By: SARWELL Q.MENIANO

TACLOBAN CITY – South Korean government will be spending $30 million (32 billion South Korean won) in its one-year reconstruction of government buildings in three typhoon-ravaged towns in Leyte.
Lt. Baek Myunghyun, public relations officer of the Korean joint support group deployed in Leyte, said they will prioritize the removal of storm debris and reconstruction of hospitals, public schools and municipal halls in the typhoon-stricken towns of Palo, Tanauan and Tolosa.
“This place needs immediate recovery.  As much as we like to help everyone, it’s difficult to address all the needs. Our focus is the repair of public facilities so that everyone could benefit,” Baek told Leyte Samar Daily Express.
The official said they immediately heeded the Philippine government’s request for aid, recognizing the country’s participation in the 1950s Korean War.
“The driving factor why we came here is the 7,500 Filipino youths who came to South Korea during the war where about 112 of them died. We want to return back to Filipino’s generosity,” Baek said.
The team, which called themselves “Araw” had brought with them 100 equipment, consisting of back hoes, pay loaders, military trucks, ambulance, buses and fumigation trucks. Heavy equipments arrived in Leyte on December 28, 2013 onboard the Korean Navy ship Sunginbong Birobong.
“To Korea, the Philippines is a friend nation and the first country to participate in the Korean War and helped us defend our freedom and peace,” he added.
The troops, composed of members of South Korean army, navy, air force and marines is now currently repairing the Leyte Provincial Hospital in Palo town and two schools in Tanauan and Tolosa. Construction officially started January 6 and will be completed by the end of the year.
“We’re working on an environment that is unfamiliar for us. We’re using construction materials and methods that are local. That one year mission is not definite. An extension may occur depending on the agreement between two governments. We’re still leaving that option open,” Baek said.
The troops opted to use local construction materials and methods to ensure the project will be continued by locals if in case they will not be able to finish the project after the mission.
The Korean team, which belongs to the first contingent, will stay in Leyte until June 2014. Another team will replace them in the middle of the year until December. The team is now building their base camp in Government Center in Palo, Leyte.
Aside from reconstruction activities, the troop will also conduct medical missions and hold cultural presentation to make the Filipinos familiar of Korean culture. “Our work here will reinforce the friendship of Filipinos and South Koreans,” Baek added.

By: EILEEN B. NAZARENO

TACLOBAN CITY-The entire clergy within the jurisdiction of the archdiocese of Palo will keep their current positions for now but will still be receiving their monthly standard living allowance(SLA) effective end January this year.
This development came amidst the local church’s great effort in having around 95% of all parishes that were left roofless and ravaged by supertyphoon Yolanda on November 8 repaired and renovated.
According to Fr. Amadeo Alvero, spokesman of the archdiocese, the many destructions and devastations caused by the supertyphoon to almost all the parishes of the within the archdiocese of Palo prompted Archbishop John Du to order the indefinite postponement of the reshuffle of priests.
The general re-assignment, which should have taken place this month, was directed deferred last year for reason that “the current priests are the ones who know well about the present situation of their respective parishes that were greatly affected by the disaster,” Alvero commented.
“They will be the ones who are in good position to do the disaster management in their parishes now,” surmising though that “perhaps next year when everything will be in normalcy, the reshuffling will be pursued,” he said.
While this archdiocesan program was momentarily deferred, the newest economic program initiated by Archbishop Du, which will benefit around 140 priests, will continue.
Alvero is optimistic that the SLA will certainly be given to the priests by end of this month. It amounts from P10,000 to 15,000 per month, as earlier reported.
In an earlier interview, he expressed his belief that by the decent allowance that priests will receive, they will be able to live a simple lifestyle, which is in keeping with Pope Francis’ call for priests to live a simple and austere lifestyle.”
“In this way, we will be united with our Pope in living a simple life worthy of being a minister of Christ, who lived a simple life while he was on earth,” Alvero remarked, adding that this will make priests focus more on their ministry than their personal economic concerns.”
For him, the release of the SLA this month will surely help all priests within the archdiocese who were largely affected by Yolanda.
While the archdiocese is ready to roll this economic package for the priests, it is likewise in the thick of finding resources that will help parishes, as well as other facilities of the local church, undergo the needed repair of damage created by the megastorm.
Immediately after the occurrence of supertyphoon Yolanda, the archdiocese created the disaster response committee that will now be a permanent council in the archdiocese. The committee is chaired by the archbishop with Msgr. Ben Catilogo as point person.
Alvero disclosed that the top priority of the archdiocese is its second phase of the disaster management, which is the rehabilitation and rebuilding of the structures not just of the church edifices and parish rectories, but also homes of the typhoon victims.
Major repairs are now being undertaken on the Metropolitan Cathedral of Palo, the Archbishop’s Residence and the two seminaries namely the St. John the Evangelist School of Theology and the Sacred Heart Seminary.

By: EILEEN NAZARENO-BALLESTEROS

TACLOBAN CITY- In spite of its being victim as well of the world’s strongest typhoon ever recorded in history that which hit Eastern Visayas on November 8 last year, the archdiocese of Palo, under the stewardship of Archbishop John Du still took on its Christian duty of helping people in this time of extreme necessity.
Ninety-five percent of church edifices and rectories within the archdiocese were initially calculated to have suffered the brunt of the supertyphoon Yolanda’s catastrophic strength.
This is besides the destruction went through by the very residence of the archbishop nestled atop a hill in Barangay Arado in Palo, Leyte and the two seminaries also located in same municipality, as well as the Metropolitan Cathedral of Palo where the Papal Nuncio Guiseppe Pinto and Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle celebrated mass on December 24 and November 28 respectively.
Notwithstanding this hardship, the archdiocese never failed to extend assistance to the people who sought refuge in the local church regardless of their religious belief.
The two seminaries, namely St. John the Evangelist School of Theology and Sacred Heart Seminary, and the Chancery of the Archdiocese, though partly damaged by the typhoon, served as evacuation centers for hundreds of families whose homes were destroyed by the typhoon. As of now, no evacuee was left in these religious institutions as work resumed and classes are to restart this week.
As of this time, the Archdiocesan Disaster Response Committee is advancing to the next phase of its outreach to the victims of the supertyphoon Yolanda. The archbishop will help pre-identified victims have their new homes in due time.
Largely, the help reached victims from hard hit areas, that is, Tacloban City, Palo, Tolosa, Tanauan, Mayorga, Sta. Fe and Alangalang towns. Almost of these areas have confirmed deaths due to Yolanda.
Fr. Oscar Florencio, erstwhile head of the Archdiocesan Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation Command Center before he decided to focus on his official concerns as rector of SJEST in Palo, said that the archdiocese will be constructing permanent houses for these victims.
He added that the church planned to donate a lot somewhere in Palo town for the resettlement of these carefully screened beneficiaries. The Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines and the Archdiocese of Manila will fund the undertaking.
Identifying the beneficiaries does not come easy for the archdiocese as many factors are being considered besides those specified by donors. The livelihood of the victims and the extent of damage suffered by their homes are also major concerns, according to Florencio.

By: LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA

BASEY,Samar- Heeding to an appeal by the United Nations  for continuous help to the typhoon -ravage Philippines, the Norwegian government has pledge to donate an additional $ 8 million dollars.
The new fresh aid had made Norway the third-biggest donors among the countries that extended financial assistance to the country. With the $ 8million, Norway’s total donation to the country has now reached to $43 million.
The new financial assistance to the country was announced by Borge Brende, Norway’s foreign minister who visited this town on January 10.
The Norwegian government believes that the first phase of dealing with the catastrophe is over and now  is the time to move  for early recovery phase where  houses, school and livelihood should be rebuilt said  Brende.
“We know that fishermen lost their boats, farmers lost their harvest  and coconut farmers are in a very bad situation  knowing that it will take a decade to grow those trees again” said Brende.
Brende revealed that their government has been very active in the emergency phase wherein they supported the Philippine government for the people to have clean water, they put up hospitals in coordination with international Red Cross, they coordinated with UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization to help farmers. The Norwegian government has also supported projects for the protection of women and children who are the most vulnerable, and in the early recovery they supported water and sanitation knowing that sanitation facilities were also damage by the typhoon.
Brende emphasized that their government wants to send a clear signal to the world that when their presence was felt in the emergency phase during catastrophe, they are also committed in rebuilding and they are hoping to build back better.
The Norwegian foreign affairs minister expressed his dismay that the second appeal of the UN for other countries to help Philippines only reach 40%, for their part the government has pledge an additional contribution of 8 million dollars making their total contribution to $43 million making their country the third biggest donor next to US and UK.
The Norwegian foreign affairs minister informed that the additional $ 8 million will be allocated to the best projects in building back better. Though he did not go into full details as to how the amount will be allocated for sure it is in support  for the early recovery and the recovery phase he said.

TACLOBAN CITY – Farmers in Leyte’s third district received vegetable seeds and fertilizers for them to restart after they were hit by supertyphoon Yolanda from the Department of Agriculture and Senator Cynthia Villar, who chairs the committee of agriculture at the Senate.
Farmers from the towns of Tabango, Calubian, Villaba and Leyte town received the assistance from Villar and agriculture official on January 13. Fishermen from the same towns also received fishing equipment from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).
Villar, joined by Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Emerson Palad and Assistant Sec.Ed de Luna, BFAR National Director Asis Perez and BFAR-8 Director Juan Albaladejo, Philippine Coconut Authority Assistant Director Joel Pilapil, distributed 10 motorized bancas, 500 bags of different vegetables and fruit seeds for backyard gardening which includes kang kong, cucumber, tomato, water melon and mass melon per town in the district.
They also distributed 10 bags of corn seeds of 18 kg /bag and 125 coconut seedlings, initial with entitlement and certificate of maximum 500 per farmer based on 100 coconut seedlings per 1 hectare from PCA.
Sen. Villar also distributed 500 food packs; 115 sacks of fertilizer and 400 corrugated sheets and two boxes of umbrella nails good for 100 families in each towns of the district. Each family will receive 4 pieces of GI sheets and half a kilo of nails.
The senator emphasized that what they have distributed was a continuous program of the DA wherein the department will continue to distribute vegetables seeds for inter -cropping while for coconut seeds an additional of more than 20,000 seedlings will be distributed for the next six months.
She also said that an additional number of motorized fishing boats are expected to be given to all fishermen within the next six months. (LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)