasbaras in the said city.

Police identified the deceased as alias “Mike Krohn” (66), a US national, retired aeronautics engineer, and tenant of Room 10 in the said apartment.

The police said that at around 9:55 on Thursday evening, they received information from a certain Socorro Barreda, 72 owner of the said regarding an alleged found dead body in one of the rooms of the apartment.

The police said that Barreda told them that the said foreign national was discovered lifeless and lying naked on his couch by his helper identified as Margie Longcanaya, 31.

The police added that Barreda immediately called ACE Medical Center Hospital for assistance who later arrived onboard an ambulance to check the said foreign national but declared that the foreign national had no signs of life.

Elements of PS1, TCPO are now conducting a follow-up investigation and coordinated with the Tacloban City Forensic Unit to process the scene.
(ROBERT DEJON)

Accused of financing terrorism

TACLOBAN CITY– The German Embassy in the country has called on the Philippine government to conduct a ‘quick review’ relative to the freezing of the accounts of a local nongovernment organization.

In a statement dated May 27, the German Embassy in Manila said that the freezing of the accounts of the Leyte Center for Development (LCDe) has affected their efforts to helping poor in communities in Eastern Visayas.

“The recent freezing of the accounts of the LCDe by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) including the private accounts of the founder of the NGO, Ms. Jazmin Jerusalem and her family, are detriment to our efforts to improve the living conditions of the beneficiaries in poor and marginalized regions of Samar and Leyte,” it said.

“We expect the quick review of the freezing in order to allow the NGO to continue their work,” the statement added.

Jerusalem extended her gratitude to the German embassy for their statement seeking for a possible unfreezing of their accounts.

“I am very thankful to the German Ambassador to the Philippines and his staff for trusting and supporting us, and acknowledging LCDe as partners in the effort to aid poor communities with livelihood in these difficult times,” she told the Inquirer Friday (May 31).
She hope that this statement of support by the German embassy would convince the AMLC to unfreeze their accounts for them to continue their works in remote and depressed communities in the region.

It was learned that the German Embassy is one of the funders of the LCDe, a NGO based in Palo, Leyte extending assistance to poor far-flung communities in Leyte and Samar provinces, especially during the onslaught of Super Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ in 2013.

Last January 18 of this year, Ambassador Andreas Pfaffernoschke visited the town of Marabut, Samar to personally turn over a rice mill to a group of farmers in the said town.

The embassy said that Ambassador Pfaffernoschke, during his visit to Marabut, was happy to personally learn on the ‘positive impact’ the rice mill they donated to the local farmers as it help them process their harvest more cost efficiently and thus, increase their income.

It described LCDe as a ‘reliable partner’ in the implementation of said project.

“Through its small-scale development projects with local partner organization, the German Embassy aims to directly improve the quality of life of indigent and marginalized people on issues related to education, livelihood, women and children, agriculture, education, health, and the environment,” the embassy said.

To recall, the AMLC froze the accounts of the LCDe citing ‘financing terrorism’ as the reason with Jerusalem discovering it on May 2 as she was to withdraw from a bank here in Tacloban.

Jerusalem, in a press conference on May 16, said that their LCDe accounts contained around P2 million received from their funders.

The freezing of their accounts have paralyzed their operations.

The LCDe is been in operations for 36 years but during the Duterte administration was ‘red tagged’ as a front of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army(CPP-NPA), a claim it strongly denies.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)