TACLOBAN CITY- Through a memorandum circular issued by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), local government units are enjoined to appoint and designate their local population officers as well as the mobilization of barangay and community officials and volunteers to support the National Program on Population and Family Planning (NPPFP).
The memorandum emphasizes the critical role of LGUs in ensuring the delivery of the full range of family planning information and services especially among the marginalized and undeserved population.
Commission on Population and Development VIII (Popcom VIII) Regional Director Elnora Pulma said that LGUs are their prime partners in ensuring that the NPPFP and other population management strategies can be effectively implemented in the respective locality.
“Population must be recognized as a principal element in long-range planning if the government is to achieve its economic goals and fulfill the aspirations of its people,” she said.
Creating a population office is not mandated, reason why several LGUs in the region do not have such an office or designated population officer.
However, with the memorandum circular issued, provinces, cities and municipalities without existing Local Population Office is mandated to designate local population officer or coordinator with a regular plantilla item.
Presently in Region 8, the provinces of Leyte and Samar have local population offices with population officers, while the other provinces have designated local population officers either under the Provincial Health Office or the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office.
Meanwhile, the seven cities in the region all have local population officers, four of which have created city population offices.
Municipalities in the region have yet to designate their own population officers or coordinators.
Under the DILG memo, among the roles and functions of the appointed or designated local population officer or coordinator include coordinating with local departments or offices including the barangays for the planning and conduct of critical strategies for the full implementation of the program on population and family planning which is community based.
Also, they need to mobilize community workers to map and locate couples and individuals with unmet need for family planning and conduct community-based demand generation and referral activities and sure provision of quality modern family planning information and services guided by the principle of informed choice and voluntarism.
The NPPFP was revitalized to address the challenge of addressing adequately the needs of the growing population in the country.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

PALO, Leyte – A health team called “health economics” of the Leyte Provincial Health Office (LPHO) that renders health services exclusively to farmers in this province has a budget of P2.5 million for this year, a report from the LPHO, based here, said.
Health officer Dr. Edgardo Daya told Leyte Samar in an interview that the “health economics” is in support to the Leyte Economics which is the convergence program of Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla started in 2015 for poverty alleviation and economic development in the countryside.
Daya explained that the health economics is a separate and distinct with the usual medical caravan of the province.
It is a team of 15 members divided into two groups headed by a doctor and the members are nurses, dentists, nutritionist and technical staff with own tasks during the provision of health services to Leyte farmers.
“This is not the usual medical caravan of the governor that render health services to the people of Leyte,” Daya said.
Daya further explained that the team renders health services solely to farmers, including their immediate family members, with memberships of the associations in the barangays.
The health team visits the identified farmer associations trained by the Provincial Agriculture Office in particular barangays in the 41 towns and 1 city in Leyte province, Daya said.
(RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)

TACLOBAN CITY-Police nabbed four persons for allegedly selling fake medicines here in the city Saturday (August 10).
The arrested suspects were identified as Gwen Aroa, 26; James Patric Perez, 23; Josan Enos Perez, 25; and Santiago Perez, 52.
The suspects, composed of sales agents and sales leader, were from Bulacan and Cavite, police said.
They were asked to present legal permits in relation to selling medicines but failed to present the documents.
The suspects will be facing charges in violation of RA 3720 as Amended by RA 9711 (Food and Drug Administration Act).
(RONALD O. REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY- A member of a Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu) was hurt after their detachment in Las Navas, Northern Samar was attacked by alleged members of the New People’s Army on Sunday (August 11) evening.
Wounded during the 9:30 pm attack was Rolando Obiado, Sr., who was hit at his foot during the firefight, reports reaching the regional headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP) based in Palo, Leyte.
Reports have indicated that the gun battle ensued after alleged NPA members attacked the Cafgu detachment in Barangay Poponton, Las Navas town.
The Cafgu members managed to fight back which resulted to a five-minute fire fight.
The rebel members, who were positioned 150 meters away from the detachment, fled after the fire fight.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

Born and raised in the rural area of Barangay Cabangkalan, Sta. Fe, Leyte and getting to grips with manual and conventional rice production was initially a “toxic job” for 51-year old Lorenzo C. Caca, Jr.
He used to hate the life his parents had brought them up as young kids.
Planting rice was no fun and life in the farm was difficult, especially since their one-hectare farm only produced 30 cavans. His father was a practitioner of conventional farming technology that “was a waste of time, money and effort”, recalls Lorenzo.
But he was not discouraged. Instead of leaving the farm, his sense of optimism provided hope that someday there would be change. He held on to his firm belief that someday he would learn better technology to improve his harvest with lesser efforts.
“As a child, I saw my father’s contentment even with just a 30-bag harvest from our one-hectare rice area,” Lorenzo muses. “I just came to realize that what we’ve been doing couldn’t provide any decent income to the family due to our very low harvests,” he disclosed.
One of every farmer’s biggest problems in rice production, is capital. Thus, when the Leyte government launched the MIC Rice (More Income in the Countryside thru Rural Infrastructure and Community Empowerment project, Lorenzo repeatedly borrowed money to defray the production cost for over four cropping seasons.
“This had helped me a lot in expanding my production area to ten hectares. These areas are family-owned, some are from my parents and the rest are on lease. These are situated in Brgys. Cabangkalan, Pilit and San Isidro all in the municipality of Sta. Fe,” he said.
Lorenzo, a father of two, is quite popular among fellow farmers in Leyte particularly in his hometown and nearby municipalities of Alangalang, Palo, Dagami, Burauen, Pastrana, Baybay and other towns in the first and second congressional districts.
Lorenzo has become a hybrid rice farmer producing more than 200 bags per hectare. He also diversified to other farm crops such as high-value vegetables and bananas, besides raising carabaos and swine.
He also became a licensed fertilizer and pesticide distributor, venturing into agri-supply business primarily to have ready access to agricultural inputs.
This self-made farmer owns Eleven Jay Fox Agri Supply in Sta. Fe. To cap his achievements in rice farming, he was adjudged as Most Outstanding Regional Hybrid Rice Farmer during the 2017 Gawad Saka Search conducted by the Department of Agriculture Regional Office 8 (Francis C. Rosaroso, RAFIS Chief)