TACLOBAN CITY- Promoting the region’s tourism potential as a whole is one of the programs that Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla wants to implement this year.
And as part of his plan, a tourism center will be constructed at the Government Center located in Barangay Baras, Palo, where tourist destinations of the region will be showcased and promoted.
“Those who will visit it will just check the place where they can go in the region and avail of the packages offered. We may not be as popular like other places in the Philippines but we wanted to make a statement that our services here are comparable to what they offer,” he said.
“Tourism increases productivity and helps develop economy to become more vibrant (and) support our anti-poverty program,” the governor added.
Samar Governor Sharee Ann Tan, meantime, said that she is glad that officials of her province realized the tourism potential of their respective areas.
But the aggressiveness of the local government units to promote their areas for tourism must be carefully planned and gaps should be addressed first to ensure sustainable tourism, she said.
The governor acknowledges the problems on accessibility and security as among the factors that might affect in promoting Samar as a tourism destination.
“We need to address these problems including other needs of our tourists like on food supply and souvenir items,” Gov. Tan said.
Tan added that this year, the provincial government is preparing additional areas in the province to be included of its tourism campaign dubbed as Spark Samar launched in 2015.
For this year, the provincial government will include the towns of Calbiga, Jiabong, San Jorge and Calbayog City as part of the Spark Samar campaign.
The towns of Basey, Marabut, Sta Rita, Pinabacdao and Paranas were the first areas in the province included of its Spark Samar campaign.
“We cannot just go for marketing if the place is not yet ready. Our efforts will just be a waste if we will not succeed,” Gov. Tan stressed.
The regional Department of Tourism targets a double digit increase of its tourism arrivals in 2016 for this year.
Last year, more than 1 million tourists visited the region contributing to its economy of P9 billion. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Center showing EV’s tourist spots to be put up at the Government Center
Rep. Noel approves death penalty reimposition
TACLOBAN CITY- Rep. Victoria Isabel of the An Waray party-list group said that she is in favor for the reimposition of death penalty in the country.
She, however, clarified that the death penalty should only be imposed to drug-related cases.
Noel said that the entire members of the House of Representatives are set to vote on Monday (Jan.23) whether the death penalty covering drug-related and other heinous crimes should be reimposed.
“I am only for the imposition of the death penalty to drug-related crimes. However, the (justice) committee approved that death penalty should also be imposed to other high crimes and not just on drug-related crimes,” Noel said.
The proposal will be deliberated at the plenary wherein all members of the Lower House will vote for or against it.
The death penalty was suspended during the incumbency of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who is now serving as a congresswoman of Pampanga.
Asked if she and other solons coming from the region have reached a consensus on the matter, Noel said that they have none.
“We don’t have any single stand on the matter,” she said.
Noel also said that she has not been approached by any member of the Catholic Church which is leading against the reimposition of the death penalty in the country which is a Catholic-dominated nation.
With the reimposition of the death penalty, the An Waray party-list solon believes that it could serve as a strong deterrent against those who appears to commit heinous crimes, including on illegal drugs. (LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA, JOEY A. GABIETA)
COMMENTARY: Prostitutes entering heaven
By: Fr. Roy Cimagala
LEST you get scandalized, it was Christ himself who said so. Let us cite the exact quotation: ‘“Which of the two did what his father wanted?’ ‘The first,’ they answered. Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.’” (Mt 21,31)
Of course, the context was the precious lesson Christ wanted to highlight as to what would comprise fulfilling God’s will. He mentioned about two brothers. The first was asked to work in the vineyard, and said no, but later on, changed his mind and went to work. The second said yes, but actually did not go.
The precious lesson Christ wanted to impart is that what really matters is doing and not simply saying to do God’s will, even if at the beginning one declines to do God’s will. An important part of this lesson is the need for repentance and conversion in our life.
So the prostitutes referred to in this particular episode are those who repented and who actually did what Christ wanted them to do. They did not enter as prostitutes, but as sinners who have repented.
A significant lesson we can also gather from this particular story, and one that should serve as a constant warning to all of us, is that we have to be most careful when we think we are already good enough because of certain good things we have or have done, but still have failed to be very faithful to God’s will.
This is the lesson embedded in that saying that “the good is the enemy of the best,” that is the very germ of that most insidious spiritual illness called spiritual complacency and lukewarmness. That’s when we think we are good enough. There’s no need to be better.
We have to understand that conversion is a continuing need for all of us. We can never say that we are good enough and that we do not need further conversions. We should not forget that we are all sinners even in the best condition of our earthly life.
For this to happen, we need to be humble, which can be the result of the keen awareness of our sinfulness. It’s when we think we are sinless or with little and negligible sin that we fail to realize the need for conversion.
We should never allow whatever good we have done to lull us to think that we are good enough and that we don’t need another conversion.
I refer more to people who have been doing good all these years, but somehow are stuck at a certain point in their spiritual life. Doing good for them has become a kind of set routine that is turning to be more mechanical than spiritual, leaving an impressive shell but slowly being deprived of substance, desensitizing them from the urge for another conversion.
The mark of true saints is precisely this hunger and thirst for repentance and conversion. Whatever good they did humbled them instead of leaving them proud. They knew who and what was behind all the accomplishments they made, and were more keenly aware of their inadequacies, their mistakes, faults, infidelities, etc.
It’s not that they led a miserable life of having a dark outlook in life and a negative attitude toward their own selves. They were a happy lot, whose joy sprang from their living and faithful union with God, their father, but aware of their total dependence on God.
It’s their driving love for God and souls that keep them feeling always the need for penance and conversion. It’s not just fear of sin and evil that provokes this hunger. It’s love of God and souls. It’s this love that made them see more things that they need to do.
It’s this love for God and souls that would make them feel that they have to go further than what so far they have accomplished. This love has no limits. It does not have the word ‘enough’ in its vocabulary. It always urges them to do more to be more and better.
That is why it is often given as a spiritual advice that one forgets himself completely and just thinks of God and the others. Not only that, but also that one’s true growth and development toward human maturity and Christian perfection is measured to the extent that one thinks of God and the others and does things for them.
It might be good to replicate in oneself a true act of contrition that is involved in a conversion of a prostitute.
GEM OF THOUGHT: Women fall in buy-bust, too
By: Eileen Nazareno Ballesteros
Two female young adults are poised to face several charges in court for violation of different provisions of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2007 (RA 9165).
This was after they were caught en flagrante delicto engaged in illegal drugs activities during a buy-bust operation on January 8 conducted by operatives of the Tacloban City Police Office under the supervision of PSSupt. Rolando Bade, and in coordination with the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency.
Elements from TCPO-Station Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Group Police Station 2 led by PCInsp. Rudy Conejo Jr, with seven (7) Police Non-Commissioned Officers (PNCOs) conducted a Buy-Bust Operation at Purok Santol, Brgy 66, Paseo De Legaspi Tacloban City,at about 4:00 PM of January 8, 2017 that resulted to the arrest of an withheld in the name “Rosanna” ,23 years old, single, and a resident of same barangay and “Gloria”, 24 years old, single and a resident of Purok 2, Brgy 65, Paseo De Legaspi, this City, while two others were able to elude arrest.
According to Bade, the poseur buyer bought from the suspect one (1) piece heat-sealed transparent sachet containing suspected shabu.
Recovered from suspect’s actual possession and control were six (6) pieces heat sealed transparent sachet containing suspected shabu, two (2) pieces Php 100.00 peso bill, three (3) pieces improvised lighters, two (2) pieces improvised tooters, four (4) strips tinfoil, one (1) unit red cherry mobile, one (1) scissors, one (1) coin purse containing three (3) pieces Php 20.00 peso bill.
While confiscated from Tampil was one (1) piece small heat-sealed transparent plastic sachet containing suspected shabu.
Confiscated pieces of drug evidence were turned-over to the Regional Crime Laboratory Office (RCLO8) for qualitative and quantitative analysis while the other pieces of non-drug evidence were turned-over to TCPO Evidence Custodian.
Suspects are now under the custody of Police Station 2 Custodial Facility while cases for Violation of Sections 5, 6, 7, 11, 12 & 15 of RA 9165 are being prepared for filing before the City Prosecutor’s Office.
Section 5 of RA 9165 is about Sale, Trading, Administration, Dispensation, Delivery, Distribution and Transportation of Dangerous Drugs and/or Controlled Precursors and Essential Chemicals; Section 6 is Maintenance of a Den, Dive or Resort; Section 7 is the penalty imposed on Employees and Visitors of a Den, Dive or Resort; Section 11 is for the Possession of Dangerous Drugs; Section 12 for Possession of Equipment, Instrument, Apparatus and Other Paraphernalia for Dangerous Drugs; and Section 15 is for use of Dangerous Drugs.
On January 4, joint elements from TCPO-CAIDSOTG, Tacloban City Public Safety Company, Military Intelligence Group (MIG) team and (MI) PA team led by PCInsp Steve E Castillote III with one (1) Police Commissioned Officer (PCO), eight (8) Police Non-Commissioned Officers (PNCOs) conducted a buy-bust operation at Brgy 109-A V&G Subd., Tacloban City, at about 3:45 PM of January 4, 2017.
The operation resulted to the arrest of Gabino Vincent Pasagui y Navarro, 36 years old, single, driver and a resident of 246, Blk 3 Lt 5, New York St., Brgy 109-A, V&G Subd., Tacloban City, according to Bade.
The poseur buyer bought from the suspect was one (1) piece heat-sealed transparent sachet containing suspected shabu. Charges have been filed for violation of Section 5 and 11 against Pasagui.
Meanwhile, the PNP Regional Office claims victory in the illegal drugs operation with the declaration of drug free barangays across Eastern Visayas.
In a press statement, the PRO8 Region 8 has obtained 18% drug-cleared barangays since Barangay Drug Clearing Operations have been implemented in October 2016, says PCSupt Elmer C Beltejar, the Regional Director of Police Regional Office 8.
He said that the entire region has three hundred seventy (370) barangays in different towns and cities that are already drug-cleared in collaboration with the Local Government Officials since the new administration launched its intensified narco-war.
Beltejar said that the number was the latest recorded so far as of January 3, 2017.
The region has a total of 2, 474 affected barangays from 4, 390 total number of barangays with a variance of 2, 104 total number of barangays to be cleared from drugs.
All these said barangays underwent rigorous evaluation down to the grassroots in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils and PRO8 aims to declare more municipalities/barangays as drug-free this year with the continuous implementation of Project Double Barrel-Alpha, according to Beltejar.
PRO8 Public Relations Office chief SSupt. Elizar Egloso explained that the declaration of the drug-free barangays is based on the following factors: non-availability of drug supply; absence of drug transit or transhipment activity; absence of clandestine drug laboratory; absence of clandestine drug warehouse; absence of clandestine chemical warehouse; absence of marijuana cultivation site; absence of drug den, dive or resort; absence of drug pusher; absence of drug user/dependent.
There should also be absence of protector or coddler and financier; active involvement of barangays officials in anti-drug activities; active involvement of Sangguiniang Kabataan to help maintain the drug-liberated status of the barangay; existence of drug awareness, preventive education and information, and other related programs; and existence of voluntary and compulsory drug treatment and rehabilitation processing desk, Egloso added.
Beltejar considers the police operations against illegal drugs a “success” with the drug supply in the region cut by as much as 90% since the implementation of Project Double Barrel-Alpha and has challenged more cities and municipalities to protect their communities from being infiltrated by illegal drugs, according to Egloso.
OBSERVER: Is the President serious?
By: Alvin GZ Arpon
“I wish them all the success,” said President Rodrigo R. Duterte when informed of an alleged plot of Filipino-American supporters and aides in the ouster of the president from Malacañang.
Is the President serious with his remarks? Well, he has expressed similar remarks in the past weeks that he is willing to relinquish the presidency anytime, if need be.
Well, after 7 months holding the reins of power in government President Duterte’s administration’s public satisfactory rating has dipped though slightly, but still within a “very good” territory.
-oOo-
But it is also on record that good ratings of Presidents in the past are usually high in the first year but “normally” slides after sometime. The reason is not everybody’s wish can satisfactorily be granted for a thousand reasons – credible reasons at that.
-oOo-
President Duterte, in many occasions would blurt out statements that are at times, unpalatable and unconvincing, only to be told later by him and his spokespersons it was a joke.
This wish that what he expressed for those who are plotting for his ouster to succeed is definitely out of place at this point in our national life.
-oOo-
The convincing majority of Filipinos who voted for him in May expect so much from him. Davao City under Mayor Duterte then has been the point of reference for voters to elect him President of the Philippines. It is already given that Davao was impressively administered by then Mayor Duterte.
It is therefore President Duterte’s mission to accomplish what he promised in his campaign; eradication of graft and corruption, drug menace which appears to be succeeding and a vibrant economy.
-oOo-
We do not believe however that there is a serious plot to oust him from Malacañang. No less than Vice President Leni Robredo said that plans to oust the President will not be good for the nation.
Mr. President just sincerely do your job. Any group who has that destructive plan to oust you, will not succeed.
Fellow Citizens: Let us unite and work to stop the drug menace
By the time this goes to print, President Duterte may have finally summoned mayors of the country to Malacañang who appear in the thick list of narco-politicians. This thick list includes some police officers and some officials and even big-time private individuals involved in the drug menace in the country.
All those found to have been proven right to be a narco-politician in the list shall have to “resign or die”, says the President.
Since the President assumed office in June 30, seven months ago some 6,000 people have lost lives, being suspectedly involved in the drug-menace – as user, pusher and a few big time financers of this illegal drug trade.
We already know that what the President says, he does.
Let us therefore, even just as mere citizens of the land actively and collectively unite to stop the drug menace. Let us protect the President from commiting his personel inclination to kill, kill and kill those drug involved suspects . International groups like the United States, United Nations and the European Union have already made a statement condemning the President’s style to stop the drug menace.
The President is sincere. Let him finish his term for we believe that many good, impressive and successful developmnet undertakings are in store for our nation under his watch.