TACLOBAN CITY – Young athlete Karen Janario is to be sent to the United States for further training and make her more competitive.
This was revealed by Leyte provincial administrator Vincent Emnas who said that the training to Janario, a sprinter, was due to her excellent performance during the recently-held Batang Pinoy in Bacolod City.
It would be the Philippine Sports Commission(PSC) that will send the young athlete to the United States for training under the tutelage of famed trainer Ryan Flaherty, who trained the country’s athletes who joined in various international competitions like the Asian and ASEAN Games.
During last year’s Batang Pinoy competition, the 14-year old Janario won five gold medals in the 200 meters;4×400 meter relay;110 meter hurdles;100 meter and 4×100 meter relay.
Janario, who is from Barangay Libertad, Palo, Leyte, is currently enrolled as a second year student at the Leyte Sports Academy, an academic-cum-sports training school founded by former governor and now Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla.
No date has been set for Janario’s US travel and training, said LSA administrator Ruben Tamayo.
“This is a good opportunity for her,” Emnas said.
Although the provincial government has no announcement yet if what assistance they could give her, they are fully supportive to this plan of the PSC, Emnas said.
Her training in the US, the administrator said, could further enhance her capability as an athlete that will not just bring glory to the province but to the entire country as well once she competes in international sports events.

By: ROEL T. AMAZONA

TACLOBAN CITY-Children in difficult circumstances need all the attention and understanding.
And this should be more given to children who experienced the wrath of supertyphoon Yolanda.
This was emphasized by Alfred Stual of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) who added that the children should not only get the support from their respective families but even from the government itself.
Stual said that children should be listened to when they try to open up on what they feel and thought about the supertyphoon.
According to the Unicef official, the parents play a big yet sensitive role for their children to overcome their fears related to their experiences of Yolanda.
“Children’s distress and fears should be acknowledged and even if parents are busy providing for their children’s need, they should take time to comfort them and give them affection,” Stual said.
“Children should be reassured that they are safe now; strategies to comfort and calm the children can be used such as hugging them, telling stories, praying with them, and playing simple games,” he added.
He said that if a child is having some difficulties, this manifest in several ways like recurring nightmares, trouble in sleeping, may become withdrawn, fearful or aggressive.
“(He) may also complain that he have pains like stomach aches, headaches, and nausea and fatigue even though it seems like nothing is causing it,” Stual said.
According to Stual, these are all common and temporary reactions to a terrible event they have experienced.
“Parents’ care, patience, understanding and support will make these children recover,” he stressed.
Children should be supported to re-establish daily activities such as going to school, organizing a play, creative and recreation activities, or participating in sports which can help them regain a sense of normalcy, the Unicef official said.

By: LIZBETH ANN ABELLA

TACLOBAN CITY – Leyte provincial administrator Vincent Emnas announced that a P30 million would be allocated to repair the typhoon-damaged Leyte Provincial Jail, which witnessed two instances of jail breaks recently.
Emnas said that the repair of the provincial government-run prison facility is among the priorities of Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla among the damaged buildings owned by the province due to supertyphoon Yolanda.
The roofs of the buildings of the Leyte Provincial Jail, located in Barangay Kauswagan, Palo, were blown away during the typhoon, to include the facility’s perimeter fence.
During the typhoon, hundreds of the inmates there managed to escape but later were either rearrested or returned. And on January 30, close to 200 prisoners staged a jailbreak citing lack of food as the reason for doing so.
The Leyte Provincial Jail presently counts about 500 inmates.
“This was the mandate from Gov. Petilla after we submitted a report to him on the condition of the facility and on what is the better solution to avoid similar problems in the future if another strong typhoon such as Yolanda will happen again,” Emnas said, referring to the planned repair of the facility.
Meantime, administrator Emnas said that the provincial government has now addressed the problems of the inmates like the scarcity of foods.
“The inmates who went back brought with them their respective families. That was one of the reasons why they experience problem on food supply because the food was only allocated for them and not for their families. But we cannot stop them to give food to their families so the province had sent relief packs to them,” Emnas explained.(ROEL T.AMAZONA)