BORONGAN CITY- Residents in Barangay Anislag, Quinapondan, Eastern Samar are now experiencing faster delivery of their products with the completion of the farm-to-market road (FMR) with cheaper transportation cost.
Brgy. Anislag is 6.40 km from Quinapondan town proper is nestled on a hilly and mountainous area.
“For so long ago, farmers used to travel by foot or carabao with their farm products. In the early 90’s, there already existed a gravel road. Residents travelled by motorcycle and tricycle with more or less 45 minutes to one hour from Brgy. Anislag,” farmer Rolly Pagadora said.
He said when the road was really in a poor condition, the farmers spent so much time in delivering their products so that they needed to transport their cargoes twice: first, by carabao and then by motorcycle.
“After we harvested our crops such as vegetables, root crops, bananas and coconuts, we had difficulty in selling them because the hauling cost was too expensive. We endured high transportation cost and long travel time that greatly affected the quality of our products and our income,” said Pagadora.
“These were some of our struggles until the Subsidiary Grant Agreement (SGA) came bringing the road concreting project to Quinapondan town and to our poor barangay,” he said.
The national government secured a financial contribution in the form of a grant from the Federal Republic of Germany under the Financing and Project Agreement (FPA) between the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the LGU of Quinapondan through SGA under the Yolanda Reconstruction Program (YRP), said Marites Servano, the municipal planning and development coordinator.
Under this agreement, P40 million came from SGA and P10 million from LGU Quinapondan as counterpart fund or equity.
“Because of the completion of the 4.5 km FMR with a bridge, the travel time now is only 20 minutes to 25 minutes and delivery of our farm products to the market is easier,” Barangay Councilor Linda Baston said.
She thanked the national government, Federal Republic of Germany, and LGU Quinapondan because of the positive changes brought by the project implemented in their area.
The FMR with bridge did not only benefit the farmers but also the high school students when going to school from Barangay Anislag to Quinapondan, the village councilor said.
(NBQ/SDC/PIA-EASTERN SAMAR)

TACLOBAN CITY- Alfred Romualdez, former mayor of this city, finds himself back in the game of politics after three years.
In an exclusive interview, Romualdez who is running unopposed as mayor of this city in this year’s midterm elections, discussed his platforms and advocacies on his political comeback.
When asked about his political agenda, the former mayor talked about the need to restudy ordinances especially the old ones which are no longer applicable to present times and conditions.
Romualdez, who was Tacloban’s mayor for nine years ending in 2016, also emphasized the necessity of manpower and technical people to come in and work for the government since it’s hard to convince career people to work for the city because most of them prefer to work in private sectors where they are able to acquire better compensation.
In relation to his political comeback, since it has been three years after his last term, a lot has happened within that period of time.
This 2019, Romualdez is leaning towards a clean, good, and effective governance.
“In any endeavor, in any challenges, always do your best. In my part, I think I did my best.” (KIARA ALER, THEA MENDOZA, ALMIRA MIRALLES, STUDENT INTERNS, ST.THERESE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION OF TACLOBAN, INC.)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Biliran Electric Cooperative (Bileco) has tentatively set the operation of the Higatangan microgrid system on March 8.
This was disclosed by Bileco general manager Gerardo Oledan who said that the project will provide a 24-hour uninterrupted power supply from the previous 5-hours a day to this island that has two villages with more than 600 residents.
“Bileco has conducted the testing and commissioning of the microgrid system last January 24 and doing full observation with regards to stability,” Oledan said.
“The plant will undergo more testing and observation for a week to ensure reliability and stability of the plant before the formal inauguration tentatively scheduled on March 8,” the Bileco general manager added.
The inauguration is expected to be graced by local government officials of Naval, Department of Energy, National Electrification Administration and representatives from the South Korean government.
The electric cooperative also hopes that the project will bring more development to Higatangan Island.
The project started in October 27, 2017 after Bileco received the donation proposal from the ELT Co. Ltd and from the South Korean government.
Bileco then comply all the necessary documents for the project including the purchase of lot in the amount of P1.5 million as part of its counterpart for the project.
The donated micro-grid project has a total cost of P15.21 million consisting of the following equipment: 10-KW power solar panel photovoltaic, 50-KW power control system, 50-KV diesel generator, and 20-KWH plus 16-KWH extra energy storage system.
Higatangan Island is famous among tourists for its shifting sand bar. The island is surrounded with white sand beaches and its water is ideal for swimming snorkeling and diving. There is also portion of the island with rock formations and best site for cliff diving.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- All six provinces of the region and its seven cities, to include Tacloban City, its only highly urbanized city, passed the 2018 Good Financial Housekeeping’ being bestowed by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) among local government units.
Meantime, 120 municipalities also received same recognition from the DILG.
Eastern Samar provincial administrator George Erroba said they are elated about the latest recognition from DILG, adding that the administration of acting Governor Marcelo “Dindo” Picardal is on the “right track” in pushing transparency and good governance under his banner program “Proyekto 25”.
“We want Eastern Samar to rise. For so long a time, we’ve been part of the list of poorest provinces in the country. It’s the challenge under our Gov. Picardal. This is the reason why he’s doing everything for the inclusive solution through ‘Proyekto 25’ for the province to be out from the list of poorest provinces,” said Erroba.
Under the administration of Picardal, Erroba said that province’s “Proyekto 25” focuses on the development of agri-fishery, tourism, health, and good governance to lower the poverty incidence of 46.3 percent of the province into 25 percent.
Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez also said he is pleased with the passing of Ormoc and congratulated Vice Mayor Leo Carmelo “Toto” Locsin, the councilors, and the city workers “for a job well done.”
According to the mayor, the city’s passing rate belied the claims of his detractors that Ormoc City Hall is mismanaged.
Meanwhile, Maasin City Mayor Nacional Mercado said that the recognition shows that the city government “is utilizing government resources for the benefit of the people.”
“Passing DILG’s good financial housekeeping shows that we’ve done the correct planning and implementation of our resources by following the proper process and procedures set by Commission on Audit (COA) on procurement,” Mercado said.
Other passers for the provincial level are Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, Southern Leyte, and Biliran provinces.
For the cities, the other passers are Borongan, Baybay, Tacloban, Calbayog, and Catbalogan.
The list of passers under the municipal level includes:
Biliran: Almeria, Biliran, Caibiran, Culaba, Kawayan, Maripipi, and Naval.
Northern Samar: Biri, Bobon, Capul, Catarman, Catubig, Gamay, Laoang, Lapinig, Las Navas, Lavezares, Mapanas, Mondragon, Palapag, Pambujan, Rosario, San Antonio, San Isidro, San Jose, San Roque, San Vicente, Silvino Lobos, Victoria, and Lope de Vega.
Samar: Almagro, Basey, Calbiga, Daram, Gandara, Hinabangan, Marabut, Motiong, Pinabacdao, San Sebastian, Sta. Margarita, Sta. Rita, Sto. Nino, Tarangan, Villareal, Paranas, San Jorge, and Pagsanghan.
Southern Leyte: Anahawan, Hinunangan, Hinundayan, Libagon, Liloan, Macrohon, Malitbog, Padre Burgos, Pintuyan, San Juan, San Ricardo, Silago, Sogod, Tomas Oppus, and Limasawa.
Eastern Samar: Arteche, Balangiga, Balangkayan, Can-avid, Dolores, General MacArthur, Giporlos, Guiuan, Hernani, Jipapad, Llorente, Maslog, Maydolong, Oras, Quinapondan, Salcedo, San Julian, San Policarpio, Sulat, and Taft.
Leyte: Abuyog, Alangalang, Albuera, Babatngon, Barugo, Bato, Burauen, Calubian, Capoocan, Carigara, Dagami, Dulag, Hilongos, Hindang, Inopacan, Jaro, Javier, Julita, Kananga, La Paz, Leyte, MacArthur, Mahaplag, Matag-ob, Matalom, Mayorga, Merida, Palo, Palompon, San Isidro, San Miguel, Tabango, Tabontabon, Tanauan, Tunga, and Villaba.
As of its January 25 report, DILG said only 86 percent of the LGUs in the country have passed the good financial housekeeping standards. Of the 1, 715 LGUs they assessed, only 1, 470 have passed their standards. (RONALD O.REYES)