PALO, Leyte- A total of 30,161 drug users and pushers have surrendered across the region since the start of the massive anti-drug campaign of the government.
Records from the regional Philippine National Police (PNP), disclosed that since July 1 up to December 31, 2016, 27,493 drug users and 2,668 drug pushers voluntarily surrendered before the police authorities which is implementing the “Oplan Tokhang,” an anti-illegal drive campaign of the government under President Rodrigo Duterte.
The records also showed that 21,726 houses across the region were visited by the police authorities who conducted the operation seeking for alleged drug users and pushers to surrender.
Covering the same period, the police conducted 587 operations against illegal drug personalities resulting to the death of 46 drug personalities and the arrest of 690 others.
A total of 16, 906.25 grams of shabu and 306.1 grams of marijuana with an estimate value of P135.2 million were confiscated in the course of the anti-illegal drug operations.
The PRNP-8 also disclosed that of the 186 listed as high value targets, 62 of them have surrendered, 54 were arrested, 12 were killed during the police operations.
Three killings were considered as “death under investigation” or no known suspects while 55 high value targets were under surveillance and subject for police operation.
Among those arrested were a police, soldier and an agent from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency; four former police personnel and four government employees.
“We are very serious on this campaign. When we say we mean business, once they go back to their old habit, they will be subjected to police operation. They were given a chance but if they engage again to illegal drug trade, they will be subjected to police operation because they are closely monitored,” Chief Inspector Bella Rentuaya, police regional information, said, referring to those who surrendered under “Oplan Tokhang” but still chose to continue to use or push illegal drugs. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Tokhang final count in EV: 30,161 drug users, pushers surrendered
DepEd resets EVRAA 2017
NAVAL, Biliran- This year’s regional athletic meet has been reset to February 5 to 10, 2017 from its original schedule of January 29 to February 4, 2017.
The change of schedule of the Eastern Visayas Regional Athletic Association (EVRAA) Meet, which is slated to be held this town, was disclosed by Regional Director Ramir Uytico of the Department of Education (DepEd).
Under a memorandum order issued by Uytico, the resetting on the schedule of EVRAA 2017 was to enable the officiating officials of the regional athletic competition attend a national accreditation meeting slated in Davao del Norte.
Still, the venue of the regional sporting event, the Biliran Provincial Sports Complex, located in this town, is ready and underwent major repairs.
Its oval, grandstand, track and fields as well as its basketball and volleyball courts were refurbished.
The Olympic-size swimming pool also underwent total renovations and face lifting including the landscaping around the pool side.
Roads leading to the sports complex also undergone major improvements.
Old structures were also replaced with new pavements to make the road convenient and accessible for visitors and delegates.
Other games will be played at the Naval gymnasium and also at Naval State University (NSU) gymnasium where the welcome night will be held.
A playground demonstration and band exhibition will also be performed by students from NSU and Naval National High School respectively.
Billeting schools, which will serve as quarters for the different delegations all over Eastern Visayas, have also been repaired.
Toilets, bathrooms and other facilities have been repaired and improved, water and drainage system were also installed as well as electrical wirings.
Governor Gerardo “Gerry” Espina Jr. and Rep. Rogelio Espina have thrown their total support on the holding of EVRAA in the province.
(REY FAJARDO)
Over 2,000 mall workers see end of “endo”
On top of other contractual workers
TACLOBAN CITY– More than 2,000 workers from three shopping malls in this city stand to become regulars and would no longer bear the worry of “endo” or end of contract.
However, their fate will largely depend on the final approval of a new department order that will mandate agencies to make their hired workers as regulars and not just contractuals whose working period is just less than six months.
And if this policy would be adopted, the more than 2,000 agencies-hired workers of the Robinsons Place Tacloban, Gaisano Capital, and Gaisano Central are among those who will benefit from it.
“We’re supposed to decide on this since it’s been more than 30 days since we got the findings but we have to wait for the new department order to make sure that the decision of our hearing officers is consistent with the national policy and existing laws,” Virgilio Doroja Jr., information officer of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), said.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III released on Dec. 28, 2016 Department Order (DO) 30, mandating manpower services firms to hire workers as regulars, receiving full benefits such as leave credits, 13th month pay as well as retirement, social security and health insurance plans, among others.
President Rodrigo Duterte reportedly refused to sign the new directive as he insisted that companies and not the contractors should directly hire regular workers.
“This is what we want to resolve now as to who will assume the responsibility of making these workers regular. We have to wait and see,” Doroja added.
DO 30 is set to replace the DO 18-A, or the rules implementing the Articles 106 to 109 of the Labor Code.
Under the new directive, manpower agencies are mandated to hire regular workers and pay them salaries even after the end of service agreement contract with companies.
Contractors are also ordered to deploy workers to another firm within three months after a service agreement.
The DOLE adopted two tracks in eliminating illegitimate contractualization, including labor-only contracting or ‘endo’.
In the first track, the DOLE regional offices conducted series of consultations and meetings to encourage employers to voluntarily regularize workers who are under “endo” and labor-only contracting arrangements.
For the second track, labor laws compliance officers inspected establishments, principals, and contractors which are practicing labor-only contracting arrangements.
Those found to be engaged in labor-only contracting are subjected to mandatory conferences to assist them in their compliance with labor standards
As of end of 2016, there were already 1,200 workers in the private sector hired as regular employees since the DOLE-8 launched the campaign, above the regional target of 1,000 workers, according to Doroja.
By: SARWELL Q. MENIANO
Regional wage board waits approval of proposed new wage order from their central office
TACLOBAN CITY- The proposed new wage order for workers in the region has yet to be approved by the National Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (NTWPB).
However, it might just come before the end of the month or first week of February, Reynaldo Soliveres, regional director of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity (RTWPB), said in an interview.
“The central office is carefully studying the proposed wage order to ensure that this will not result to any diminution of benefits and salaries,(of the workers),” Soliveres said.
“But we expect a high possibility that they will approve it. So, if they can have the meeting early, we expect this will be approved within the end of January of early February,” he added.
Under the proposed wage order, contained under Wage Order Number 19, workers in the region are to receive an increase of P10 to P25 of their daily minimum wage.
The increase amount will depend on the sector and the number of workers.
At present, private workers of the region receives P260 as daily minimum wage.
Based on the proposed Wage Order Number 19, establishments with 10 workers and below are expected to have an increase of P10 of their daily minimum wage while those with 11 workers but not more than 30 are expected to have an increase of P15 a day while those with 31 and above workers could receive an increase of P25.
A P7 cost of living allowance (Cola) contained of the 2015 wage order is also to be put in effect under the proposed wage order.
Soliveres said that varying increases of daily minimum came about in response to the impacts of supertyphoon “Yolanda” that hit the industries in the region.
“We classified the industries and we also provided corresponding increases based on the categories because based on the data from NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) and PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority), region 8 has yet to fully recover from the onslaught of Yolanda,” Soliveres said.
The proposal to have a new wage hike was a “moto propio” act by the wage board in the hope that workers in the private sector could live decently while at the same time, without compromising the financial capacity of the establishments.
“The employers are supportive on this proposed wage order (as evidenced) during our consultations and public hearings,” Soliveres said.
Once approved by their central office, the proposed wage order will be published in a regional newspaper and will take effect 15 days after the publication. (JOEY A. GABIETA)
DOH: No condom distribution among schools in the region
GOVERNMENT CENTER, PALO, Leyte- There will be no condom distribution in any school here in the region.
This was assured by a health official saying that there is no reason- as of now- for Eastern Visayas to be included among areas in the country where condom would be distributed in high schools.
“Eastern Visayas is not among the regions identified by the Department of Health where condoms will be distributed in schools,”Boyd Cerro, regional chief of the epidemiology and surveillance unit, said.
Cerro said that the planned condom distributions in schools will only be done in regions where cases of HIV-AIDS are high just like those in the National Capital Region.
And in the case of Eastern Visayas, its HIV-AIDS cases only account “less than 1 percent of the total cases of the country.”
The planned distribution of condoms by the DOH is part of its effort to address the growing HIV-AIDS cases of the country.
However, the Church has expressed its opposition to the plan saying it could encourage the youth, in particular, to engage in premarital sex.
Cerro said that since the department started tracking down the HIV-AIDS cases in the country in 1984, Eastern Visayas has only 370 such cases.
But the health official admitted that the HIV-AIDS cases in the region are increasing.
Last year, 84 individuals were detected to have acquired the disease transmitted mainly due to sex.
“But the (84 cases) were the only ones that we in the department have monitored. The number could be higher considering that there are those who did not report to our office,” Cerro said.
Last year, about six individuals died due to the complications caused by the virus.
The last to have died due to the disease was in December.
In 2015, there were about 89 cases with eight deaths.
Cerro said that the rise of HIV-AIDS in the region was traced to “risky sexual behavior” of those who acquired the disease.
Risky sexual behavior refers to having multiple sex partners and without using protection like condom.
“But what is saddening is those who acquired it were still young or from 15 to 24 years old,” he said.
Cerro advised those who engage in risky sexual activities to stop it if they could do it. Otherwise, he suggested for them to use condom or abstain from engaging in sex.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
Blasts victims received financial assistance from gov’t
HILONGOS, Leyte- Financial assistance were extended to the 32 individuals who were injured due to the twin explosions that hit this town last December 28.
The financial assistance came from President Rodrigo Duterte, Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the office of Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, Michael Dino.
During his visit to the town on December 30, Pres. Duterte handed P10, 000 each to the 32 victims who were hospitalized due to the injuries they sustained due to the explosions.
Gov. Petilla also gave P10, 000 for those who were hospitalized and P5,000 for those who were out of hospital while the DSWD gave P5,000 each.
Dino, who visited the town a day after the blasts incidents, also gave P3,000 each to the wounded individuals, 10 of them were children.
But while the survivors were thankful of the cash windfall that they have received, they are still seeking for justice.
The explosions incident hit the town on the night of December 28, town fiesta, inside the Rizal Park.
The first explosion occurred at 9:01 pm located at the water tank and minutes later, another explosion was heard near the stage.
While the police authorities have yet to arrest the perpetrators, they claim that vendatta could be the reason.
They claimed that the perpetrators could have staged the incident, using an improvised explosion devices of 81 mm mortar detonated through a cellular phone, after authorities arrested a high profile drug pusher or after an alleged group involved in the counterfeit activity was neutralized. (ROEL T. AMAZONA/RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)