Business complex, public terminal to be constructed

TACLOBAN CITY- The provincial government of Samar and the Gaisano-owned Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. (MRSGI) has entered a joint venture agreement wherein a 22-hectare property located in Catbalogan City will be converted into a mixed-use complex.
And this early, Governor Sharee Ann Tan expressed her optimism that the joint venture agreement that she entered in behalf of the provincial government will reap benefits in favor of Samar’s economy and its people.
“Among the advantages of this joint venture is the foreseeable increase in employment rate, the economic boom, and the revenues from the operation of the convention center, government center with business processing outsourcing(BPO) center, and terminal will all belong to the province,” Tan said.
The governor heralded the joint venture agreement saying it will kick start on the economic development of Samar.
It was learned that based on the joint venture agreement, MRSGI will construct and operate a department store, supermarket with a movie theater, a convention center, a government center with BPO space, and a hotel complex in Barangay 7 in Catbalogan City.
Also to be constructed inside the 22-hectare complex is a transport terminal.
It was learned that MRSGI has earmarked a total budget of more than P472.9 million to develop the area while the provincial government will provide the needed space where the mixed-use complex will be constructed.
The project is expected to start immediately after the provincial government formally turn over the property to MRSGI.
On its disclosure before the Philippine Stocks Exchange (PSE), MRSGI promised to complete the first phase which includes the department store, the supermarket with a theater and the hotel.
And as part of the deal, both the provincial government and MRSGI agreed to share in the monthly gross revenue and gross rent, without value-added tax, sourced from the operation of the department store and the supermarket.
MRSGI is to turn over the ownership of the department store, supermarket and the leasable spaces, to the provincial government after the agreed 30 year period.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY – Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla has called on parents to have their children immunized with the anti-measles vaccine.
The call of the governor came in the wake of the increasing number of persons contacting the measles virus in Leyte.
Records from the regional office of the Department of Health (DOH) disclosed that Leyte has the highest number of measles cases.
As of this week, about 312 persons, mostly children, were afflicted with measles across the province.
And of the confirmed 16 deaths due to measles in the region, Leyte has 13, to include the four from Tacloban City.
“Those who have not yet received the measles vaccination should avail (it),” Petilla said.
The governor said that based on the reports relayed to him, the measles outbreak is not only affecting babies or children but even adults which makes it more worrisome.
Thus, Petilla is calling even the adults to have themselves vaccinated, especially those who did not receive the vaccine, or have them inoculated as a booster.
Gov. Petilla said that parents should not be afraid to have their children vaccinated and should give priority on the well-being of their children.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte has also made a similar call to parents to have their children treated with anti-measles vaccine amid the ballooning of measles cases in the country, with several region Eastern Visayas, declaring an outbreak.
The rise of measles in the province and the rest of the country was due to the scare brought by the Dengvaxia scare.
Dengvaxia is an antidote for dengue fever but was surrounded with controversy after several parents came out and claimed that their children died after receiving the said medicine.
The DOH has banned Dengvaxia as an anti-dengue fever vaccine in the country due to the controversy. (RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)

SAN ISDIRO, Northern Samar—As part of his commitment to uplift and give a quality health care to his people, Mayor Ferdinand Avila of this town reminded his health personnel to treat their patients with “utmost care”.
Mayor Avila said that while he is already satisfied with the performances of the medical staff of the municipal government, he still want them to perform better for the great satisfaction of the people, especially the poor.
Avila reminded his health care providers in providing patients with utmost care because this will show that they care and empathizes with them.
“I am happy and satisfied of the support of my co-workers under my administration in prioritizing health and education particularly to the less-privilege along with their school children who are the direct beneficiaries of said program,” the town mayor, who is seeking for another fresh term in this year’s midterm elections, said.
The town has a state-of-the-art mobile clinic that is equipped with ECG, ultra-sound and Ex-ray equipment, worth P10.5 million.
The said equipment is now being used by the residents of the town.
It has also two units of bus and rescue car which it uses to ferry students who lives in remote barangays of the town.
(PETER D. PAREDES)