TACLOBAN CITY-To empower the marginalized farmers with updated agricultural farm technology on high value crops so that they can produce a bountiful harvest even on a limited space, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) commits to continue the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmers Training (KSK-FT) that the SM Foundation has implemented in Tanauan, Leyte. The DSWD committed that they will continue what they have started in Tanauan using their own module under their livelihood program, Neny Regino of the SM Foundation said. She also said that the livelihood program of the DSWD has a module on social preparation which includes teaching the farmers on how to sell their products and handle their money. The DSWD has helped the SM Foundation to enhance their livelihood programs such as the social preparation in the farmers training. Before, The SM Foundation does not have any partnership with the DSWD but now that they joined the foundation in this endeavor. “We have realized that the social preparation is a big help to the program” Regino said.
She emphasized that without the DSWD, the social preparation will not be included in their program. “The farmers must know not just the proper way of planting but also the right way of selling their production and handling their money,” Regino said. With the module on social preparation of the DSWD, Regino said that their farmer- beneficiaries under the KSK-TF has become more interested for they will know many things not just planting and harvesting. On the other hand, the SM Foundation has coordinated with the local government unit of Tanauan to help the 108 farmer-beneficiaries under the program in finding business establishment that will buy their agricultural products that they will produce. The KSK-FT is a program the will provides farmers with more effective ways of producing high yielding fruits and vegetables. The program is much like backyard farming, only it is enhanced by new technology to produce better results. It is a 12-step program that teaches farmers seed culture and propagation, irrigation and fertilizer application, among other skills. The KSK-FT is a joint undertaking of SM Foundation with the private sector and government agencies. (RYAN GABRIEL LLOSA ARCENAS)
PALO, Leyte-Janelle Bonse, 9 and a Grade IV student expressed her gladness that she and her classmates at the San Joaquin Elementary School would now occupy a new classroom. “It is nice to study inside a classroom and inside a tent,” Bonse said. The new classroom to be occupied by Bonse and her classmates was part of the 11-classrooms building donated by Senator Cynthia Villar and Frances Ann Petilla, wife of Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla. The two donors raised P3.9 million to construct the classrooms at the San Joaquin Elementary School, among the public schools of Palo that sustained severe damages due to supertyphoon Yolanda. Bonse lost her mother, Lilia, 43, due to the storm surge that destroyed one of the classrooms of said school where they evacuated. Her mother’s body was found hours after the typhoon stopped and is now one of the hundreds of those who perished the typhoon buried at the grounds of the nearby San Joaquin Church on Barangay San Joaquin. “I will make good of my studies as I promised to my late mother,” Bonse said. She finished on the top of her class during her Grade III. Sen. Villar said that it is imperative to repair the school buildings damaged or destroyed by Yolanda to ensure that school children would have a better and conducive environment. “It is very important that the students go back to the return to their classrooms,” the senator said. She said that the money that she used in donating for the construction of the classrooms came from her personal funds as a senator, she no longer has her share on pork barrel or priority development assistance fund (PDAF). School principal Liberato Cobacha said that he could not contain his happiness that Sen. Villar and Petilla donated classrooms to their school. At present, the school has 390 enrollment with 17 classrooms. (JOEY A. GABIETA)
THANKSGIVING. Residents of this city and those coming from other areas hit by Yolanda are to pay their homage and thanksgiving to Senior Santo Niño as his feast day to be celebrated on June 30. Tacloban, the ground zero of Yolanda, is to celebrate its 125th fiesta on that day.(LITO A. BAGUNAS)
THANKSGIVING. Residents of this city and those coming from other areas hit by Yolanda are to pay their homage and thanksgiving to Senior Santo Niño as his feast day to be celebrated on June 30. Tacloban, the ground zero of Yolanda, is to celebrate its 125th fiesta on that day.(LITO A. BAGUNAS)
TACLOBAN CITY-Amidst ardent strides to rise above the adversities that came along the unprecedented devastation caused by supertyphoon Yolanda on November 8 last year, Taclobanons and other devotees of Señor Sto. Niño de Tacloban gathers once more to fete the 125th feast of their heavenly patron. Archbishop John Du will lead the faithful of the Pontifical Concelebrated Mass on the feast day, June 30, while Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, his predecessor, will be the main celebrant in the concelebrated Pontifical Mass on the vesper. The masses will be held at the Rizal Park where a temporary makeshift was put up as the Santo Nino Church is undergoing repair. The church sustained major damages during the onslaught of Yolanda. “This year’s fiesta celebration will be like no other celebrations in recent years,” according to the Sto. Niño Parish priest Rev. Msgr. Alex Opiniano. “Apparently, super typhoon Yolanda left the people with no reason at all to celebrate. How could one, having been forced to live in harsh and difficult conditions even entertain the idea of a festivity, especially those practically left with nothing or worst those who lost their loved ones?,” Opiniano said. He further remarked that with what the people have gone through after the great devastation, they are in the best position to focus on the most important reason of the celebration – God and His love, minus the trimmings and distractions that blind us from attending to the essentials of the celebration.” Yolanda , which for a while crippled the local economy and put in standstill the lives of thousands of residents in Tacloban and nearby towns, left a deep scar in the emotions and mental disposition of the survivors and posed a great test not just on their resilience but the steadfastness of their spiritual faith as well. The religious fervor is one most vulnerable in this catastrophic experience that no human would dare facing in life. “There is so much to thank the beloved Señor Sto. Niño for, one is our presence (in the novena mass), meaning we survived the typhoon, and for all the other blessings that we have been receiving,” Sto. Niño Parish co-pastor Rev. Fr. Isagani Petilos said in his opening prayer at the well-attended first day novena mass on June 20. Rev. Fr. Amadeo Alvero considers this year’s celebration of the fiesta to be more meaningful especially among the parishioners who were saved from the storm that killed thousands of residents including those residing within the Sto. Niño Parish. This blessing of being saved is reason enough for the people to join the local church in thanking the Heavenly Patron through the masses, he said. Maritess Magno, a young mother of three, needed to evacuate to the Sto. Niño Church with her children a day before the typhoon was expected to hit Tacloban City. Her husband was left to tend to family’s belonging in their house in Brgy. 37 Reclamation Area, one of the hard-hit areas of the typhoon. She along with other evacuees in the social hall of the parish did not escape the torrents of the seawater that gushed inland to about a kilometer from the shores. She claimed the heavens including Sr. Sto. Niño de Tacloban heard their prayer and saved all of them, who needed to immediately transfer to the nearby Rizal Central School for safety. Though very much worried, Magno prayed even more intensely for the safety of her husband. Meantime, Magno and her family are housed in a small building located beside the stage of the Plaza Rizal which now serves as the altar of the Sto. Niño Church, while the repair of the church edifice is underway. Her ordeal and the survival of her family has drawn them nearer to God and fortified their faith in the Sto. Niño, whom the people of Leyte consider as their Heavenly Protector. This year’s fiesta theme bears the theme of the universal Roman Catholic Church which is “Laity: Called to be Saints… Sent forth as Heroes.” Fr. Alvero exhorted that the celebration of the fiesta is one way of leading the lay people towards saintly life and be heroes in their family and the society, manifesting such saintliness even in their social activities. “The Sto. Niño could lead you to be honest, even if others are not, and make a difference (in the community) as a Christian, meaning in you social life” he said.
TACLOBAN CITY – Yolanda survivors in Leyte have accessed P26.64 million worth of benefits through legal assistance provided by the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS). Lawyer Enrico Asis, area coordinator of the Access to Benefits and Claims after Disaster (ABCD), a major undertaking of IDEALS, said that thousands of families have been provided legal documents which are prerequisite to avail services. “For those people who have been enjoying their rights to education, jobs and housing, we cannot quantify the value of benefits to them,” Asis said in a press briefing. Among the benefits availed by storm survivors were claims from the Government Service Insurance System and insurance firms, loans from the Department of Trade and Industry and Social Security System, shelter assistance from donors, notarization, affidavits and deeds of contracts. Primarily, the NGO has provided legal representation to 140 displaced workers of a luxury hotel, workers of a furniture shop and a farmer’s group. Since December 2013, IDEALS and other international humanitarian organizations have been supporting lawyers in Leyte to carry out the legal mission project in villages where all legal documents were either blown away or swept away by Yolanda’s fierce winds and storm surges. “It all started with a single text I sent to my friends in November asking for office supplies for us to serve their legal needs. That text reached IDEALS and they have started supporting us,” said lawyer Ronan Christian Reposar, who has been practicing environmental law for a decade, before joining the legal aid advocate. He recalled that after the typhoon struck, almost all the people lost their identification cards, bank cards, certificate of ownership, civil registry documents and other papers that would establish their identity. “The need for legal services was enormous, yet some lawyers left the province and many law offices were badly damaged. We used all available resources left to provide legal assistance, even using pens and papers to produce affidavits,” Reposar recalled. Reposar and Asis are just two of the 10 lawyers hired by IDEALS to implement the ABCD project in badly-hit areas in Leyte and Samar. They are backed by 27 paralegals, tasked to draft affidavits, contracts and other documents. “This project changed the impression of poor families about the lawyer profession. They thought their services are very expensive, but the project provided it for free. Basically, we helped in pump priming the profession. It takes a lot of sacrifice for a lawyer to waive service fees,” said Edgardo Ligon, IDEALS executive director. Pamela Palma of Oxfam, one of the humanitarian organizations supporting ABCD, has seen the value for money of their P4 million assistance to the project. “P26 million is just an amount of money. We don’t know exactly the value of assistance and long term benefits to a child entering a classroom and family owning a new house,” Palma added. (PR)
TACLOBAN CITY- A seminar on water sanitation and hygiene promotion was initiated by the Plan International called “Post -Haiyan Rehabilitation Community Project,” on June 18. The meeting focused on teaching, particularly the sanitation and hygiene committee involving at least 10 participants from Barangays 62 and 62-A in Anibong District, this city. Plan International Wash Specialist, Mel Malgazon said that they are to teach the importance of handwashing, proper usage of toilet and drinking safe water among residents of the two villages, among the hardest-hit areas in Tacloban during the onslaught of super typhoon Yolanda on November 8,2013. In addition, he identified diarrhea as one of the most common problems in the two barangays. In addressing with this case he advised every household to exercise the proper water sanitation. (JELLY CARAAN, LNU Intern)
Governor Jose Ong, Jr. lead in the celebration of the 49th founding anniversary of Northern Samar as he urged the people to join him on his endeavor to improve the economic condition of one of the country’s depressed provinces.(TITO TEPACE)
Governor Jose Ong, Jr. lead in the celebration of the 49th founding anniversary of Northern Samar as he urged the people to join him on his endeavor to improve the economic condition of one of the country’s depressed provinces.(TITO TEPACE)
CATARMAN, Northern Samar- Governor Jose Ong, Jr. led the 49th founding anniversary of the province with series of activities lined up to enliven up the celebration. This year’s founding theme “One Province, One People, reshaping the future through Change,” underscores the effort of the administration of Gov. Ong to improve not only the living condition of the people but the image of the province, one of the most depressed in the country. The founding celebration of Northern Samar, which falls on June 19 coinciding with the 66th birthday of the governor, was highlighted with series of activities lined up starting with a morning program held at the New Capitol Building on June 16 with all the municipal flags of the province’s 24 towns raised. In his anniversary message, Gov. Ong congratulated the people of the province as he urged them to work hand on hand with his administration to bring change in the province. “An selebrasyon mas nga magigin maupay kun an ngatanan nga Nortihanun makakaupod ta san selebrasyon, kay para siton nga more than 50% nga nagkukuri waray kahulugan ini nga selebrasyon kun waray pinanganga-on sin tulo ka beses san kada adlaw. So mao iton an mas dako nga aton hirimuon nga an kakuri-an san probinsiya maibanan basi mas maupay an pag selebrar sini nga anibersaryo. No matter how much we celebrate, we can’t make it meaningful if we can’t bring difference in the life of our poor or majority of Nortihanun. For me, the most important task is to make our province more progressive and reduce poverty specially that we are going to celebrate the golden anniversary of the province (next year),” the governor said. Figure 1 The Festival Parade from Capitol Ground to down town Catarman main streets end at Freedom Park. A Mass was held at the Ibabao Hall of the provincial capitol building followed by a festival parade with the participants coming from various sectors and groups in attendance. At the same venue, a “solidarity lunch” participated by municipal and provincial officials together with the province’s two solons, Emil Ong and Harlene Abayon, was held. An agri-eco-tourism fair at the Sacred Heart Capitol grounds also served as one of the highlights of the celebration. And for this year, 13 young and beautiful ladies coming from different towns of the province vied the crown for this year’s Miss Northern Samar. On the night of June 19, a variety cultural program was held at the Catarman Freedom Park, beginning the countdown for next year’s 50th founding anniversary of the province. Northern Samar was created by virtue of Republic Act 4221 approved by Congress on 1963 which effectively divided the Samar Island into three provinces- (western) Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar. The law was ratified in a plebiscite on June 19, 1965, and two years later, the first officials of Northern Samar were elected. (TITO TEPACE)
