Tag: Current Events

by: flor jackson

Naval, Biliran (November 20) – Despite of the continuous heavy rains that affected the entire province of Biliran as a result of the low pressure area that was spotted in the Mindanao areas and was developed into a tropical depression named “Lando”, the circumferential road of the province remains passable as of this time.
This was disclosed by Engr. Benefredo Elatico, Asst. District Engineer of the Biliran Engineering District in a telephone interview with the Philippine Information Agency, Biliran Provincial Information Center today.
He informed that as of now, their office has not received yet any reports of damage to infrastructures as a result of the heavy rains being experienced in the area.
However, he said, it cannot be avoided that in situations like this where rains continue to pour for several days, slight damages are likely to happen such as the washing away of the road surfacing and the clogging up of waterways and canals. Because of this, Engr. Elatico said, they dispatched some of their engineers and workers who are in-charge of the road network maintenance to conduct a round of inspection of the Biliran circumferential road especially the uncemented portion and render a report immediately upon return from field inspection. Continue reading “Biliran roads remain passable despite continuous rains”

By Joey A. Gabieta
Inquirer
Last updated 05:26am (Mla time) 11/17/2007

TACLOBAN CITY—A Sangguniang Kabataan chair without council members or an SK council without a chair.

These were the cases noted by the Commission on Elections in different parts of Eastern Visayas as it started to collate the region-wide results of the recently concluded barangay and SK elections.

The situation might justify the call for the abolition of the SK in the country, said lawyer Adolfo Ibañez, regional director of Comelec.

Ibañez said there were a number of villages in the region where only the position for the SK chair was filled up or only the posts for council were filled up. In some cases, the seven-member SK councils were only half filled.

Ibañez cited the case of Barangay Danao in Maripipi town of Biliran where the lone candidate for SK chair, Arnel Rosario, won with six votes but has no councilors to help transact SK affairs in his barangay.

In Biliran’s provincial capital of Naval, six ran and won for council seats but they have no SK chair. The SK chair is supposed to sit in the barangay council as an ex-officio member, representing the youth.

The island-province of Biliran, composed of eight municipalities, has 7,387 registered SK voters.

Ibañez said based on information he received from election officers in the region, “this situation is also (reflective) in other towns in Samar.”

The region has more than 200,000 registered SK voters.

In Tacloban City, a similar situation was true in Barangay 97 where only four ran and won for SK council seats with no one filing a certificate of candidacy for SK chairmanship.

All 63 registered voters of the village cast their votes.

Joseph Myles Colasito, regional information officer of the Department of Interior and Local Government, said he could not comment as the DILG has yet to come up with guidelines on how to deal with the absence of an SK chair or SK council members in a barangay.

“But one thing sure is, the barangay chair cannot appoint anybody to fill up the vacant positions,” Colasito said.

Ma. Corazon Montallana, city elections officer, said that an elected SK chair without any councilors can still discharge his duties.

“He still represents the SK in the village,” she said.

Ibañez said that lack of interest among the youth to participate was cited as the main reason only few ran in the Oct. 29 SK elections.

An SK chair enjoys, among other benefits, an honorarium and civil service eligibility, Ibañez said.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view_article.php?article_id=101454

By Beverly T. Natividad
Inquirer
Last updated 09:03pm (Mla time) 11/15/2007

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DoH) has declared six more provinces as malaria-free, bringing to 22 the number of provinces which have eliminated the mosquito-borne disease.

In a statement, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Marinduque, Sorsogon, Albay, Eastern and Western Samar, Surigao del Norte were declared malaria-free in 2007. This, he said, reduced the number of malaria infested provinces in the country to only 57 this year.

“These results are encouraging especially in view of our Millennium Development Goal of halting and reversing the incidence of malaria and other diseases by 2015,” added Duque.

The absence of local malaria cases in the past five years served as the main indicator of a malaria-free province, said Cristy Galang, program manager for malaria elimination at the DoH’s National Center for Disease Prevention and Control (NCDPC).

The DoH started the assessment of the six latest malaria-free provinces in the first quarter of 2007, said Galang. Through epidemiological surveillance, the DoH found that the six areas had no more local transmission of the disease despite the possible existence of the environment, which could bring about the disease, she said. Continue reading “6 more provinces beat malaria — DoH”

Norman Bordadora
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — The lax security at the House of Representatives complex in Quezon City made the Tuesday night bomb attack possible, according to a number of congressmen.

Speaker Jose de Venecia himself cited this shortcoming when he addressed the plenary late Wednesday afternoon. “There are many guests who have no business here,” he said.

Deputy Minority Leader Roilo Golez of Parañaque City said the explosion indicated “a failure of security.”

“There’s a need to tighten our security procedures without making the House inaccessible to the public,” said Golez, a former national security adviser.

Biliran Rep. Glenn Chiong, a first-termer, said shopping malls had tighter security.

“The first thing I noticed when I first entered the House complex was the lax security. I noticed metered cabs entering without being thoroughly searched, at least even visually,” said Chiong, a member of the majority coalition.

“To put it bluntly, mall entrances have tighter security than the Batasang Pambansa gates,” he said.

Rep. Mujiv Hataman of the party-list group Anak Mindanao said it was unnerving to think that congressmen were far from safe even in “an institution of democracy.”

Hataman, a minority lawmaker, raised the need to review security measures in the chamber.

First time

Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Antonio Cerilles said it was the first time since the Batasan complex was built in 1970 that such an explosion occurred.

“What happened [Tuesday] night was meant to … kill as many [people as possible],” he observed.

Said Muntinlupa Rep. Rufino Biazon, a vice chair of the House committee on national defense: “The only reason that the perpetrators of the bombing were able to carry out their plan was the loose implementation of security measures.

“The [inspection of persons entering] the premises is lax. The verification of vehicles entering and parking in the compound is lax. There should be more surveillance cameras covering the premises.”

Laguna Rep. Edgar San Luis agreed that just about anyone could enter the complex with ease.

“Of course, this is the House of the people. But there should be some amount of security,” he said.

De Venecia said he would form a small group made up of Golez and the chairs of the House committees on defense and on public order that would coordinate with the chamber’s sergeant-at-arms and police and military leaders.

“We need to review and tighten security arrangements,” the Speaker said.

TACLOBAN CITY (11 November) — Economic activities and the potential of Eastern Visayas to become the country’s premier tourism destination under the super regions concept was amplified 10-fold with the visit of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo here and Eastern Samar Friday.

This was the observation of mediamen in Region VIII during their 45-minute informal interaction with the President last night after she inducted the officers of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP)-Leyte chapter at the Leyte Park Hotel here.

Also yesterday, the President during her inspection ordered the immediate completion of the Jipapad-Lapinig and the Lapinig-Arteche road projects in the northernmost part of Eastern Samar.
Continue reading “PGMA’s Leyte-Samar visit bolsters super regions development projects”

By DIANA BERNARDES-CHAWDHURY

“Livin’ La Vida Buena “– “Living the Good Life!” is contrary to the “live and let live” kind of life described in Ricky Martin’s popular ditty, “Livin’ La Vida Loca”. In this kind of life, people experience joy in simplicity, responsibility and harmony with everyone around them.

This is what I had in mind as Navalenos lived through the ten-day festivities of the just concluded Naval Town Fiesta 2007. Everyone had their share of fun from day one until it culminated with what is now the Legendary “TSINELAS PARTY” on October 6, the Feast Day. All Navalenos from the farthest barangay and all citizens in all categories of life; the gays, the youth and the senior citizens had their fill of joy and fun in the ensuing activities accorded to all of them. Even the Religious can’t be beaten as well, with their coronation of the Cathechists’ Queen on September 25 on top of other activities they had lined up for that day, one day earlier than the official kick-off of the Fiesta activities, the PUEBLO DAY Celebration on September 26.

Continue reading “FEATURED ARTICLE: LIVIN’ LA VIDA BUENA”