MAASIN CITY – Governor Damian Mercado expressed his hope that the splitting of Southern Leyte will result to economic benefits to the province.
Mercado, who just won another fresh term during the May 13 midterm elections, was referring to the creation of another congressional district of the province which was principally authored by his brother, Rep. Roger Mercado.
The governor said that with two congressional districts, Southern Leyte could expect more funding from the national government.
Under Republic Act 11198, Southern Leyte’s 17 towns and Maasin City were divided into two congressional districts.
The first district is comprised of the capital Maasin City, and the towns of Macrohon, Padre Burgos, Malitbog, Tomas Oppus, Bontoc and the island town of Limasawa.
The towns of Sogod, Libagon, Liloan, San Francisco, Pintuyan, San Ricardo, Saint Bernard, Anahawan, San Juan, Hinundayan, Hinunangan, and Silago make up the second district.
The governor was also quick to say that the division of the province into two congressional district is not politically-motivated.
“The move to divide the province has nothing to do with politics because our main purpose was to ensure that more projects will come to help and benefits the residents of Southern Leyte,” Mercado added.
He added that once they have two representatives, these officials will now have enough time to visit all 500 barangays of the province.
At present, Rep. Mercado is on hold-capacity as representative of Southern Leyte in the Lower House.
“They say that an election will be held this November,” Gov. Mercado disclosed.
Southern Leyte province plays an important role in the inter-island transportation system of the country, with its two towns, Liloan and San Ricardo as main entry and exit point for roll-on, roll-off going to Mindanao Island.
An agricultural province, Southern Leyte is a top coconut and abaca fiber producer in the region. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- A five-storey building that will serve as the regional office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Region 8 is expected to rise in July next year, about 15 months from now or 450 calendar days.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the office building was held on May 29 at Barangay Diit, Tacloban City, the previous site of the office building which was heavily damaged by super typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.
In his message, Dr. Juan Albaladejo, BFAR regional director said, “With five years in the making, our dream of having a climate resilient and environment-friendly office building has finally become a reality. With our Typhoon Yolanda experience, we designed our building to become storm surge-proof, safe and with state-of-the-art design.”
“We want to get back to Barangay Diit because this is our original home and we want to build our dreams and hopes here, aside from being close to the sea,” he said.
He added that the five-storey building has a floor area of 5,000 square meters at 1,000 square meters per floor while the laboratory section will be located at the 5th floor and other facilities at the upper floors, making them safe from floods and other calamities.
It was learned that BFAR-8 was given a total budget of P260 million in February 2014 from the government’s savings intended for the Yolanda rehabilitation projects.
“Of the total budget, P189 million is allotted for the office building construction and the remaining amount is for the rehabilitation of BFAR facilities like the surveillance and monitoring building and other facilities in Guiuan,” Albaladejo said.
The BFAR official also disclosed that its office has a lot of equipment donated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that are temporarily housed in Guiuan, Eastern Samar.
Some of these equipment will be transferred to Tacloban upon completion of the building.
Director Albaladejo also bared that his office will be engaging more projects with JICA like tooling and post-harvest facilities, to cater to the needs of mariculture.
A breathing area will also be provided for the safekeeping of the boats used in law enforcement, in times of inclement weather.
Meanwhile, Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) Officer-in-Charge for Technical Services Department, Danilo Axalan said the project, which is a joint venture of PFDA and BFAR, was bidded out in 2018 but was only awarded February this year for some technical reasons.
The contractors for the project, according to Axalan, are the Penacle and Pacific Summit, same contractors awarded for the construction of the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC), who are expected to deliver the project efficiently, effectively and within the given timeline.
“Our office, the PFDA and BFAR will jointly supervise and monitor the implementation of the project as we are partners in fisheries management. In this collaboration, BFAR takes charge of the marine resources to include inland waters such as fishponds, while PFDA provides the needed facilities like the fishing docks for the fishing vessels, market halls, among others, to ensure good quality of fishery products,” Axalan said.
The groundbreaking rite was led by the BFAR Director and Assistant Director themselves, with the presence of PFDA and NEDA officials, and a representative from the Pacific Summit. (LDL/GTT/PIA-8, Leyte)

PALO, Leyte – The Philippine National Police (PNP) here in Eastern Visayas continue on their advocacy on anti-bullying in schools.
With the start of the school year on Monday(June 3), Police Regional Office 8 Deputy Regional Director for Administration Brigadier General Ariel Arcenas said that policemen are not only after ensuring that children are safe in going to their schools but are safe while staying inside their school campuses and classrooms.
Arcenas said that they are regularly conducting their information drive among students on the negative effects of bullying to victims and even to those who are behind the bullying.
“We are asking people, especially our students, to refrain bullying others because it is not good,” Arcenas said.
Under Section 2 of Republic Act 10627 or the “Anti-Bullying Act of 2013” it states that bullying refers to any severe or repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal or electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture directed at another student that has the effect of actually causing or placing the latter in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm or damage to his property; creating a hostile environment at school for the other student; infringes the rights of the other student at school; or materially and substantially disrupts the education process or the orderly operation of a school.
“We are recommending that the school authorities should act to it first then inform us so we can also react accordingly. If this involves underage children this should be take can by schools and our social welfare workers,” Arcenas said.
More than 1.27 million students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 returned back to their schools on Monday for school year 2019-2020, based on the record of the regional office of the Department of Education.
Of these number 301, 529 are learners who avail the early registration of DepEd conducted in January which targeted Kindergarten, Grade 1, 7, 11 and transferee.
There are 110, 845 learners are in kindergarten, 615,814 are in elementary, 405, 521 are in junior high school while 138, 540 are in senior high school, for his school year.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

MAASIN CITY – The construction of multi-million high-rise school building in Liloan National Technical Vocational High School is now up and running in a bid to address shortage of classrooms in Liloan, Southern Leyte, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) field office here reported.
The 3-storey school building currently being constructed will have 15 classrooms equip with comfort rooms, emergency exits, and fire protection facilities. It has an allocation of P46 million funded under last year’s Basic Education Facilities Fund (BEFF) of the Department of Education.
Based on the recent project inspection conducted by DPWH Southern Leyte engineers, ongoing works in the site include pouring of concrete for the tie beam as well as fabricating and placing of steel bars for the beams.
Liloan National Technical Vocational High School, with over 1,000 students, is one of the national high schools of the government carrying out the implementation of the K to 12 program.
“The school building granted to Liloan National Technical Vocational High School aims to cater the increasing number of enrollees here particularly in the Senior High School program. This new school building will be the venue for technical laboratory and workshops that would equip students with technical and vocational skills necessary for future employment,” said DPWH Southern Leyte District Engineer Ma. Margarita Junia.
Junia said the project started on December 3, 2018 and is targeted to be completed on February 3, 2020. She added, the DPWH has been regularly monitoring civil works and is optimistic that the school building will be finished earlier than the set completion date.
“The DepEd in a joint effort with the infrastructure agency will remain relentless in implementing school building projects necessary for educational development,” Junia said. (PR/FMMT)

BY: MARILOU N.GO

Higatangan Island is a part of Naval Municipality that is separated by a narrow channel located in the north west tip of Leyte.
The name Higatangan is derived from the word “atangan” meaning to wait for. Old folks say that the place was where the pirates ambush approaching ships laden with goods and also the place where the Moros lay in wait for their enemies going to Sumbul (Naval).
The island has several white beaches and blessed with exotic rock formations.
From the town of Mabini, which was named in memory of Apolinario Mabini, there is a 200-meter white sand bar that stretches out like a giant tongue. Because the current surrounding the sand bar is strong, some people lost their lives, some attribute this as “alay-buhay” to placate the gods.
The unnaturally beautiful rock formations along the south coast were said to be home to supernatural beings. There were cases that a sudden big wave or a gush of wind rock the boat when passengers were being noisy.
President Marcos temporarily took refuge during WWII on this little island, that’s why the highest point on the island (46m) is still called Marcos Hill to this day and a light house is erected on it to guide boat men.
It is said that this is where Marcos received his divine sign that he was destined to be a president of the Philippines.
The truth behind his stay is a source of controversy for the Biliranons. The long held belief was that it was Fidel Limpiado, member of a prominent clan who hid Marcos and his companions against the Japanese patrollers.
However, Professor Rolando Borrinaga, a known Philippine historian disproves that story. His long and arduous research give way to the fact that it was a simple skipper named Man Dising from Caray-Caray Biliran, who helped Marcos in hiding.
NOTE: The author is he teacher-in-charge of the Tag-abaca Elementary School in Leyte, Leyte)

The Kabit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi CIDSS) uses Community-Driven Development as an strategy wherein the people have direct control over the decisions and resources in their community.
It is through their involvement that they can become empowered citizens which leads to an improved local governance and poverty reduction.
In Barangay Poblacion 9, Llorente Eastern Samar, it has been the hope of community to lessen the unsafety the dark street brings.
According to Lisa Gade, a community volunteer, it poses fear and danger to the residents because of accounts of theft and violent incidents. Ms. Gade attested, “Before, the street was so dark that it invited theft, violence and accidents. And I have been a witness to those unfortunate situations.”
Aside from that, it is accounted that 40 per cent of the labor force in the barangay was affected due to this dim place. Affected were people which ’padyak’ was the source of income and those who sell barbeque and the like during night time. Only a few people patronized because they were afraid to go out at night due to theft and violent incidents in that place.
It is no doubt that the community identified a solar street light in the Kalahi CIDSS LGU-led implementation. Only 11 of all 33 barangays were prioritized during their Municipal Development Council-Participatory Resource Allocation (MDC-PRA) to use the Kalahi CIDSS pure grant of P7, 052, 150. Brgy.Poblacion Nine was not included in the prioritization as it ranked 13th.
But the LGU Llorente allocated a fund of P1 million to be shared by the remaining barangays. Only two Brgy Poblacion 9 and Brgy Poblacion 11 were able to avail it. Barangay Pob. 9 got the P294, 473 for their identified streetlight intervention project.
Though the fund is purely from the Local Government Unit, its preparation and implementation followed the Community-Driven Development (CDD) process.
The local government unit of Llorente believed so much in the CDD process because of the community from planning to implementation and maintenance.
Some 186 households are now enjoying the seven-unit solar street light which helps them have a safer place and better opportunities.
This only shows how DSWD Kalahi CIDSS heightened the partnership of community and local government unit in addressing the most pressing need of the community. (PR)