TACLOBAN CITY-As rehabilitation remains apparently slow six months after supertyphoon Yolanda hit Eastern Visayas, storm victims asked rehabilitation and reconstruction czar Panfilo Lacson to resign from his post. “We don’t see Lacson at all to be worthy of his post. First, he is incompetent. His and the national government’s nonexistent rehabilitation is the complete reflection of such. Second, he’s got no proper qualification for the post,” Mark Simbajon, one of the convenors of the People Surge, a broad coalition of Yolanda typhoon victims. “Consequently that proves us that rehabilitation is not something the national government really wanted,” Simbajon added. Earlier, Senator Francis Escudero also expressed his frustration over the slow pace in government rehabilitation program claiming that only P4 billion of the P100 billion allotted in the 2014 budget has been released for it. Commenting on this, Simbajon said that “it is a reflection of Lacson’s incompetence and the pseudo rehabilitation Pres. Benigno Aquino III is pushing for.” “(The national gover4nment) is only using the names of Yolanda victims as capital, just like a commodity being sold in the national market,” Simbajon added. The People Surge, which counts of more than 10,000 typhoon victims as members, demanded the government of P40,000 cash assistance to help them rebuild their homes; continued food assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the stop the implementation of the no build zone which prohibits dwellers within 40 meters from the coastline. Meanwhile, Simbajon reported that some of People Surge’s members have experienced harassment by alleged military men under a supposed “new mandate.” “Yes there are happenings of such harassment. At this point, as advised by our legal counsel, we cannot speak much detail yet. Sorry. But we are tightening security measures because of such,” Simbajon said. (RONALD O.REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY-Inflation rate in the province of Leyte slightly went up to 5.1 percent in March 2014, indicating a minimal increase of 0.1 percentage point compared to the 5.0 percent inflation rate in the previous month. The 5.1 percent inflation rate indicates that the general price levels of goods and services in Leyte were higher by 5.1 percent in March 2014 compared to the price levels during the same period the previous year. All of the eleven major commodity groups contributed to the 5.1 percent overall inflation rate. However, the major commodity groups that contributed considerably to the provincial inflation rate were the following: alcoholic beverages and tobacco (14.8 percent); education (12.4 percent) and food and non-alcoholic beverages (7.5 percent). Moreover, five major commodity groups recorded increment on its inflation rate. The highest increase was the 2.9 percentage points increment on the inflation rate of alcoholic beverages and tobacco. Other major commodity groups that likewise recorded increment on its year-on-year rate of price change from February to March 2014 were the following: furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house (0.3 percentage point); food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.2 percentage point); recreation and culture (0.1 percentage point); and restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services (0.1 percentage point). From December 2013 to March 2014, Leyte’s purchasing power of the peso remained at 68 centavos. For more inquiries, please visit our office at Leyte SR Bldg., Artemio Mate Extension, Brgy. Abucay, Tacloban City. (PR)

TACLOBAN CITY – The Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) and the Tacloban Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Inc.(TFCCCI) turned over to the Department of Education (Deped)six new classrooms last May 19. The recipient schools were the Northern Tacloban City National High School (NTCNHS) in Barangay New Kawayan and Sto. Niño Elementary School (SNES) in Brgy.Sto. Niño. The NTCNHS received one-unit school building with two classrooms and two toilets while SNES got one-unit school building with four classrooms and also two toilets. The two schools were chosen by its donors Rotary Club of Chinatown Manila District 3810 because of the extent of the damages they sustained during the onslaught of supertyphoon Yolanda more than six months ago. Welcoming the team from the Rotary Club were Go Tic Ching and Reynaldo Go, president and treasurer of TFCCCI respectively and Tacloban City Vice Mayor Jerry “Sambo” Yaokasin. Donation of school buildings is a major undertaking of the FFCCCII under the “Operation Barrio Schools” Projects since the mid-part of 1960’s. All the elected officers of the federation and its umbrella organizations in the different parts of the country are encouraged to donate school classrooms as their corporate social responsibilities. This year’s president of FFCCCII is Dr. Alfonso Siy. The federation has already donation more than 10,000 classrooms all over the Philippines in order to fill in the gap of the government’s education program. Among the federation officials who joined the activities were Ang Cho Lim, vice president of welfare committee; Joseph Redulla, director of welfare committee; Andrew Co, vice chairman of youth committee and project coordinators Carlos Legaspi and Jemar Pascual. The regular size of the one-unit two-classrooms school building is 49-square meters with provision for two toilets and with a time-frame to construct within 20 working-days at a cost of P370,000 to P400,000 depending on the location in the remote areas. The Rotary Club of Chinatown Manila District will be led by its first class president Zeni Yao and District governor Karen L. Tama. (VICKY C. ARNAIZ)

TACLOBAN CITY- Anticipating of possible decline of enrollment due to supertyphoon Yolanda, different college schools this city has introduced a “soft package” to students for the incoming school year. Edward Chua, chief executive officer of Asian Development Foundation (ADF), said that soft package was introduced to ensure that students could continue with their studies this school year. As part of the package, entrance fees of the school was drastically reduced from the previous P850 to just P500. Enrollment for the first semester of the 2014-2015 school year started first week of May and is to end by third week of June. Tacloban, considered the ground zero of Yolanda, has more than 20 colleges. “We know how difficult the situation is. That is why we have to implement a soft package for our students just to ensure that they will continue with their studies,” Chua said. Chua said that with the introduction of this scheme, they hope that their enrollment would not be drastically affected as he admitted that with present economic condition remain uncertain due to Yolanda, enrollment for this school year may decline. Students who came from Yolanda-hit areas are to pay P500 for entrance fee, Chua said. Pablo Amascual, chief administrative officer of the state-run Leyte Normal University, said that the school imposed a P500 entrance fee among students which they can even pay in staggered basis within the semester. LNU has an entrance fee of P1,200 for first year students and P800 for old and continuing students. More than 5,700 students were enrolled at LNU last school year. Edwin Basillo, Leyte Colleges vice president for administration, said that aside from enforcing a P500 enrollment fee, they would also allow students, particularly first year, not to buy school uniform to lessen financial cost of their parents. “We also shorten our class schedule from the previous 7:30 am to 8:30 pm to just 7:30 am to 4:30 pm to ensure that our students could go home early,” Basillo said. He said that many of their students who were previously living in boarding houses have to go home to their home towns like in Basey, Samar as their boarding houses were either damaged or destroyed during the supertyphoon. Meantime, the Saint Paul Business and Law School in Palo, Leyte introduced a “socialized discount,” said its president, Erwin Vincent Alcala. Those badly hit by Yolanda, he said, could receive a 100 percent discount from the existing P900 entrance fee. Palo is one of the hardest-hit areas in Leyte due to Yolanda. The school, the only college school in Palo, had more than 3,300 students last school year. (JOEY A. GABIETA)

PALO, Leyte – Soon-to-rise school buildings are more climate change resilient, but not designed to provide shelter for families displaced by natural calamities, said Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro. New school buildings, according to Luistro will be able to withstand strong quakes and up to 250 kilometers per hour wind. The construction cost for a single classroom rose to P1 million from P650,000. “Even a single storey school building is already designed to be climate change resilient,” he added. However, Luistro said that even if they are reducing the risk of classrooms to damages, it doesn’t mean that structures are designed as evacuation centers. “Our classrooms are not ideal evacuation centers. Our arrangement is that it becomes a makeshift evacuation place for up to four days. After that, some problems would arise like health, nutrition, and security because classrooms are not designed to house families,” the official said. The education department asks local government units to build separate evacuation centers to ensure that there will be no disruptions of classes after a natural calamity. The education cluster reported that over 2,500 schools with 17,000 classrooms reported damages while 2,500 day care centers have been damaged or destroyed during the onslaught of Yolanda. (SARWELL Q.MENIANO)