PALO, Leyte- Aside from conducting repair of damaged public structures due to supertyphoon Yolanda, the Korean soldiers will also now conduct teaching of their language and training on how to operate heavy equipment.
This was revealed by Colonel Chun Won Lee, head of the Korean Araw Force Contingent, whose group is based in this town.
The Korean contingent is among the foreign groups that assisted the country in the aftermath of Yolanda and is to stay until the end of this year.
Since their arrival in Leyte, the group has rehabilitated the Leyte Provincial Hospital and various schools in the province.
Lee said that the training on heavy equipment operation will be in partnership with the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA) that will provide the theoretical knowledge while practicum or the actual training will be handled by them.
The skills training will last for six weeks, three weeks for theory and three weeks for the practicum.
Initially, 48 students will attend the heavy equipment training with each of them to receive P100 daily as a stipend, Lee said.
There will be 12 batches for the heavy equipment training with trainees coming from the towns of Tolosa, Tanauan and Palo and from the city of Tacloban.
Upon completion, they will be given a certificate by TESDA which they used in looking for job not only in the country but also abroad.
Col. Lee also explained that the reason why they offered such training is that some local government units have heavy equipment but they lack trained personnel to handle them.
As for the training of Korean language, which is being held at the Pawing Elementary School in Palo, Lee explained that those with knowledge or knows how to speak their language have advantage to find jobs in their country.
“Korean government favors more those who speak and understand our language,” said Col Lee.
Lee said that they want to help typhoon survivors to have the knowledge and skills that could help them land jobs for them to earn money. (ROEL T.AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- The regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-8) entered a memorandum of agreement with the local government unit of Paranas in Samar for the management and conservation of the Ulot Watershed Model Forest (UWMF).
DENR Regional Executive Director Leonardo Sibbaluca said that he and Paranas Mayor Felix Babalcon signed the agreement that would help on the protection and conservation of the UWMF biodiversity and forest resources as well as development and management of ecotourism and other sustainable development activities in the area.
Aside from Paranas, the UWMF covers the municipalities of Taft and Can-avid in Eastern Samar; San Jose de Buan, and Hinabangan, all in Samar covering a total area of 86,514 hectares.
It is one of the eight watersheds covered by the Samar Island Natural Park (SINP) and is considered to be the remaining forest frontier of Region 8.
“Protecting and conserving the remaining resources of the Samar Island Natural Park and the Ulot Watershed Model Forest is a big challenge for us. We at the DENR cannot do it alone; that is why we are seeking the help of the different stakeholders to help us protect and conserve this biologically and globally significant natural heritage”, Sibbaluca stressed.
He said that several projects are being implemented for the UWMF which include, among others, the ongoing ecotourism development projects; the International Model Forest Network Funded Project dubbed as “Forest Landscape Restoration”; reforestation and establishment of tree plantations using the funds generated from the trees cut by the Millennium Challenge Corporation road development project; the forest development project funded by the German International Cooperation which is already approved in principle and community based forest management project activities regularly funded by the DENR.
Mayor Babalcon in an interview said that he is committed to work with the DENR for an extensive campaign on forest protection and law enforcement to deter illegal loggers and charcoal makers from their destructive activities.
“We are looking at the implementation of livelihood projects as part of the solution to forest destruction. We will also tie up with schools offering forestry courses for our scholarship program as we encourage our constituents to let their children take forestry course so that in the future they will help in the management of their own forest”, Babalcon said. (RESTITUTO A. CAYUBIT)

PALO, Leyte- Secretary Mar Roxas of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) visited Leyte to distribute checks to areas hit by supertyphoon Yolanda.
During his visit on April 11 and 12, Roxas distributed a total amount of P801.80 million to 35 areas in Leyte which sustained damages due to Yolanda.
And among the recipients was Tacloban with its mayor, Alfred Romualdez, personally receiving the financial assistance.
Roxas said that Tacloban received P230.87 million which is about 80 percent of the total amount that he distributed.
Tacloban is considered to be the “ground zero” of Yolanda’s wrath.
The DILG Secretary stressed that the financial assistance should be used by the local governments for the repair of their city or municipal hall; civic centers; public markets and key public infrastructures.
According to Roxas in Leyte, out of 40 municipalities hit by Yolanda 35 received checks while the five others will be directly assisted by foreign agencies.
A total of 19 mayors or their representatives received their checks in Palo and others received it in Baybay and Ormoc cities.
The assistance, according to Roxas, is part of the national government’s Recovery Assistance on Yolanda (RAY) to cities and municipalities in Leyte and other areas that sustained damages due to the supertyphoon that hit the Visayas on November 8, 2013.
Roxas requested the local chief executives present during the distribution of checks to buy products from their localities and employ local laborers so that the money will circulate within their areas and help in the process revive their economies.
Roxas also emphasized that the LGU has the option whether they will handle the construction work or bid them out.
He then requested the mayors to construct their structures that could withstand a supertyphoon as much as possible. (LIZBETH ANN ABELLA).

TACLOBAN CITY- The regional office of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) said that several jail facilities in the region would undergo repair.
This was revealed by Jail Senior Superintendent Hernan Grande, BJMP regional director, who added that two more jail facilities would be constructed to address decongestion among inmates.
According to Grande, their national office has allocated P13.32 million for the repair of various jail facilities in the region and another P9 million for the construction of additional jails.
The BJMP regional director admitted that the repair or upgrading of these facilities came in the wake of the April 2 jail break in Calbayog City that resulted for the escape of 16 inmates.
He said that the jail facilities in Tacloban and eight others would undergo repair works.
For the Tacloban City prison jail, the government has allocated P6 million for the repair.
Other similar facilities would undergo repair: Alangalang with a budget of P250,000;Baybay City,P250,000;Carigara, P500,000; Dulag, P60,000; Ormoc City,P600,000; Palo,P200,00 and Tanauan,P60,000. All are in Leyte.
He added that the jail in Dolores, Eastern Samar, was given an allocation of P200,000 for repair.
He also said that to decongest some of the jails, his office is constructing two additional jails. One is in Guiuan, Eastern Samar with a budget of P7 million while another is in Burauen, Leyte at P2 million.
Grande said that the jailbreak in Calbayog has caught the attention of their national office reason why these jail facilities were given allocation for repair.
The Calbayog Jail itself was given a budget of P500,000 for the construction of secondary perimeter fence. Absence of the perimeter fence made it easy for the inmates to escape. (RESTITUTO CAYUBIT)

ALANGALANG, Leyte- Residents of Barangay Holy Child, this municipality, expressed their gratitude to FoGouang Shan Foundation Inc. for the assistance they extended to them.
A representative from FoGouang Shan personally delivered the P200, 000 financial aid intended for the reconstruction of the day care center in the village which was severely damaged by supertyphoon Yolanda.
A wheel chair was also given to a pupil who is a polio victim.
A school building built by the FoGouang Shan Foundation Inc. was likewise turned over to the Mariano Salazar Elementary School, also this town.
Sarah Apurillo, who received the cash donation in behalf of the barangay, said that they are very thankful to the FoGouang Shan Shan Foundation for the immediate help they gave to the storm victims.
Apurillo added that this is the fifth time that FoGouang Shan Foundation came to the barangays wherein they donated kitchen wares, food packs, clothings and even cash assistance.
FoGuang Shan, literally mean “Buddha’s Light Mountain”, is an international Chinese Mahayana Buddhist monastic order based in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and one of the largest Buddhist organizations.
The order also calls itself the International Buddhist Progress Society.
Founded in 1967 by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, the order promotes humanistic Buddhism, a modern Chinese Buddhist thought developed in the 20th century and made popular by the FoGouang Shan Foundation and other modern Chinese Buddhist orders.
Humanistic Buddhism aims to make Buddhism relevant in the world and in people’s lives and hearts. (MARVIN T. MODELO)