ORAS, E. Samar- With this town devastated in successions by typhoons “Ruby” and “Seniang,” a relief operation was conducted by graduates of several high schools of this town on January 2. Graduates of the Holy Cross Academy, Oras National High School and Nicasio Alvarez Memorial High School, raised funds to conduct their January 2, 2015 relief operations in Barangay Naga, a remote village that is about 10 kilometers away from the town proper.
The members of the relief mission to Naga all finished their high schools in 1999. They received donations from their former classmates now living abroad and in Metro Manila. About 122 families benefited from this food relief operation. “This is in our personal capacity as part of the community of Oras to help our people hit by calamities,” Angeli Maiso, one of the co-organizers, said. She added that giving hope among these affected families may bring a better start for the new year. Despite her aching back, she endured a 4 kilometer walk to reach the village. Naga could be reached via a boat ride to Barangay Agsam.
Irvin Pormida, who is a member of the Sangguniang Bayan of Oras, happily went through the sacrifice. “Giving back to the community and adopt-a-barangay is our theme for this and this is in my own personal capacity” said Pormida. “We tend to continue this every holiday season here in Oras, of course with the help of batch mates and maybe from other local Orasnon” also added Maiso. According LGU-Oras, Mayor Viviane Alvarez stated that there were 1,952 totally damaged houses, 6,316 partially damaged houses, and 9,776 total number of families affected. (ALJIM ARCUENO)
TACLOBAN CITY- For those attending the Mass at the Daniel Z. Romualdez (DZR) Airport to be presided no less by Pope Francis on January 17, better read this. Among the prohibited items identified by security personnel during the Mass, to be conducted at the apron of the DZR Airport, include prohibitions on the bringing of food and water unless placed in a transparent container or bag; umbrella will also be a no-no and bladed weapons or sharp objects.
However, those who will attend the Mass are encouraged to bring bull caps or hats to protect them from the heat or rain coats just in case there will be some rain on that day. Regional Tourism Director Karina Rosa Tiopes said the Pope’s security and safety is not only the state’s concern, but of everybody. “The Pope is our visitor and we should ensure the visit is a significant activity and when the pope leaves the country, he should felt our love and hospitality”, Tiopes said. Water stations and portalets are to be placed at the Mass site where about 150,000 pilgrims are projected to attend the Mass. S/Supt Teodoro Basa, deputy commander of task group Leyte of the papal visit, said that of the 6,500 police personnel in the region, 2,114 will be deployed to secure the Pope and the people, while 4,000 police will do their regular duty.
The security will be beefed up to 7,000 with the support of the PNP personnel from Bicol and CARAGA regions, Presidential Security Guards, the Philippine Army, reservists, Navy and Philippine Maritime Group for sea security. Archbishop John Du of the Palo archdiocese encouraged the faithful or pilgrims to walk during the day as no vehicle will be allowed to traverse going to the papal route. By dawn of January 17, buses and cars will no longer be allowed to traverse the engagement areas of the Pope, from the Daniel Z. Romualdez airport, to Palo town which covers 12 kilometers stretch to the Archbishop Palace where he will have luncheon with 30 survivors of supertyphoon Yolanda and Bohol earthquake. (VICKY C. ARNAIZ)
PALO, Leyte- Archbishop John Du of the Archdiocese of Palo exhorted the faithful to welcome Pope Francis with all their hearts as a way of showing their gratitude for his visit to Leyte next week. Du made this appeal during a press conference held at the Archdiocese Palace, also known as Gonzaga Haus, as he stressed that the visit of the Holy Father is a “great privilege” for all the Catholics in the region. Francis is the first Pope to ever visit Eastern Visayas. He is slated to arrive at the Daniel Z. Romualdez (DZR) Airport where he will hold a Mass at the airport’s apron in the morning of his arrival on January 17. From Tacloban, Francis will travel to the nearby town of Palo where he will have a lunch with the survivors of supertyphoon “Yolanda” and the earthquake in Bohol.
The leader of the Roman Catholic will also inaugurate a facility named after him, the Pope Francis Center for the Poor, and meet with local members of the clergy at the Palo cathedral. Archbishop Du said that we should all feel lucky that no less than the Pontiff will come to archdiocese of Palo to personally console the survivors of the world’s strongest typhoon to make landfall in the world. “The presence of the Holy father is the presence of Jesus (Christ),” the archbishop said.
It is a very big grace that the representative of Peter, considered the right hand of Jesus Christ will visit the Archdiocese of Palo, Du added. He also said that everyone should exert efforts to be in one with the visit of the Holy Father. “We should be rejoicing. Let us open our hearts and really be of service to everyone for it is a privilege because he (Francis) will come to our place,” said Archbishop Du.
As host of the apostolic visit of the Pope, we will have the privilege of being the first beneficiary of the grace and that we should be enjoying that grace, said Archbishop Du.
He also emphasizes the need for the people to have empathy with others in consonance with the theme of the Pope’s visit which is mercy and compassion. (LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
ORMOC CITY- A vintage bomb was defused by bomb experts from exploding when they recovered it just 50 meters away from a public school this city in the morning of January 5. Construction worker Jason Crisostomo said that around 10 a.m. on that day, he saw a smoke emanating from an object covered by an umbrella placed in the roadside of Punta Elementary School located in Barangay Punta, a kilometer away from the city proper. Co-worker John Carillo ran for cover sensing that what Crisostomo discovered could be a bomb and might explode. A construction work is underway in the village. The discovery of the bomb created panic in the village as parents rushed to the school to pick their children. The said public school has around 500 students. The bomb was later diffused by the members of the city police explosive and ordnance division by soaking it to a pail of water so as to evade from possible explosion. The explosive was brought to the police station for safekeeping. It was believed that the bomb was of World War II vintage. (ELVIE ROMAN ROA)
Araw Memorial Park located in Brgy Candahug, Palo, Leyte was constructed by the Republic of South Korea Military Joint Support Group or Araw Forces, September 22 this year and will be inaugurated on December 5. The park symbolizes how they help the people of Leyte and as remembrance the Korean-Filipino solidarity in times of war and disaster. Statutes depicting the group’s post-Yolanda response in Leyte since December 2013 are erected at the memorial park It is also a reminder of sacrifices of Filipino soldiers during the 1950s Korean War. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
TACLOBAN CITY- The Sangguniang Panlungsod of this city passed a resolution urging the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to include employees, both in the private and public sectors, earning P15,000 and above be included in the distribution of emergency shelter assistance (ESA). The resolution, passed during their special session last December 1, would mean that regardless of incomes, families who either totally lost their houses or just sustained damages could now receive the ESA. “We passed a resolution urging the DSWD to expand the coverage of the ESA to include even those earning P15,000 and above as long as their houses were totally or partially damaged,” Vice Mayor Jerry “ Sambo” Yaokasin, presiding officer of the council, said.
Those whose houses were totally damaged are to receive P30,000 while it will be P10,000 for those whose houses suffered partial damages. Under Memorandum Circular Number 24 issued by Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, those earning P15,000 above, either from the government or private sector, would not be entitled to receive the ESA as they have either access to loans or does not live below the poverty threshold. Tacloban’s poverty threshold was placed at P10,000. However, this order of Soliman was strongly criticized by those who will not receive the ESA. City officials described it as a “moronic” policy.
“What kind of policy is that? That is very moronic! Just because we are government employees we will be denied with this assistance? We were also hit by Yolanda. Our houses were also hit by the typhoon,” Mila Ragot, president of the Government Association of Tacloban Employees (Gate), said. During their same session, the members of the Tacloban council also passed a separate resolution appealing the DSWD to give ESA to all families in the city either they have totally or partially lost their houses. This after the council ratified the memorandum of agreement earlier signed by City Mayor Alfred Romualdez and DSWD Regional Director Nestor Ramos. “The good news is, after ratifying the MOA , it will paved the way for the release of ESA which is P30,000 for the victims whose house were totally damage and P10,000 for victims whose house were partially,” said Yaokasin.
The release of the ESA will be by areas as area 1 covering the San Jose district will be the first to receive the shelter assistance to be followed by area 4 covering Sagkahan district and until all the areas of Tacloban.
Yaokasin said that he hope the distribution of the ESA will be over by this month. The DSWD provided P315 million for the first tranche on the ESA distribution. The city needs P1.09 billion for the shelter assistance covering 57,499 houses.
TACLOBAN CITY- About 100,000 people have availed of a free service by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) replacing their personal documents that were destroyed after the onslaught of supertyphoon “Yolanda.”
The beneficiaries of this free service, dubbed as Access to Benefits and Claims after Disaster Expansion program (ABCDE) mostly came from the provinces of Leyte, Samar and Eastern Samar, hard-hit provinces in Eastern Visayas due to Yolanda. Of this number, 80,000 individuals were assisted from 20 municipalities to secure their civil records and other legal documents to re-establish their civil identities. In a statement, Lotta Sylwander, UNICEF Philippines representative, said that a name and nationality is every child’s right, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. “Every Filipino child including those impacted by disasters, have the right to be registered at birth and to be provided with birth registration documents that have been launched or destroyed. This is why Unicef is in partnership with the government to ensure that Yolanda-affected children claim their right to a name and a nationality as part of larger resilience efforts,” Sylwander said. However, 8,000 people were also provided with legal documentation services allowing them to access public services, such as pension schemes, education, burial, social security, access to employment and other basic social services. Unicef launched this program in partnership of Department of Social Welfare and Development last November 6, 2014 and still on its implementation to the affected typhoon areas. (KAYE ANNE B.ORALLER, LNU Intern)
