ORMOC CITY – Local candidates on Sunday signed a covenant for honest, meaningful and peaceful elections (HOPE) for the May elections.

Spearheaded by the Comelec, PNP, Philippine Army and the Philippine Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), the covenant signing held at the Superdome was attended by the Lakas, Libera/Kaabag parties and independent candidates sans local standard bearer, congressional bets Winnie Codilla of Lakas and disqualified Liberal bet Richard Gomez.

Archbishop Jose S. Palma of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Palo, celebrated the mass before the covenant signing.

According to mayoral candidate Makoy Larrazabal, he has no knowledge of the whereabouts of actor Gomez, when asked where was their congressional candidate.

Codilla has a scheduled appointment in Palompon Leyte when the signing was held.

Fr. Isagani Petilos of Palo parish said, it was heartening seeing them shaking hands. “I was touched by the gestures candidates have shown. I hope they were sincere about it.”

Part of the program was a presentation of platform of government of each party but it was shelved on the request of OIC Comelec registrar Conchita Magalso since it might violate Comelec rules.

Magalso reminded the candidates to keep HOPE at the center of all their political activities to maintain peaceful elections.

PCSupt Rey Lañada, PNP regional director, strongly emphasized the PNP’s objective, “We advocate peace, we’ll do all to protect the community.”

He added that number one on his list is to ensure peaceful elections was the covenant signing, to remind the candidates on their common goal – to serve the people.

“Even if Ormoc has been peaceful for years now, we requested candidates to focus on the issues and refrain from mudslinging.”

Administration candidates wer reportedly the subject of severe criticism from the opposition. However, SP member Chuchi Pepito, said they would concentrate first on the mandate of their constituents and would only answer their issues once the campaign period starts.

March 8, 2010

MAASIN CITY – After telling local media in jest last month that the Lakas Party will disintegrate should presidential bet Gilbert Teodoro’s rating would not pick-up in March, Southern Leyte solon vowed to stay with him come what may.

Rep. Roger Mercado, the province lone district representative, made the vow right after DPWH Sec. Victor Domingo enumerated the numerous infrastructure projects Pres. Arroyo’s administration has accomplished which were more than the rest of the previous administration combined.

Domingo was in Silago, Southern Leyte on Friday inaugurating the P1.7 billion 80 km Himay-angan-Silago-Abuyog road concreting, the two packages of three package 23^rd Yen loan arterial road link project in the province. The third was the P400 million 38 km road concreting on Panaon island.

Domingo also mentioned the P1.2 billion Agas-agas bridge, considered as the tallest in the country, being poured in Southern Leyte.

“It would be the height of hypocrisy if we don’t recognize what this administration had done to the province,” Mercado said Monday.

“I think this one support is not too much for Southern Leyteños to support for our administration bet in exchange of these numerous projects,” said Mercado while urging his province mates to support Gibo all the way to the election.

He added “the support of Southern Leyteños is one way of paying our debt of gratitude.”

Mercado pointed out that as one goes around the province one can see now the province is already awashed with posters of “Southern Leyte as Gibo country.”

This would also be so (sight) in other provinces once the local campaign period begins.

“Teodoro’s rating would pick up by then leading to his winning the presidential race,” said Mercado.

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SILAGO, Southern Leyte – Department of Public Works and Highways secretary Victor Domingo debunked allegations linking his office to the killing of whistleblower Wilfredo “Boy” Mayor, saying it was very impossible.

“You know it’s hearsay because the accusations only came from a friend of Mayor,” said Domingo referring to another whistleblower Sandra Cam, who linked DPWH on Mayor’s killing alleging the victim was supposed to expose alleged scam at the Highways department in Bicol.

“The accusation on Mayor is very impossible. Is there ghost project now during this time? The NGO’s are very active, there are the critics of administration and everyone is monitoring and then you can still engage in ghost projects. It’s not true,” said Domingo.

“What I know is that Mayor is into casino gambling. Ang daming utang yan, million-million.”

He said Mayor was not actually talking. It’s only Cam who is accusing us and she is into ‘jueteng’ syndicate. “You know it’s election time and these people are with the opposition.

Domingo though admitted that Mayor was a “broker/fixer” at the DPWH. “He was a broker or fixer which is not allowed in the government. But you know in the government, fixers managed to get in.”

He stressed that the regional director in Bicol has told him that he welcomed any investigation.

“Coming from Cam, it’s hearsay because it did not come from the late Mayor himself. But we would not file case against her since we are in the government we are not supposed to be onion-skinned.”

Domingo was here to inaugurate and attended the unveiling of a marker of the P1.2 billion road concreting project from Himay-angan-Silago in southern Leyte and Abuyog in Leyte province.

Silago, Southern Leyte (March 7) — At a junction in this municipality that indicates which road direction is going to barangay Himay-angan, Liloan, or Abuyog, Leyte, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vic Domingo on Friday, March 5, led the ribbon cutting ceremony and the unveiling of two markers.

He was joined by provincial officials led by Gov. Damain Mercado, Vice-Gov. Mike Maamo, Cong. Roger Mercado, and Silago officials, among them Mayor Manuel Labrador and Vice-Mayor Lemuel Honor.

Also around as guest was Leyte Fifth District Representative Carmen Cari, as well as DPWH officials, such as Undersecretary Jaime Pacanan, Regional Director Angelito Twano, and District Engr. Carlos Veloso, among other dignitaries in the DPWH family.

Rev. Fr. Manuel Lago, Parish Priest of Silago, subsequently administered the blessing rites of the markers.

In his speech at the auditorium here, Sec. Domingo called on the people, mostly barangay officials, to maximize the use of the roads so as to boost agriculture in the area which translates to an increased production of farm yield.

Let us do our part. With increased productivity, you increase income; with increased income you can send your children to school, and when kids acquire knowledge, quality of life will improve,” Sec. Domingo said.

It was his very first visit to Southern Leyte as top boss of the DPWH. He was formerly the Presidential Assistant in Eastern Visayas.

Mayor Labrador earlier acknowledged that the well-paved roads were a boost to Silago, rendering much shorter and efficient travel time to Maasin and Tacloban.

For their part, both Gov. Mercado and Cong. Mercado were grateful to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, saying the big infrastructure projects in the province were done during the administration of PGMA.

The Himay-angan-Silago road section began on June 15, 2004 and was completed Nov. 14, 2006 at a cost of P 763,161,219.12, consisting of 44.703 kilometers, 17 new bridges, and 3 rehabilitated bridges. The project was undertaken by China Road and Bridge Corporation.

On the other hand, contract amount for the Abuyog-Silago road section was P 904,189,603.80, from June 23, 2004 to January 29, 2007, for 44 kilometers, 14 bridges and undertaken by Cavite Ideal International Construction and Development Corporation.

Both multi-million projects were financed under a loan agreement with the Philippine government and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), more popularly known as the 23rd yen loan package. (PIA-Southern Leyte)

MAASIN CITY – Southern Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado has urged the government to reopen the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) saying the mothballed power plant is safe.

He said the reopening of the BNPP will solve the current energy crisis the country is facing.

“Those who said that the BNPP is unsafe are only speculating. Whether we like it or not it’s propitious (opening of the power plant). It’s still viable,” Mercado told local media in an interview at the DPWH office near the Agas-agas bridge while waiting DPWH Sec. Victor Domingo who was scheduled to inaugurate the P1.2 billion Silago-Abuyog road concreting project.

“We have been there and made ocular inspection because of our bill and we found out it is safe,” adding that the construction was good.

He said it was only unfortunate that it was a victim of the people power because it was the project of President Marcos alleging that it was source of graft and corruption.

“It is a mere speculation that it is unsafe because we are in the ring of fire. But God never let it happened. It’s been there for how many years but nothing happened. It’s the will of God whether He had it flooded or crumpled,” Mercado pointed out.

Mercado added it could really augment the lack of power. The BNPP could generate 600 megawatts.

The Southern Leyte solon also urged the government to continue exploring the geothermal source in Mt. Cabalian in San Juan, Southern Leyte.

The Philippine National Oil Corporation (now Energy Development corporation) has abandoned its exploration in 2009.

Southern Leyte  — Farmers in this province have availed with a unique assistance extended by the provincial government.

The “Use now, pay later” program for commercial fertilizer needs of farmers, mostly rice farmers, has been ongoing since it was first launched in January last year, said Malou Gaviola, a technician at the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPAg).

In a telephone interview with PIA last week, Gaviola said interested farmers in the eighteen municipalities and one city of the province can make use of this program by coordinating with their respective Municipal/City Agriculture officers.

At least two bags of commercial fertilizers will be lent to the farmers without interest, to be paid after harvest, Gaviola said.

She said many towns, among them Hinundayan, gave financial subsidy to complement the program, and reduced the amount payable on the part of the concerned farmers.

Asked for specific amounts, Gaviola cannot be certain of the current market price of commercial fertilizers, but she cited a generic example, in which a bag priced at P 1,200.00, the P 200.00 was subsidized by the local government units (LGUs) so farmers pay only P 1,000.00 and only after earning his toils at harvest time.

During the latest cropping season, many farmers had availed of the “use now, pay later” fertilizer program, Gaviola added. (PIA-Southern Leyte)

MACROHON, Southern Leyte – There were no aahs and oohs but nevertheless, some 80 residents of poblacion village of this sleepy town were overwhelmed how the Print Count Optical Scanner (Picos) machine operates.

The village was the first area in the province of Southern Leyte where the Picos was demonstrated to the public, said Lino Japson, the town’s Comelec officer. He said there are about three machines to be used for public demonstration throughout the province.

Japson also disclosed that 36 Picos machines have been delivered and deposited at the Comelec provincial office to be used for trainings for the members of the Board of Election Supervisors in the entire province. The training starts on March 15 to 31.

The machines though will be returned to central office for reconfiguration for the May polls.

After two Comelec officials took turn in explaining how to cast ballot with Picos, some eight residents were asked to insert the eight pre-shaded ballots with two deliberately marked to test the capability of the counting machine.

“It’s okay and very fast,” said 60yish Teresita Deligero when asked how she felt after “casting” a ballot with the counting machine.

“This may reduce cheating but I still believe there is a possibility that there may still be cheating with the automated election,” said another.

Most questions asked were how the illiterate and old voters could cast without fear of invalidating their votes. “Knowing that they could not read and hands might be shaking when shading their preferred candidates.”

Japson reminded the residents that illiterate voters are known with their Comelec validation or registration. “Only closed relatives of voters and teachers are allowed to accompany them. And that one should carefully cast their votes to avoid invalidation.”

Japson assured them that with automated elections, honest elections could be achieved.

“I am praying everyday in the morning that those who wants to cheat or buy votes would develop amnesia so that they would not remember to cheat and buy votes during elections.”

At the demonstration, the Picos machine holds the ballot and release it only when it is fully validated. An electronic reading would inform voters whether they have successfully cast their ballots.

If rejected, the voters have four options to insert their ballot, four flips of the ballot are only allowed.

Over voting of numbers of candidates would not be counted.

ORMOC CITY – Provincial Population Officers from Region 8 meet for a quarter media conference in Ormoc to give update on the status of the Philippine Population Management Program (PPMP) as applied on different cities and municipalities.

OIC – POPCOM Regional Director Ms. Elnora Pulma led the three-day quarter conference held in Sabin Resort Hotel, from March 1 – 3.  The purpose was to get the updates from the different provinces on the application they adopted, as programmed from last year’s target, regarding the PPMP.

POPCOM emphasized on the natural family planning as their main program, after the US Aid withdrew their assistance to the country years ago, said Dra. Navales adding that it made the Philippine Family Planning program crippled.

The main concern of the health program is to instill on the minds of the couples, the values of love and loyalty likewise considering the health of the entire family. “The program does not want to command the couple as to how many children they would want to have but birth spacing is encouraged,” said Pulma.

POPCOM introduced three methods in Family Planning:  Permanent – includes ligation and vasectomy; Artificial – which uses pills, condoms, IUD, injectable, etc and natural way which is the only method the Church approves wherein Rhythm or the calendar method is one.  For the loss of the donors (USAID) on the family planning program, POPCOM focused on encouraging the couples to apply the natural way.

Starting 2008, POPCOM introduced RPM-NFP which the local health officers found very effective. According to Dra. Navales, they grab the opportunity by accepting immediately the program because she found it more applicable to the populace.

Last 2009, Ormoc City received a budget for the program from the national office through the region amounting to P1.6 million pesos.  Part of the amount was used to educate the couples on their responsibility as parents and to remain loyal to their partners through a one-day seminar.  To encourage more couple to attend from the suburbs, they are given free lunch and two snacks with a cash allowance of 100 pesos per day.  For six months (July – December 2009), CHO was able to gather 2,353 couples.  Now they are monitored for three months if they have applied what they have learned.

Part of the program is to create a teen center, giving chances to the young adults to submit themselves for a free education to avoid engaging pre-marital sex and teen pregnancy.

Currently, Biliran has a teen center while Tacloban has youth center.  “Hopefully Ormoc will be able to have through the help of LGU,” Dir. Pulma said.

POPCOM officers from Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Southern Leyte, Biliran and Leyte, together with the Ormoc City Health Officer Dra. Nelita Navales and Responsible Parenting Movement – Natural Family Planning (RPM-NFP) designate Vitaliano Gallo Jr., attended, as spearheaded by the Regional Office.

Maasin City (March 2) — Move over eCard Plus. Here comes UMID, or Unified Multi-Purpose Identification Card.

Vilma Mooney, Regional Manager of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), in a casual meeting with members of local media Friday evening, Feb. 26, at Supercha restaurant here, announced that the State-owned pension fund would be using the UMID card very soon.

The UMID was an offshoot of long standing plans to unify various government-issued identification card, Mooney said, adding that with it are five government agencies involved, such as the Pag-IBIG, Philhealth, Social Security System (SSS), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and the GSIS.

This means that one single ID will be honored for office transactions of the five agencies mentioned.

For GSIS members in Southern Leyte province, including this city, the UMID will be rolled-out within the month of March, replacing the electronic card (eCard) plus now widely used.

And yes — you guessed it! With a new UMID ID card comes a cash advance granting like the previous two electronically-driven cards earlier issued by GSIS.

Mooney said for now an optional cash advance of P 10,000.00 is granted for holders of UMID cards, with emphasis on the operative word ?optional,? or not compulsory, depending only on the concerned individual member.

But management is still considering whether to increase the cash advance availment to P 20,000.00, Mooney added.

Specific schedules for UMID enrolment will be made known as it happens. (PIA-Southern Leyte)

Meanwhile, the new Identification system of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) which replaces the e-cards carries with it a P10,000 in cash advance or more.

Vilma Mooney, GSIS regional manager, said enrollees of the national Id, United Multipurpose Identification (UMID) may avail of P10,000 although the proposal was for P20,000.

“The proposal was P20,000, but the approved was only P10,000 we are still looking for a possibility that it would be 20,” said Mooney.

She pointed out this national Id system is for governmental workers only, not the proposed national Id system for all Filipinos.

Mooney admitted that they are spearheading the national Id system but only for government employees. “For all government offices like SSS, BIR, etc. this new Id will be used,” Mooney said when asked whether this would become the national identification.

She said that the cash advance that goes with the UMID is not to lure the members. “It’s really up to the members, they can still enroll without availing of the cash advance.”

“It is an option for them. It they want it (cash advance) fine. And if they would not, it’s also fine.”

Mooney added GSIS interest is only eight percent per annum.

By Jani Arnaiz

MAASIN CITY – Provincial PNP director Senior Supt. Pepito Pacada on Wednesday admitted the lack of ample legal knowledge among police personnel in filing cases against suspects on drug related cases.

The admission came on the heels of a dismissed case due to technicality involving scion of political families charged of illegal possession and drug dealing.

“We admit that we lacked the training needed because there is no continuity on education. And besides we have other works to be done,” said Pacada when told that several dismissed cases involving illegal drugs were due to technicality.

He added that “Because of so much police works we could not send our personnel for trainings and specialization particularly on legal aspects.”

He pointed out though that on his six months since he assumed as the provincial director they have nine accomplishments on drug related cases and only one was dismissed and that they were not even the one who conducted the operations.

Pacada was referring to the case involving the Enage case. The suspect on the case is the son of lawyer Manuel Enage II and Luz who is a candidate for city councilor.

Illegal drug suspect Manuel Adobas Enage IV was arrested on December 19 last year on the strength of a search warrant issued by an RTC Branch 11 Judge Cresente Maraya of Calubian, Leyte, more than a hundred kilometers from Maasin City.

A criminal case No. 09-12-3315 for violation of Sec. 11, art.III of RA 9165 was filed by PDEA against Enage at the sala of Executive Judge Bethany Kapili of RTC branch 24 in Maasin.

Judge Kapili though dismissed the case on January 18 this year declaring the search warrant as null and void and ordered the BJMP in Maasin to release the suspect.

The city prosecutor’s office has since filed a motion for reconsideration. The case is still pending.