HILONGOS, Leyte- The wife of the slain barangay chairman of Barangay San Antonio, this town, is calling for justice.
Juana Loquias husband, Vergilio,43, was gunned down by four men, who identified themselves as members of the New People’s Army (NPA) on August 16 while cooking the shrimps he and his three companions catched in a river in their village of San Antonio, Hilongos town.
The 28-year old widow said that she could not believe that her husband was murdered ‘brutally’ as she described himself as a ‘good man who worked for the interest of his people’ in their village.
“I am appealing to our authorities to give justice to us by arresting and filing a case against those who killed my husband,” she said.
The barangay official was shot 12 times, based on the empty shells of M-17 and Ak-47 recovered from the scene of the crime by the authorities.
Major Jayson Balbarona, town police chief, said that they are set to file murder charge against the four suspects before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Hilongos.
“We have identified the suspects based on the accounts of the witnesses who identified them through a photo gallery shown to them by our counterparts,” Balbarona said.
The suspects, after shooting the victim, told his companions, who included his father-in-law, Romeo Adobas, that they were members of the NPA.
They killed him allegedly as he was said to have informed the military that their village is being used as a camp by the rebels.
It was learned that the village, 50 kms away from the town center with more than 700 residents, was the site of an encounter between the military and the rebels on May 10, 2017.
Lt. Romeo Obaob, commanding officer of the 78th Infantry Battalion, whose are include the town of Hilongos, said that they are still conducting their manhunt operations against the rebels behind the killing of Loquias.
He said that they have recommended with their higher ups that a military detachment be put up in San Antonio to ensure that safety of its residents and to avoid similar incident.
“This request of ours is still being processed by our higher ups,” Obaob said.
Meantime, town municipal officer Jose Villaflores, said that the town residents should not get panicked as the local authorities is doing their best to arrest those responsible.
“This is just an isolated case. The incident happened in San Antonio which is about 50 kms away from the town proper,” he said.
Villaflores added that the last similar incident happened on their town more than 30 years ago.
The municipal government has extended assistance to the family, he added. The burial of the slain village official is on Monday afternoon at the Catholic public cemetery.
(ROEL T.AMAZONA/JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY- Following a request from Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez, stakeholders met on August 15 for a “workable” garbage management system for Tacloban.
Several measures were proposed to improve the current waste segregation system during the meeting.
The attendees included Councilor Aimee Grafil, chairperson of the committee on environmental protection and waste management of the city council, Mother Earth Foundation (MEF) president Sonia Mendoza, executive assistant Christine Gojar, garbage collection contractors and concerned offices of the city government.
Among the proposed measures are the amendment of the Current Solid Waste Management (SWM) Ordinance of the (City Ordinance 2017-13-37), the active involvement of the business and education sectors in the SWM Program, the passage of a proposed Plastic-Free Ordinance, the introduction of “pay as you throw” (PAYT) system among establishments, the strict enforcement of the segregation-at-source policy and full implementation of the waste segregation system.
An SWM Summit is also being planned later part of September to gather Barangay officials and get their cooperation and full commitment on the solid waste management initiatives of the local government. (J.ROCA/CIO)

SSS also offers loan for its senior members

TACLOBAN CITY- The Social Security System (SSS) has clarified that despite of the declaration of the state of calamity due to dengue fever by several local government units, their office is not accepting any calamity loans.
Dr. Lilibeth Cajucom, SSS branch manager of Tacloban City, however, said that they will be ready to accommodate any calamity loans from their members if there is such a guideline.
“But so far, we have not receive any guideline,” Cajucom said during the weekly media forum ‘Express it at the Park’ held at the Leyte Park Resort, this city.
Due to the surge of dengue fever cases in the region, several local government units have declared state of calamity.
The provinces of Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar, and Southern Leyte, as well as Tacloban City have declared state of calamity. Ormoc City, meanwhile, declared a state of emergency as their response to the increasing number of dengue fever cases.
The declaration has allowed these local government units to make use part of their quick response funds or calamity funds to procure needed medicines and even fogging machines.
The region has more than 12,000 dengue fever cases of which over 40, mostly children, have died.
Cajucom said that once they receive order allowing SSS to grant calamity loans to its members, they will process them immediately.
“We have the funds,” the SSS chief said.
Meantime, Cajucom has called on all their senior pensioners to avail loans that the SSS is offering for them.
She said that since their office started the program last year, only a handful have availed it.
“We have launched the program because we have noticed that many of our senior pensioners resort to (illegal) lending that offers higher rates and they even pawned their ATM cards,” Cajucom said.
Under the program, the retirees could avail a minimum loan equal to twice the size of the basic monthly pension as of to P32, 000 which is payable in one year with a 10 percent interest. (JOEY A. GABIETA)

TACLOBAN CITY- A mobile library is now roaming around barangays of Carigara, Leyte, with the aim of raising awareness on the importance of reading among kids.
The program, dubbed as book mobile drive, visited day care centers in six barangays of the town since it was launched July 25.
The program is being coordinated between the municipal government and its municipal library, said Vice Mayor Eduardo Ong, Jr.
Ong said that the program is design for all the barangays of the town but those located in far-flung areas were prioritized since the children there are most unlikely have not visited a library.
Under the program, which is a way of bringing services to the barangay people, books are deposited to the villages for at least three weeks for the residents, particularly the children, to read.
So far, the villages of Tigbao, Camansi, the pilot area, Manloy, San Juan, Hiluctogan and Canlampay, were visited by the mobile library.
“If the children cannot visit the library, then the local government unit (LGU) will bring the library closer to the children,” said Ong.
“We also invite individuals to volunteer as story book readers. They just have to coordinate with the LGU for the details,” added the vice mayor.
Meanwhile, the LGU is also planning to bring computer units to the barangays for the computer literacy training courses the system is also similar to Book Mobile drive but is intended for out of school youths and adult, Ong said.
The program is a way of preparing the out of school youth and even adults for employment, he added.
“We are all aware that employers are now looking for those equipped with technical skills and also it is also a gateway for those who wants to start a business,” Vice Mayor Ong said.(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)