CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, Leyte- At least four women and a man were arrested by police operatives of this city after they claimed to be members of the Philippine National Police(PNP) last November 29.
The suspects, identified as JM Piolo Leuterio, 18; Romilyn Cerida, 28; Sheryll Dugay, 37; Angelica Daban, 38; and May Ann Canona, 29, were arrested while they were applying for a loan before a lending agency.
However, the personnel of the Lils Lending Shop called up the Office of the Regional Personnel and Human Resource Development Division of the PNP-8, based here, to check if the five accused were indeed members of the police organization.
It turned out that the suspects were not members of the police organization reason why they were arrested by the city police led by Chief Inspector Alex Echon at about 4:50 pm.
It was learned that the suspects identified themselves as police officers holding the rank of police officer 1.
Leuterio claimed to be PO1 Eliazar Barbaje; Cerida as PO1 Ma. Mae Dumas; Dugay as PO1 Christine Varquez; Daban as PO1 Zarah Jane Dizon; and Canona as PO1 Christita Viovicente.
All are residents of the city and now detained at the Tacloban Police Station 1 and were charged for usurpation of authority. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY – Concerned with traffic woes, the city government here has temporarily converted five more streets in downtown area into one-way streets.
Traffic Operation Management Enforcement and Control Office(Tomeco) head Emmanuel Naval said the new traffic scheme takes runs from December 1 to end of February next year.
“The temporary conversion is part of the ongoing study by the University of the Philippines National Center for Traffic Studies (UPNCTS) to aid the city in coming up with permanent solution to the traffic situation,” Naval told reporters in a press briefing Friday(December 1).
Temporarily designated as one-way roads are Juan Luna, Paterno, Sto. Niño, Del Pilar, and Salazar Streets.
The city has been implementing one-way traffic scheme in four major highways since 2014 when authorities noticed the increasing number of vehicles after super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ struck the city in 2013.
Major thoroughfares in the capital of Eastern Visayas region have been used by thousands of vehicles daily, including the 2,000 registered motorcycles- for- hire.
“The night population of Tacloban is 270,000 and in the daytime, we have a population of more than 900,000. So many come to the city in the morning and that is why the traffic in the city is confounded,” said city information officer Bernardita “Bering” Valenzuela.
Valenzuela observes that number of cars in the city have been rising recently due to the significantly low promotional car plans being offered to the public.
The traffic scheme is expected to mitigate the traffic predicament especially this holiday season, according to the official.
Tacloban is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the country. It serves as the regional center of Eastern Visayas. According to the 2015 census, Tacloban has a population of 242,089, making it the most populous city in the region. (SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)

ORMOC CITY- A drunk man killed his neighbor in one of the villages here after he reportedly got irked from the barking of a dog owned by the victim.
Killed was Apolonio Montesclaros,59 and a resident of Barangay Ipil who sustained multiple wounds from an 18-inches knife used by the suspect.
Supt. Reynaldo Torlao, chief of police station 1, said that based on their investigation, the suspect, Sonny Teves,42 and also from the same village, was seen running outside the house of the victim when the dog of the latter barked at him.
This could have irritated Teves who threw some sand to the dog.
The victim confronted Teves, who was under the influence of liquor, and asked him to leave the dog.
Instead, the suspect attacked Montesclaros and engaged him in a fight until both reached inside the house of the victim.
Montesclaros, who managed to hit the victim using a knife, was stabbed several times by Teves using his 18-inches knife.
The gruesome incident was witnessed by the victim’s wife, Teresita and their four grandchildren.
Teves immediately fled after the incident, leaving the victim dead.
It was learned that Teves went to the house of his brother who also lives in the same village.
But the brother of the suspect was able to get out from his house which resulted for Teves to chase him, ending at outside the house of Montesclaros.
After an hour, Teves was arrested by the police and is now detained facing murder and frustrated charges.
(ELVIE ROMAN ROA)

PALO, Leyte- Chief Supt. Gilberto Cruz, the police regional director, said that he has a good working relationship with the members of the media, contrary to some claims of discrimination against other members of the media in the region.
Cruz said that since he assumed his post, he has been open with the members of the media and he is not discriminating any media workers.
“There’s no conflict, maybe they (just) misinterpreted it. If there is a conflict between media and the PNP, you will not be here,” the police regional director said, referring to the media who were interviewing him.
The alleged discrimination issue stemmed from a recent directive from the PNP-8 headquarters seeking accreditation for members of the media before they could be allowed to have an interview with any police officials.
However, some media people claimed that this directive, issued by Supt. Felidolfo Enoviso who heads the Regional Police Community Relations of the PNP-8, is a form of media harassment.
Cruz said that this media accreditation should not be interpreted as a media suppression saying it is just part of their internal protocol as mandated under their manuals issued in 2012.
Incidentally, despite this claim by certain media workers, they still manage to interview Cruz and other police officials in the region.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

Could result to increase of water rates?

TACLOBAN CITY- The Leyte Metropolitan Water District (LMWD) may just become a private entity, a move strongly opposed by its employees saying it could result to increase of water rates, among others.
Next month, a bidding for the privatization of the LMWD will be held in Manila with three big private companies said to have signified their interest to join the bidding on the hope to take over one of the biggest water companies in the region.
This plan, however, is being opposed by the members of the Leyte Metropolitan Water District Employees Association (LMWDEA).
But Tess Pascua, information officer of the LMWD, said that what the management will be undertaking is not privatization per se but PPP or public-private partnership which she said is being encouraged by the government.
In a position paper, obtained by Leyte Samar Daily Express, the group claims that the privatization of the LMWD will result in a higher water rate and will not automatically translate to a better service.
At present, consumers of the LMWD pay P148.50 per 10 cubic meters, the minimum of consumption.
The LMWDEA, headed by Rolando Mercado, also said that the privatization will also result to massive lay off among the agency’s more than 400 employees.
“Privatization limits public accountability. Private corporations are responsible only to their stockholders and not to the people they serve,” the group said on their position paper.
A privatized LMWD will also result in lack of transparency, thus the people it supposed to serve could not immediately demand to know the policies that the agency will impose to their detriment, the group said.
The group also demanded from the current management of LMWD, headed by Engr.Pastor Homeres, to provide them the financial status of LMWD as they are claiming that the agency is on the brink of bankruptcy reason why they are selling it to a private company.
The LMWD has incurred a loan of P1.2 billion from the Land Bank in 2013.
The LMWDEA also claimed that the LMWD management is not collecting fees to several establishments owned by the provincial government, to include a private hotel, that runs into millions of pesos.
The general manager and members of the board of directors of LMWD are all appointed by the provincial government.
Pascua, in a mobile phone interview, said that she could not yet make any comment on the allegations of the LMWDEA saying these still remains ‘premature.’
“But on allegations that we are not collecting fees from some of the provincial offices, it’s not true. We are collecting them like what we do with other government offices but admittedly, they are paying not on time,” she said.
Based on the records of LMWD, as of 2016, it is serving 33,671 concessionaires coming from the towns of Palo, Tanauan, Sta. Fe, Tolosa, Dagami, Tabon-Tabon and Pastrana and the city of Tacloban.
At present, LMWD is considered a government-owned and controlled corporation and placed under the Civil Service Commission and the Commission on Audit.