10 vie for UEP-Northern
Samar presidency
By NENE A. MANZANARES (PIA Northern
Samar)
February 2, 2007
CATARMAN, Northern
Samar – At least ten highly qualified educators are vying for the
presidency of the University of Eastern Philippines (UEP), a state
university located in Catarman, Northern Samar. A reliable source said
that it will be a "war of the titans" as most of the presidential
applicants are known personalities not only in the academe but also in
communities outside of the province as well.
Of the ten "presidentiables"’
three are considered "outsiders" of the University of Eastern
Philippines. These are Dr. Gorgonio Balleta of the
San Isidro Agro Industrial
School;
Dr. Isagani Mendador, college dean of San Lorenzo de Ruiz; ad Dr. Aida
Tobes, college president of the Samar State College of Agriculture and
Forestry of San Jorge Samar.
The seven "insiders"
of UEP are Atty. Mar de Asis, dean of the College of Law; Dr. Manuel
Basierto, dean of the Graduate School; Dr. Mindanilla Broto,
vice-president for External Affairs; Dr. Rolando Delorino,
vice-president for Administration; Dr. Norman Diaz, director of
Research Services; Dr. Gregorio de la Rosa, former president of the
Leyte Institute of Technology now Eastern Visayas State University;
and Dr. Jaime Sanico, director of External Services.
On February 2, the ten
presidential applicants will each give a presentation of their vision,
mission and development direction of the university at the UEP
Gymnasium. A public forum with the four sectors: faculty, students,
non-teaching personnel and alumni associations will immediately follow
after each presentation.
The University of
Eastern Philippines started as an ordinary farm school and was first
established as Catarman National High School in 1918. It was renamed
Samar Institute of Technology in 1957 and finally converted as
University of Eastern Philippines under Republic Act 4126.
Mandated to "primarily
give technical and professional training, advanced instruction in
literature, philosophy, the sciences and the arts", it also provides
for "the promotion of scientific and technological researches".
Under the stewardship
of its outgoing university president Dr. Pedro Destura, the university
has now 31 graduate and 47 undergraduate curricular offerings among
the 10 colleges and one school. It has a total of 325 faculty members
with 100 more from UEP Laoang and UEP Catubig.
According to some
sources, the new UEP president will be presented during the last board
meeting to be presided by the outgoing university president in the
early part of the month of February.
DENR 8 recovers 17,000
board-ft hot lumbers in Northern Samar
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
February
2, 2007
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– The elements of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
in Region 8, together with the men of the 64th Infantry Battalion of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines based in Northern Samar, recovered
on Saturday night about 17,000 board feet of hot lumber along the
beaches of San Isidro and Balicuatro, Lavezares, Northern Samar.
DENR Director Alfredo
Pascual, during the Harampang Ha PIA on Friday, informed that the hot
lumbers which were already being tagged through small boats to a
waiting ship looming in the horizon were in bunches, some 300, others
five hundred.
When the unidentified
people saw the operatives of DENR and the Army were already on the
shorelines, they cut the tag lines and then escaped. The big boat also
escaped while the hot lumbers are still under the custody of PENRO
Ariel Macabare of Northern Samar.
Director Pascual who
assumed as the Regional Executive Director of DENR 8 only last
December 15 said DENR is waiting for the claimants or owners of the
hot lumber. Until now however, no one came out to claim ownership of
the hot lumbers. After the reglamentary period expires, Director
Pascual said that the lumber will be bidded.
He said that he will
report this matter to the Central Office and the legal department will
look into this matter.
He added that the
general opinion, is that these hot lumbers are being brought to
Masbate or in Bantayan, Cebu.
He said, that the main
reason for timber pouching is poverty and this is the reason why the
DENR has the community-based forest management program. Also, Director
Pascual said, he is looking into strengthening the advocacy,
information and education campaign on responsible forest management.
He added that these
areas of San Isidro and Balicuatro has long been under surveillance
even during the time of RED Sibbalucca. It is only now however, when
an operation was made because of some information that shipment of hot
lumbers will be done during the weekend.
Director Pascual
called on the people to help DENR in the implementation of its
programs which he said have been doubled during the time of Secretary
Angelo Reyes.
DOH upgrades government hospitals in the region for P48M
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
February
1, 2007
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– In line with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s thrust of
providing the people with the best health services right near their
respective locations, the Department of Health Eastern Visayas through
the leadership of Director Benita Pastor, has recommended the
upgrading of thirteen (13) hospitals in the Region.
Also included in the
priority programs of the President is the upgrading of government
hospitals of the primary care to secondary care or from secondary care
to tertiary care, in order to be able to accommodate nursing students
by serving as Base Hospital or for Nursing Affiliation.
Director Pastor said
that these thirteen hospitals were first evaluated by the Department
of Health Regional Office, then request was submitted to the National
Center for Health Facility Development for its budgetary and
finalization of the upgrading plan.
Later, these requests
were forwarded to the Department of Budget and Management Central
Office for approval.
Director Pastor said
that at present, the Region has received Sub Allotment Advice for the
upgrading of the Eastern Samar Provincial Hospital in the amount of
P22.357 million, Northern Samar Provincial Hospital in the amount of
P13.527 million and Western Leyte Provincial Hospital in the amount of
P12.156 million.
Based on this released
allotment, a Memorandum of Agreement shall be executed by the DOH
Eastern Visayas and the recipient hospital. Just this month of
February, Eastern Samar Governor Ben Evardone together with Director
Pastor signed a memorandum of agreement regarding this project.
Director Pastor said
that the amount of P22.357 million for the Eastern Samar Provincial
Hospital will be used for maintenance overhead operation expenses in
the amount of P4,157,000; equipment outlay in the amount of P1,050,000
and for infrastructure in the amount of P17,150,000.00.
Of the total amount of
P13.527 million which is allotted for the Northern Samar Provincial
Hospital, P8,987,000 is for maintenance, P1,040,000 is for equipment
outlay and P3,500,000 is for infrastructure.
For the Western Leyte
Provincial Hospital, of the total amount allotted, P7,150,000 is for
MOOE, P3,950 is for equipment outlay and P1,056,000 is for
infrastructure.
Naval town gets P59
million funding for port development
By FLOR JACKSON (PIA Biliran)
February
1, 2007
NAVAL, Biliran – The
municipality of Naval will soon have a modern seaport that would cater
to the demands of modern shipping after the office of Congressman
Gerardo Espina, Jr. released funds of P59 million for the development
of the port of Naval.
This was bared by
Congressman Espina in a cellphone interview who said that part of the
entire package to improve the port of Naval is the construction of an
air-conditioned passenger terminal that can accommodate some 200
people and a modern warehouse where cargoes are stored before they are
loaded by the carrying vessel to other places outside Naval port or in
the case of incoming cargoes, before they are claimed by their owners.
He added that the
general rehabilitation of the surface of the pier and the portion down
under to include scouring of the seabed so that the area within the
seaport gets deeper enough to allow big vessels to dock even during
low tides.
Furthermore, he said
that the ramp of the pier will also be developed into a
roll-on-roll-off (RORO) port to allow RORO vessels to dock, thus
making the loading and unloading of cargoes easier.
The project,
Congressman Espina said, will not only improve the physical appearance
of the seaport of Naval but it also offers job opportunities for the
Biliranons saying that he will make a special request to the winning
bidder who will work on the development of the port to get workers
from Naval town and in other parts of Biliran province especially
those skilled workers in this nature of work who have no jobs at
present.
The bidding of the
project will be done on February 7 this year and hopefully, he said,
the work will commence early March this year.
With the much improved
seaport of Naval, the capital town of the province of Biliran,
commerce and trade in the province will even be more brisk, he said.
The port development
project of Naval town is in line with the priority infrastructure
projects of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Biliran province being
part of the Visayas super region on tourism.
Meanwhile, Congressman
Gerardo Espina, Jr. informed that additional funding of P8 million was
released from his office for the completion of the construction of the
Naval Gymnasium located along P. Inocentes Sreet in Naval, Biliran.
The work, he said, will start next week.
The gymnasium, which
is the venue where socio-cultural activities and public functions are
held can accommodate some 3,000 people.
Family of slain Daram
mayor dismisses claims of NPA
By ELI C. DALUMPINES (PIA Samar)
January
30, 2007
CATBALOGAN, Samar –
The family of the late Daram Mayor Benito Astorga, who was gunned down
by two still unidentified suspects last Thursday in an island barangay
of his municipality, dismissed claims of the communist New People’s
Army (NPA) owning responsibility of the mayor’s killing.
[insight]
In a press statement
released Monday, Severa Astorga-Buquid, Astorga’s sister called the
statement of the Arnulfo Ortiz Command of the NPA as “a mere
fabrication designed by the political opponents of the late mayor to
mislead the people” from knowing as to who the perpetrators really
are.
Astorga-Buquid cited
SSupt. Asdali Idja Abah’s earlier statement in an interview over a
national television saying that the Arnulfo Ortiz Command does not
operate in the said island municipality hence the statement may have
been a fabrication.
In the same interview,
Supt. Abah cited several inconsistencies in the statement like the
killing of Municipal Comelec Officer Willy Gulane, which happened in
2002 and not in 2001 as the NPA claimed, implicating Mayor Astorga.
The police provincial
chief informed that that was contrary to the testimony they got from
one of the killers, who turned out to be a witness on the case,
clearing the mayor of criminal liability.
The NPA’s claim that
Mayor Astorga maintained some 180 CAFGUs was also false since there
are only a little over 30 CAFGUs fielded in the area and these are
under the supervision of the Army’s 52nd Infantry Battalion.
The late mayor’s
family, however, expressed confidence that the police authorities will
be able to solve the case and give justice to Astorga’s killing.
As of this writing,
the police have already produced a cartographic sketch of the suspects
based on the descriptions of witnesses who saw the incident.
The prevailing public
perception here reflects that this may have been the start of a series
of election-related violence in the province resulting from intense
political rivalries.
This prompted the
Comelec officials here to initiate moves to place
Samar under Comelec control to preempt further election-related
violence.
Jiabong barangay
official shot to death by NPA death squad
By ELI C. DALUMPINES (PIA
Samar)
January 30, 2007
CATBALOGAN, Samar –
To him the closing of the windows of his sari-sari store may not be a
foreshadowing but it turned out so.
The barangay chairman
of an interior village of Jiabong town in Samar was shot dead early
evening Thursday (January 25) by four armed men in his own house, a
police report said.
According to the
report, Brgy. Chairman Vedasto Gabiana of Dogongan, Jiabong, Samar was
about to close the windows of his sari-sari store in Brgy. Calapi,
where he temporarily reside, at around 7:00 p.m. Thursday when one of
the four unidentified suspects, believed to be members of an NPA Death
Squad, fired at him.
Gabiana sustained a
gunshot wound in his forehead which resulted to his instantaneous
death. The police recovered from the scene an empty shell of cal. 9mm.
pistol.
The suspects
immediately fled towards Brgy. Barayong, Motiong town right after the
incident.
Intelligence reports
said that Gabiana was one of the barangay captains who refused to give
revolutionary tax to the communist insurgents.
He is the third
barangay official who has been killed by the NPA this year. Earlier
this month two barangay officials in Samar, one in San Jose de Buan
and one in Villareal, were reportedly liquidated by NPA Death Squads.
Late last year, a
barangay chairman of Brgy. Casapa in Jiabong was shot to death in
front of his wife while he was on his way home from his farm. He was
said to have supported the military’s anti-insurgency campaign.
RDC social development
team tackles commercialization of body parts
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
January 30, 2007
TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte
– The commercialization of body parts is among the issues which the
Social Development Committee of the Eastern Visayas Regional
Development Council, will tackle during its first meeting for 2007.
The Committee which is
chaired by Biliran Governor Rogelio Espina informed that the meeting
will be held at the RDC Conference Room, NEDA Regional Office at the
Government Center on February 1, 2007 at 1:30 in the afternoon.
The commercialization
of body parts will be discussed by Dr. Eduardo V. Pedrosa of the
Department of Health Regional Office 8. This issue was touched during
the latest meeting of the Committee and as a result, DOH was requested
to gather more information and discuss the commercialization of body
parts in the next SDC meeting.
The committee was
alerted by one of its members about the news that included in medical
tourism is the sale of body parts, especially kidneys, at reduced
prices. This, the member said is not right because body parts are
beyond the commerce of men.
Assistant Regional
Director Adelaida Aspirin of the Department of Health in Region 8 said
that medical tourism is indeed under the Department of Health but that
the selling of body parts by donors has long been in existence before
medical tourism was conceived. She assured the body that this is
already being addressed by the Department of Health.
Other issues which the
Committee will tackle during its first meeting for the year 2007 are
the financial and operational report on SALAG which is the haven for
drug addicts, the issue of strengthening the implementation of basic
education in the Visayas and the proposed SDC work program for the
year 2007.
The Committee will
also look back at its accomplishments in the year 2006 and will
discuss the procedure in the conduct of Social Development Committee
meetings.
Governor Espina calls
on the members of the Committee to attend the meeting and continue to
help pursue social development issues in line with the
Administration’s thrust to make the gains of the economic reforms flow
down to the Filipino people in terms of more effective, efficient and
more easy access to social services, more better-paying job
opportunities, more food in every family’s table and more
opportunities to get the best possible education.
CPP-NPA Arnulfo Ortiz
Command admits killing Daram mayor
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
January
29, 2007
