Samar lady solon fulfills inaugural address promise on health through sponsoring the training of Botika ng Bayan operators

By NINFA B. QUIRANTE (PIA Samar)
March 29, 2008

CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar  –  Consistent with her promise during her inaugural address as Representative to Congress, Sharee Ann Tan sponsored the training of some 27 Botika ng Barangay (BNB)  operators/ managers at the Waling-waling Inn, Catbalogan City.

Congresswoman Tan in her inaugural address announced that education, health and livelihood were her top priority to implement.

With her commitment to the Department of Health (DOH) Program BNB, the young representative sought DOH Representative Dr. Antonio Tirazona for the possible support she could provide to the program.

Dr. Tirazona said it was Congresswoman Tan who vowed to shoulder the training expenses of some 90 participants who would act as managers of the BNB.

Today, some 27 trainees are undergoing training on the forms and documents. They belong to the municipalities of Paranas, Hinabangan, Pinabacdao and Marabut.

Tirazona added that another batch of BNB operators/managers would be trained in the future, still through Tan’s sponsorship.

The trainees are housed for three days and provided with training materials including calculators. 

Rep. Tan herself showed up to provide moral support and give reminders to the participants as to their noble task of volunteerism.

The young Tan, a pharmacist by profession has vowed to help establish the BNBs in the early part of her campaign.

Meanwhile, DOH training specialist Joy Nabong, said that being a manager/operator requires patience with the bulk of forms that are accomplished.

Another trainer Sonny Gloria said that Samar province now has some 141 BNB serving the remote and depressed barangays.

Botika ng Barangay is among the pet projects of President Arroyo aimed to make available and affordable low cost medicines for the poor.

Samar youth slots for summer jobs increased from 280 to 530

By NINFA B. QUIRANTE (PIA Samar)
March 28, 2008

CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar  –  Some 530 students opted to work this summer rather than do leisurely activities to while their time. They will be busier this summer with jobs from the LGUs and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Summer jobs were granted to the youths of Basey with 50 slots, Calbiga 45, Sta. Rita 50, Hinabangan 50, San Jose de Buan  50, Daram 50, Calbayog City 50, Gandara 45, Sta. Margarita 50, SSU 30 and Catbalogan City 10.

This was revealed by Ms. Fe Estrella, DOLE provincial head in an interview with PIA.

The DOLE lady said that last summer only 280 summer jobs wheezed the youth through the program, however today, some 530 summer jobs are ready.

Estrella said that the LGUs and agencies who will participate provide the 60% of the wages while DOLE counterparts the remaining 40%.

As customary since its program inception, the project under the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) hires students for the summer jobs to be able to finance their studies the following school year.

DOLE added that last year, there were only some 280 summer jobs offered. This year, DOLE is happier that more LGUs decided to participate through their Public Employment Service Officer (PESO) in every municipality.

The program is mandated under RA 7323 where an employed student receives a salary which is at least equal to the applicable minimum wage rate, of which, 60% is being paid by the employer in cash, while the remaining 40% of the salary will be paid by DOLE in the form of LBP checks.

Estrella said that she will advocate with the Representative for the Second district Sharee Ann Tan so that next summer more Samarnon youths will enjoy the summer jobs with corresponding wages.

The program also hopes to make the student gain knowledge and skill in his designated job that would help him in the real workplace in the future.

Judge grants Temporary Protection Order to amparo petitioner vs. top CPP-NPA leaders

By CHITO D. DELA TORRE
March 27, 2008

BASEY, Samar  –  Judge Jovito C. Abarquez, presiding judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 30 here, has directed the 8th Infantry Division, Philippine Army to provide security to Dennis Gutierrez Gacuma, 19-year old son of Elizabeth Gutierrez  whose whereabouts remain unknown after her forcible abduction by New People’s Army in the late afternoon of October 24, 2007 in sitio Lanaga, Cancaiyas, an interior barrio of this town, barely four days before the barangay elections in which she won even in her absence.

The judge’s order is indicated in the court’s temporary protection order which Dennis petitioned for and was granted by judge Abarquez, the RTC being “inclined to believe that his life and safety is at stake”.

According to the order, the 8ID’s security on the person of Dennis will stay “until such time that the petitioner himself feels that he is already safe” from threats of all the 38 members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA whom he named as respondents in his petition for a writ of amparo.

Among the respondents in the case which the RTC designated as special proceedings no. 2008-63-664, are Jose Maria Sison, whom Dennis identified also as Amado Guerrero and chairman of the CPP-NPA, and 15 other top-brass CPP-NPA leaders from 3 barrios in Basey.

The security will continue until such threats have already “waned”.

The petition for the privilege of the writ of amparo was filed by Dennis himself on March 17, 2008.  It was received by the RTC Branch 30 at four o’clock in the afternoon of that day.

The temporary protection order is just one of four court orders which petitioner prayed for in his 15-long-bond-page petition.

Dennis has asked the court to direct respondents to cease and desist from hounding and harassing him and the immediate members of his family and surrender the “mortal remains” of his mother “so that she (could) be given the prescribed rites and a decent burial in consonance with her and her family’s religious beliefs and affiliation”, and to allow the court and petitioner to “have access and/or be given copies of pertinent documents, records, papers, photographs and other tangible things or objects which the respondents and/or their organization may have germane to the kidnapping and extra-judicial killing” of his mother.

He alleged that members of the Yunit Militia and the Sentro de Grabidad (SDG) of South Samar Front 2 (SSF2), Samar Provincial Party Committee (SSPC) of the CPP-NPA’s Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committees, appeared during the campaign rally in sitio Lanaga on Oct. 24, pointed their firearms at him and ordered him to drop to the ground and lie flat on his belly.

Rene Rodriguez, alias Bador, one of the NPA members, stepped on Dennis’ neck and took his cellular phone.  Rene next pointed a pistol at the chest of Dennis’ mother and pulled the gun’s trigger, but “for unknown reasons, however, the gun failed to discharge”.  Repeated the attempt two times more but “with the same inexplicable results”.

Dennis said in his petition that the NPA members “physically and mercilessly dragged” his mother away from the sitio plaza, at the same time training their guns on those attending her rally, threatening to shoot anybody who would come to her aid, and retreated towards the mountains, forcibly taking with them his mother.

An hour later, the NPA members returned to Lanaga looking for Dennis whom they also wanted to take with them.  However, the sitio people had earlier hidden Dennis and denied about his presence.

Since the October 24 incident, Dennis has “virtually been living the life of a hunted and condemned man. He said that he was forced to leave his home “to an undisclosed place because he received information that the respondents have persistently been hounding the area, waiting for a chance to have him kidnapped and thereafter be subjected to extra-judicial killing”.

All set for the 487th First Mass Anniversary in Limasawa

By BONG PEDALINO (PIA Southern Leyte)
March 27, 2008

LIMASAWA, Southern Leyte  –  It’s all systems go for the holding of the First Mass anniversary celebration here on March 31, the 487th commemoration to be held this year, 2008.

So far, from the tentative list of activities provided by the tourism office earlier, only beach volleyball was stricken out.

The series of activities will still start on Friday, March 28, with a sailboat race and décor contest, boat rowing race, swimming contest, agri-aqua fair, and Honda bancarrera.

Next day will be the mountain trail run, badminton, and mono bike challenge, and on March 30 will be the Miss Sinugdan Tourism 2008 Pageant, the Sinugdan Mardi Grass, and the Nokos and Kolo Fest.

In the evening of March 31, anniversary proper, there will be a live band concert, while the anniversary program during the day will feature the usual Holy Mass followed by a brief program.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will not be able to attend due to conflict of schedule, and even Tourism Secretary Ace Durano appeared to be uncertain to come as the day’s guest speaker.

But Nedgar Garvez, the provincial tourism officer, was still optimistic the country’s tourism chief will be able to make it to this historic municipality.

Some visitors, though, from the Regional Offices, including the Regional Director of Tourism, Karina Rosa Tiopes, are expected to come to grace the occasion.

Escudero says rice import bill to hit P58.7 billion; P21.7 B will be in foregone subsidy

Press Release
By Office of Senator Chiz Escudero
March 26, 2008

PASAY CITY, Philippines  –  The cost of subsidizing cheap rice sold by the National Food Authority could reach P21.7 billion this year, according to Senator Francis Escudero.

That is if rice which costs around P29.40 a kilo to import will continue to be sold by NFA retailers at P18.50 per kilo, Escudero explained.

The P10.90 per kilo difference will be the "political premium" the Arroyo administration will have to pay to prevent the perceived lack of the main food of 90 million Filipinos from exploding into a crisis fatal to an already faltering government, Escudero said.

If imported rice will cost $707 per metric ton, which was what the government paid for the 335,000 metric tons it bought this month, then the two million metric tons government plans to bring in this year will cost P58.7 billion, based on a P41.50 to $1 exchange, which is still higher than the official forex forecast.

Of this amount only P37 billion can be recouped, "assuming completely zero trading, storage and transport losses," Escudero said.

The estimated import price tag, Escudero said, assumes no tax or duty paid, which is 40 percent of imported value under the country's WTO commitments, a rate which, however, can be waived if food shortage is invoked.

He doubts if duties will be fully waived as tax payments on rice imports, called in official parlance as Tax Expenditure Fund, bloat the tax effort and make for a beautiful revenue report card.

Escudero further estimates that the P58.7 billion required to import rice is equivalent to what we can collect from VAT on fuel this year. "To give you an idea how big it is, it's bigger than the budget of the AFP or the PNP, and five times the allocation for DOH."

"Taxes collected on the gas pump will just be swapped for rice.  The rise in the world prices of rice, which translates into bigger corporate subsidy for NFA,   was never factored in this year's expenditures," he said.

As a result, the plan to have a balance budget this year "is in peril," Escudero warned. "It's either a balance budget or a balance diet. In this clash of policies, I predict the 'politics of the stomach' to win hands down."

Faced by a growing population, global tight supply, and low productivity, the Philippines, the world's biggest rice importer, is scrounging for crumbs left in the world rice market to avert a shortage.

But when it placed a tender for 550,000 metric tons this month, it was only able to buy 335,500 tons, valued at $237.5 million, or an average price of $707.8 per metric ton, or P29.40 per kilo based on current peso-dollar exchange.

The rice will be imported mainly from Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan. The price varies from $618 to $745 a metric ton, depending on the quality of the grain, the NFA said.

Creation of Northwestern Samar gains support from Matuginao town

By NINFA B. QUIRANTE (PIA Samar)
March 26, 2008

CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar  –  The creation of Northwestern Samar gains support from Matuginao town as the Sangguniang Bayan filed a resolution supporting the move.

In an interview with Mayor Carlos dela Cruz on Tuesday in the Matuginao Town Hall, PIA learned that Matuginao has been sorely missing the basic service support from the provincial government.

Matuginao is located some 21 kilometers from Gandara town through an impassable provincial road; it can also be reached through a 3-hour motorboat ride through the Gandara River.

Based on record, the Matuginao Sangguniang Bayan passed Resolution number 2008-636 dated January 28, 2008, which strongly supports in turn Calbayog City’s Sangguniang Panlungsod Resolution No. 2008-02-030 requesting Hon. Reynaldo Uy, First District Representative, to file a bill creating the new province.

In response to the clamor, Congressman Uy has filed House Bill 3553 before the congress of the Philippines on February 12, 2008.

The same House Bill has prompted the Calbayog City SP to seek audience with Samar Sangguniang Panlalawigan for a Power Point presentation to advance their cause.

Aside from HB 3553, Calbayog City SP also brandished its own Resolution Number 2008-02-030 of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of the City of Calbayog adopted on January 14, 2008 requesting the Honorable Congressman Reynaldo Uy (1st district of Samar) to file a bill creating a new province of Northwestern Samar.

The Matuginao chief executive reasoned that the present set up of governance does not seem to reach his impoverished Matuginao.

He added that with the creation of a new province which comprises of only nine municipalities of the first district and one city, the area would be very manageable with fiscal and political autonomy.

Meanwhile in an earlier interview with San Jorge Mayor Nancy Grey, the lady mayor seemed not so keen on the idea of belonging to a new province, like Mayor dela Cruz’s Matuginao, Grey’s San Jorge also belong to the first district of Samar.

Samar’s SP has not acted on the request yet feigning ample time to study the proposal.

Eastern Samar to get enough rice – NFA

By ALICE NICART (PIA Eastern Samar)
March 26, 2008

BORONGAN CITY, Samar  –  Eastern Samar province will have enough “NFA rice” supply and there shall be no reason to panic as may be feared by many. This was the assurance made by National Food Authority (NFA) Assistant Provincial Director, Atty. Arturo Macabasag in a phone interview.

Macabasag reported that NFA is just about to finish unloading the 18,000 bags of rice in Guiuan town and another 20,000 for Oras follows while Borongan will get some 20,000 in April.

The interview was prompted by the several reports seen on national television networks and radio stations that government is proactively taking actions to address a looming rice shortage.

At the national scene, Secretary Arthur Yap of the Department of Agriculture early Tuesday morning announced over DZRH that the country will have enough rice; Vietnam has in fact committed already to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that it will allocate a good volume of rice for the Filipinos in the succeeding months he said.  The government’s move is apparently relative to the projected reduction in farm produce as a result of the recent natural calamities that hit the several parts of the country. Yap likewise said that the reduced palay harvest is attributed to the climate change that primarily affects agriculture but he added that the government is doing its best to mitigate the impeding decreased rice production.

Yap added that NFA is only one source of the country’s rice requirements and he is still hopeful the rice producing farmers will still be able to produce the staple food sufficiently.

Governor Ben Evardone for Eastern Samar has been moving himself to mitigate the effect of the massive flooding that hit the province recently. In previous conferences with the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PPDC) he ruled to subsidize the 50% cost of farm equipment that DA-OPAS has previously loaned to farmers; also he has instructed the said office to facilitate the availability of quality seedlings or the Hybrid rice to farmers.  He likewise reported over Radyo ng Bayan DYES on Tuesday that he is taking priority concern on Farm-to-Market roads most of which were affected by the heavy rains and flood. This way, he said, farmers will still be able to have easier access to and from their farms.

Evardone also sees to it that the “Tindahan Natin” (TN) outlets are always made operational for the ordinary household.  Some 17 TN stores are so far still open for the NFA rice and in his recent statement he said that he is even hoping more TNs will be opened in the near future as promised by Her Excellency President Gloria Arroyo when she visited the province last November.

NFA had recently concentrated issuing the rice only to TN outlets and in market stalls, this is so because it allocates as much as 23,000 bags only for the entire province, Macabasag reported but he further argued that rice shortage may not exactly happen; it might increase its cost though, because the previous $235 per metric ton of rice in the international market is now $700, he concluded.

Increase in rice prices related to oil price hike, not on supply, NFA explains

By BONG PEDALINO (PIA Southern Leyte)
March 26, 2008

MAASIN CITY  –  When the pump prices of oil products go up, everything goes up, including the price of rice, according to Mario Cayanong, the provincial manager of the National Food Authority (NFA) based in this city.

In an interview over the phone on Tuesday, Cayanong told PIA there has been no problem in the supply of the basic food commodity in his area of coverage, which is the whole of Southern Leyte province up to Baybay, Leyte, stressing that the current steep increase in rice prices was caused by the high cost of fuel.

The NFA has maintained its consumer price at P18.25 per kilo of rice, even as the commercial counterparts sold in the market have gone up lately, something which the NFA can only monitor and not control, Cayanong said.

He disclosed that at present, the NFA warehouse in their office at barangay Canturing this city contained 14,000 bags, while the Baybay warehouse has 6,000 bags, and on top of that another shipment of rice stocks is coming by the first week of April, implying no shortage of the staple food.

But even as Cayanong attributed the sharp increase in rice prices to the oil price hikes, he had appealed to the retailers not to take opportunity of the situation by substantially padding the mark-up of the tag price, a call that was listened but apparently not heeded, he observed.

By his own calculation, a commercial rice cost only P12.00 from the producing farmers, so at most this can be retailed to only P24.00 to end-users, but as it is the tag price has been nearing – and others are breaking – the P 30.00 per kilo mark.

He, however, discounted any possibility of hoarding, saying categorically that there was no incident of hoarding in his area.

As to charges that some retailers deliberately mixed the NFA rice with commercial ones, Cayanong said this has been a hard case to prosecute since no one came forward to testify despite widespread rumors of such a malpractice.

On overpricing of NFA rice, they had found out at least three violators in December last year, and recently four violators in Pintuyan, and only last Wednesday a retailer was found out doing so and, in fact, a summon was already sent.

Retailers found overpricing NFA rice are blacklisted from the NFA roster as their sanction, Cayanong said.

DOH budget for 2008 has been increased by no less that 50%, Sec. Duque says

By Philippines Information Agency (PIA 8)
March 26, 2008

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  –  The budget of the Department of Health for this year has been increased by 50-55% over that of last year, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III informed the local media in a press conference held on March 24, at the La Rica Hotel here.

Secretary Duque said that the health budget has been increased because President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants to continue the upgrading of the hospital in the provinces in order to be of better service to the local people.

With the upgrading of the provincial and district hospitals, the people will already get immediate medical attention right there in their respective areas. This will mean that the people will no longer spend so much money and time before they could be attended to medically, he said.

The common ailments like colds, fever, deliveries are supposed to be attended to in the primary and secondary hospitals in the various provinces, the Secretary said. This means that the people need not come to Tacloban to be treated for common ailments anymore.

As a result of the budget increase, the budget of the Regional Offices will also be increased, Secretary Duque said. A portion of the budget increase could be used to purchase medicines and hospital supplies, he added.

The revelation came after one member of the local media informed the Secretary that the patients in the Region’s tertiary hospital are required to buy their own medical supplies like cotton, needles, and medicines before they are attended to at the emergency ward.

Although, the Congressmen give the tertiary hospital a certain amount from their PDAF, these funds could not be touched by the hospital without endorsement by the Congressman concerned.

The Secretary was surprised upon knowing the information. He said he will look into the matter although he said he realized that the budget of the government hospitals for supplies and medicines is also limited.

Secretary Duque informed that these tertiary hospitals are under the DOH Director, who can look into the policies and management practices in the hospitals.