March 10-16, 2014 Layout

VOL. 15 NO. 07 ORMOC CITY P 15.00 at the newsstands MARCH 10-16, 2014

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Rotary of Makati South donates 50 boats for Ormoc fishers

see UNCHR p. 9

Leyte coco farmers get 500 chainsaws

Photo on top shows Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez receiving the checks from Rotary Club of Makati South president Ritz Estorco as payment for 50 motorboats that were donated to fisherfolks of Naungan and San Juan in Ormoc City. (L-R) Richard Gomez, Vice Mayor Toto Locsin Jr., Manuel Torres Sr., the delegation from the Rotary of Makati South and Lucy, councilors Vince Rama, Tommy Serafica, Dr. Gerry Penserga and Dr. Mayong Rodriguez. At right, the Gomez couple wth Mayor Ramon Oate and Vice Mayor George Arevalo during the turnover of 20 motorboats to fishers in Palompon town.

see LUCY p. 9

BY LaLaiNe M. JiMeNea

ORMOC CITY It was the anathema of the known Filipino machismo, but men folk of Brgy. Naungan and San Juan here visibly cried as their leader made a tearful speech, thanking the Rotary Club of Makati South and Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez for giving them motorized bancas on the morning of Tuesday, March 11, 2014.

In the vernacular, Naungan-San Juan Man-grove Planters Association (NASAMPA) president Re-nato Quilay said the motor-ized bancas will not only give them back their liveli-hood, but it also gave them hope and faith in the good-ness of men.

Di gyod ni nako maka-limtan nga adlaw sa ako kinabuhi, Maam, Sir. Amo ni himoong holiday sa ako pamilya. Ako gyod sugin-lan ang ako mga anak, mga apo, og mga anak sa akong mga apo kabahin ning adlawa nga gihatagan mi og Bangka sa among con-gresswoman nga gwapa na kaayo, bulawanon pa ang

dughan, he said. (I will never forget this day in my life. I will make this day (March 11) a holiday for my family and I will tell them about this day when our beautiful congresswoman and people with golden hearts gave us our lives back through a motorized boat.)

At his back were his members who tried to hide their tears unsuccessfully. It was an emotional moment that Rep. Lucy T. Gomez, at loss on what to say, just hugged Quilay.

I was very touched at his words, said Lucy, and hearing him seeing them in tears, so thankful and happy, just makes all the hard work worth it.

There was a light mo-ment , however, when Quilay mentioned that even if fishing nets were not in-cluded in the gift of hope they got, they will find a way to put it to use imme-diately. It elicited laughter from the guests because they knew it was his way of asking for it.

50 bancas with Honda engines at P 32,000 each were distributed to the NA-SAMPA today. There were more to come, Rep. Gomez said.

The motorized ban-cas were donations from the Rotary Club of Makati South and its sister clubs from other parts of the world that they coursed through Lucys 6,200: Mis-sion Possible. The sister clubs are the Rotary Clubs of Tokyo Jonan, Hapan; Jakarta Gambir, Indonesia; West Lake Village, Cali-fornia; Tanglin, Singapore; Gumbak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Rep. Gomez said Ro-tary Club of Makati was the first donor of motorboats who called her, signifying they wanted to help her district. It was another answered prayer, she said.

The Leyte congress-woman has since launched 6200: Mission Possible, aiming to raise 6,200 motor-boats for her constituents.

The UN-Commission on Human Rights turns over 500 chainsaws from the Swedish power tool company Husqvarna to the International Organization on Migration (IOM) and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) on Friday, March 14, in Ormoc City. (L-R) Jaime Nunez, PCA officer for West Leyte and Biliran, Caroline Blay of UNCHR, Christy Marfil of IOM, and Ashley Clements of UN-OCHA in Ormoc.

ORMOC CITY The UN Commis-sion on Human Rights (UNCHR) turned over to the International Or-ganization on Mi-gration and the Philippine Co-conut Authority some 500 chain-s a w s d o n a t e d by the Swedish power tool pro-ducer Husqvarna on Friday, March 14, during a Me-dia Orientation on Humanitar-ian System and Y o l a n d a R e -sponse organized by the UN-OCHA.

The chainsaws are the latest of non-food interven-tions that the UNCHR is giving to Yolanda victims in Leyte Province, to help affected communities get

back on their feet and hasten shelter completion.

The turnover was done by Caroline Blay of UN-HCR-Ormoc to the IOM represented by Christy Marfil and the PCA, rep-resented by Jaime Nuez.

The IOM is the co-lead in the clusters for shelter and camp coordination and management. Standing as witness to the donation was Ashley Clements, head of

2 NEWS March 10-16, 2014

New Zealand commits 2.5-million dollars for agricultural rehabilitation through FAO

Ormoc now has P 8.415-Million in donations

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Farmers pose with New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines Reuben Levermore, NZ Civil Defence Minister Nikki Kaye, FAOs representative to the Phils. Rajendra Aryal (2nd, 3rd, 4th from left). Flanking them are DA assistant regional director Ismael Aya-ay and Dr. Jennylyn Ruiz-Almeria.

PALO, LEYTE New Zea-land Minister of Civil De-fence Nikki Kaye announced during a meeting with vil-lagers in a Yolanda-affected farming community here on the afternoon of Sunday, March 16, that their govern-ment is giving 2.5-million NZ dollars to restore their livelihoods and farms. In Philippine peso, the amount is P 96-million.

The aid is on top of the 5-million NZ dollars the coun-try immediately donated for emergency relief aid, she told villagers of Brgy. Gacao, this town.

The 2.5-million dollars ag-ricultural aid would be coursed through UNs Food and Agri-cultural Organization, just like their previous donation for relief aid was coursed through international NGOs like Ox-

fam and the like. Rajendra Aryal, FAO rep-

resentative to the Philippines, said that the money would be used to help the farmers restore their farms, replant it, buy tools and farm animals. Necessary trainings would also be held for both the farmers and agri-cultural technicians.

Minister Kaye, on the other hand, said that New Zealand, being an agricultural country, feel they can impart their knowledge in the area. She shared that they also have had their share of tragedies which they are still recovering from, the most severe in recent years was the Christchurch earth-quake. We are still rebuilding but more important than build-ings are the lives of people, she said.

Our hearts are with you, she added, and this time, we

are putting our money into it. She emphasized that her

presence in the village was a show of how committed they are to help the villagers but added they did not want to impose the solutions to their problems but would rather that the approach taken is community-based.

It was also learned that aside from the emergency aid released by the NZ govern-ment to international NGOs that responded to the Yolanda situation, their government is also giving the Philippine gov-ernment an annual assistance of 4-million NZ dollars. Kaye said these funds could come handy to continue the work of the FAO if the emergency fund runs short.

The villagers of Gacao warmly welcomed Minister Kaye and NZ Ambassador

to the Philippines Reuben Levermore. Also with them was Rajendra Aryal, FAO representative to the Philip-pines, and assistant regional directors Ismael Aya-ay and Dr. Jennylyn Ruiz-Almeria of the Department of Agriculture.

In an interview with one villager, Leopoldo Morbos, 49, he was very thankful at the intervention of international NGOs. He was looking for-ward to the farming interven-tions that the FAO would be giving them.

Morbos has 10 children. He has a rice and coconut farm. His rice, already harvest-able when Yolanda slammed through last November 8, are all gone. All of his coconut trees, about 100, are totally damaged.

The farmer Morbos said that he used to have a reason-able income from selling tuba, at P 300 per Jerry can before Yolanda. He could have made a killing now because tuba is being sold at P 300 a gallon or P 1,000.00 for one Jerry can, but the problem is, he does not even have one tree to gather tuba from.

He was able to send all of his children to school. In fact, two have graduated from col-lege and were already helping them with the daily expenses. However, both lost their jobs after Yolanda. Now, he said, except for the rice supply that they are getting from relief organizations and a small veg-etable patch, he does not know what to do.

Another villager, Estelita Ladrera, 60, said that among their biggest needs in Brgy. Gacao is shelter assistance. Pointing to the houses nearby, she swears that they have not received any sim or GI sheets and most of them are making do with trapal or plastic sheets for their roofs.

PALOMPON - FOUR months after the Super Typhoon Yolanda (Inter-national name Haiyan) devastated Philippines, the Leyteos are now recuper-ating.

As the Department of Interior and Local Govern-ment (DILG) launches its economic recovery plans, efforts supporting Leytes tourism industry started this week.

This week, the DILG regional office turned over 10 stand-up paddle boats and glamping tents funded by the Canadian Government through the Local Gover-nance Support Program for Local Economic Development (LGSP-LED).

The Palompon Municipal Ecotourism Council (PMETC), Inc. received the equipment through a turnover ceremony held at the towns Tourism Building. The PMETC is a private sec-tor partner of the Municipality of Palompon in managing the

DILG turns over 10 paddle boats to Palompon, another 10 for Ormoc slated

Palompon folk scrutinize the paddle boats.

see paLOMpON p. 9

tourism activities in Kalanggaman Island.LGSP-LED is working with the Province of Leyte to

revitalize key attraction sites along the North West (NW) Leyte Tourism Circuit in order to invite tourists to go back

ORMOC CITY now has P 8,415,175.84 in a special account it opened with the Land Bank of the Philippines, for cash and check donations from various donors intended to help the LGU respond to the Yolanda crisis.

The generated donations cover the period from November 8 to March 4, according to a signed report by city treasurer Angelo Roman obtained from councilor Vincent Rama.

The top four donors are the City Government of General Santos City which gave P 1.5-million; and the LGUs of Cebu City, the Province of Bukidnon and the City of San Juan which gave P 1-million each.

First to donate was the LGU of Cebu City which gave their donation on November 12. Mayor Mike Rama himself personally delivered the check to the City Hall.

However, the publicized P 3-million from Davao City, as allegedly announced by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte through the national media, has yet to materialize.

Mostly, the donors were LGUs, among them the City of Mandaue (P 600,000); Valenzuela (P 500,000); Province of Misamis Occidental (P 500,000); Panabo City, Davao del Norte (P 400,000); Gingoog City (300,000); Iligan City (250,000); Digos, Davao del Sur (P 200,000); Sto. Tomas, Batangas (P 200,000); and P 100,000 each from Pigcawayan in Cotabato, the Island Garden City of Samal, San Isidro in Davao Oriental, San Fernando in Pampanga. Maasin City in Southern Leyte gave P 50,000.

The LBP-Ormoc Branch also donated P 200,000 while Sena-tor Ramon Revilla and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez gave a combined amount of P 100,000.

Other donors are CFI Community-Ormoc and CFI Com-munity-Tacloban for P 50,000 each; John 15 Foundation which gave 750 US dollars or P 33,262.40; lawyers Thaddeus Alviso and Allan Fontansa gave P 10,000 each, and spouses Randy & Charlene Rautolo, P 5,000.

The DSWD Kalahi Pantawid of Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur donated P 3,082.75; Sixto Comia of NBI Manila, P 2,000;

Michael Curry, P 1000; Felix Mallen, 645.50 and Benjie Pore, P 100.

The deposits already earned an interest income of 415.09 but P 330 was deducted as cost of check stub.

All the com-mandments: You shall not com-mit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not cov-et, and so on, are summed up in this single command: You must love your neighbor as yourself.

-Jesus Christ

3March 10-16, 2014 NEWS

DAR Secretary issues AO to govern coco holdings

ORMOC CITY As part of their efforts to help farmers in the Eastern Visayas recov-er from Typhoon Yolanda, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is going on an all-out campaign to in-form tenants and owners of coconut lands the provisions of an administrative order issuing rules and regulations on leasehold operations in tenanted coconut lands.

It was signed by DAR Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes on February 26 and published on March 4. It will take effect on March 14, Friday, and by Saturday, the DAR regional office will be holding its first conference with landowners hereabouts to inform them of its provisions.

DAR regional director Eliasem Castillo said that by March 17, Monday, their office would hold pulong-pulong or consultations at the barangay levels in all towns in Leyte, Samar and Biliran.

This is to ensure that the in-formation is well-disseminated to avoid conflicts in the future.

Registered landowners and tenants were oriented of the administrative order and it was made clear that the AO does not only protect the rights of the tenants but also landowners. DAR officers appealed to both parties to settle amicably at all times and for landowners to follow the law in ejecting erring tenants.

However, they have not re-ceived any complaints yet. The AO, he said, addresses pos-sible situations that could crop up, which answers scenarios raised in an earlier consultation with coconut farmers attended by the Secretary himself.

Former DAR Usec. Au-gusto Quijano, now a legal consultant of DAR, explained its provisions to media during a conference in the evening of March 11 at the Sabin Resort Hotel. He added the AO is there to stay even after Yolan-da to cover affected coco-nut farmers during fortuitous events and natural disasters.

The AO aims to protect tenants of coco lands with leasehold agreements with the landowners. The AO was an offshoot of an earlier con-sultation with them led by the Agrarian Secretary himself.

The rules strictly prohibits ejectment and dispossession of the tenants just because they cannot pay their lease, which is the case now after Yolanda. It also gives the ten-ant a foothold to re-negotiate

a new leasehold agreement with the landowner, to include a change of crops meantime they are waiting for the coco-nuts to recover.

The AO further provides that consideration for the lease shall not be more than the equivalent of 25% of the aver-age harvest during the past three years after said fortuitous events happened.

Partially damaged coconut trees will take 2 to 3 years be-fore they bear fruit again, said DAR regional director Eliasem Castillo.

Totally damaged trees, on the other hand, are not totally useless, Castillo added, as it can be used as coco lumber.

The AO also covers this. After deducting the cost of cutting it up to lumber, trans-port and hauling are deducted and reimbursed to whoever shouldered it, the tenant and his landowner will divide the proceeds with the tenant get-ting the lions share of not less than 75%.

It was also learned that dur-ing the consultation, there were

questions raised as to where the tenants would remit their payments in case the landown-ers are incommunicado. In the case of Yolanda, some land-owners could be among the more than 6,000 who perished in the storm surges.

The AO again provides an answer to this. All the tenant has to do is to go to the nearest Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer (MARPO) to report the problem. Then he deposits the 25% due to the landowner at the nearest LandBank.

DAR regional director said their office had to issue the AO to answer to the plight of coco-nut farmers. The major crop in Eastern Visayas, he said, was coconut.

Of the 92 Agrarian Reform Communities in Leyte, Samar and Eastern Samar, which were badly hit by Yolanda, 49 were severely affected. This translates to 58,416 agrarian reform beneficiaries and their families from the 112,000 ARBs, 29,000 of who are se-verely affected. By LMJ

Sagip Kapamilya Fdn. donates 2 buildings to NOCNHSA CEREMONIAL ground breaking of two 4-class-room buildings donated by ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya Foundation to New Ormoc City National High School was held last March 11.

Sagip Kapamilya Foun-dation, through the Energy Development Corporation (EDC), partnered with the Department of Education to provide eight additional class-rooms for the New Ormoc City National High School (NOCNHS).

The construction, with 90 days target completion, is set to start this month. The proj-ects budget is yet to be fixed as the design is still evolving and the cost might get higher, says EDC Project leader Edwin Magallanes.

Magal lanes said that NOCNHS was chosen as first recipient of their Schools Re-building Program because it

Dropping the time capsule during the ground breaking are (from left): DepEd Superintendent Dr. Marissa Magan, Ormoc City Mayor Edward Codilla, Kananga Mayor Elmer Codilla, EDC-LGBU Strategic Unit Head Rico Bersamin, EDC Leyte Rehabilitation and building Project Manager Leonardo Ablaza, NOCNHS PTA President Mrs. Amelia Ong, Brgy. Don Felipe Larrazal Chairman Angelita Melgazo, NOCNHS Principal Imelda Amodia, NOCNHS SSG President Alexis Isabela Gabrielle Durog.

see saGip p. 9

UN-OCHA, international NGOs orient media on the dynamics of humanitarian response

THE DANGEROUS thing during an emergency are rumors, said UN-OCHA Public Information Officer Anne Skatvedt during the Orientation for Media on Humanitarian System and Yolanda response held at the Sabin Resort Hotel on March 14.

The orientation, organized by the United Nations Office of

the Coordination for Humani-tarian Affairs (UN-OCHA), was intended to inform media practitioners hereabouts about the humanitarian system and its role during emergencies. Anne Skatvedt also empha-sized on the importance of humanitarian reporting, put-ting human interest into stories to uplift the spirit.

UN-OCHA, also briefed media of their role as a coor-dinating arm, with local and international agencies and non-governmental organiza-tions (NGOs).

It was learned that these agencies and NGOs, including international ones, are grouped into clusters according to their emergency response pri-orities to avoid overlapping of priorities during a crisis situation. Some of the clusters are classified as Health, Educa-tion, Nutrition, Shelter, Water and Sanitation Health (WASH) and Child Protection, among others.

UN-OCHA presented to participants the statistics ac-cumulated from the beginning of their Yolanda humanitarian response here in Leyte.

Accordingly, they request-ed US $788-M but polled only around $370-M. Thats only 47% of the requested fund, said Ashley Clements, head of UN-OCHA in Ormoc.

Of the US $370-millon, 32% of that comes from pri-vate individuals and organiza-tions, 11% from United States, another 11% from the United Kingdom, another 7% from

Anne Skatvedt of UN-OCHA.

Japan, 5% from Australia and 7% from CERF. The Central Emergency Response Fund or CERF, said Ashley Clements, are pooled funds from various sources that can be accessed for emergency purposes, in the meantime the UN is still calling out for donations.

The donations, he said, has helped 4 million displaced people and 1 million damaged

houses due to the typhoon. UNOCHA has given food assistance to the 4 million people, given seeds to 44,000 families, given basic emergen-cy shelter materials to 500,000 households, screened 97,000 children for malnutrition, pro-vided learning materials to 420,000 children and gave temporary shelters to 140,000 families.

After the UNOCHAs pre-sentation, cluster coordinators from their partner agencies also discussed their respective humanitarian system and re-sponse. Representatives from International Medical Corps, Save the Children, UNHCR, WASH and International Orga-nization for Migration briefed participants of their respective mandates.

During the Q&A time, the participants raised various concerns and deliberated on parameters on how to deliver information and psychosocial support to the community despite being victims of the disaster themselves.

It was learned that in times of crisis such as that of Yolan-da, accurate information is as crucial as food and shelter, and that communication is aid; to tell positive stories and to be result-oriented.

Meanwhile, the UN-OCHA head of challenged mediamen to shed light on issues that the community dont know and highlight them in stories; otherwise, it will continue to be a problem. By Jhay Gaspar

For the Yolanda response, US $788-M was targetted to be raised from donors but polled only around $370-M. Thats only 47% of the requested fund, said Ashley Cle-ments, head of UN-OCHA in Ormoc.

4 March 10-16, 2014

Our lifelong warfare

LALAINE MARCOS-JIMENEAPublisher/Editor-in-Chief

JOSE SANRO C. JIMENEABusiness Manager

Correspondents/ Columnists: PAUL LIBRES, MUTYA COLLANDER, JHAY GASPAR, TED MARCOS, IVY CONG-SON, DR. MANUEL K. PALOMAR, Ph.D., VICKY C. ARNAIZ, JUAN MERCADO, JT DELOS ANGELES, ATTY. BEULAH COELI FIEL, RICARDO MARTINEZ, JR., FR. ROY CIMAGALA,, ATTY. CARLO LORETO, ATTY. EMMANUEL GOLO, ADELINA CARRENO, IIGO LARRAZABAL, YONG ROM, PROF. EDITHA CAGASAN

KEN ENECIOSection Editor

with MAI-MAI T. VELASQUEZ, GILBERT ABAO, EMIE CHU, DR. GERRY

PENSERGA, NIKKI TABUCANON SIA

Cartoonist: HARRY TEROWebsite address: http://www.evmailnews.comemail: [email protected] cc [email protected]

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(Balangiga, E. Samar) MARITESS MASENDO (Hilongos) CHARISA

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a member ofPHIL. PRESS INSTITUTE

Perfect Storm?

P 93-million plus P 8.4 million equals

1 dengue death?

see FR. ROY p. 5see VIEW FROM ORMOC

p. 9see MERCADO p. 5

WITH LENT in our midst, we should be reminded of our duty to hone up our skills in spiritual warfare. We should not let this Lenten season pass without doing anything to improve ourselves in this particular de-partment.

Christ already hinted this much when he said: From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent bear it away. (Mt 11,12)

We have to understand though that to be violent in this sense does not mean to be de-structive but rather constructive, driven by love and the desire to be united with God and with the others in a way proper to us as children of God and brothers and sisters among ourselves.

Our life here on earth cannot but be in some form of struggle. Aside from our innate urge to grow and develop that requires some effort, we also have to contend with enemies whose sole intent is precisely to bring us down, to divert us from our proper path toward holiness.

We are not simply ranged against natural dif-ficulties, challenges and trials in life, but rather with very powerful and subtle nemeses. The natural enemies alone are already formidable. St. John describes them this way:

For all that is in the world is the concupis-cence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. (1 Jn 2,16) Thats why we can talk easily about envy, jealousy, vanity, lust, greed, sloth, etc.

For this type of enemies alone, we need an extensive spiritual pharmacopeia and moral regimen to cleanse us of their affliction. Thats why we are encouraged, especially during Lent, to intensify our fasting and abstinence, and other forms of mortification. We should not take this indication lightly. They are very necessary.

Yes, we need to pray a lot and grow in the different virtues so we can be strong, optimistic and cheerful, prudent and capable of handling these challenges. We have to learn how to deal with our weaknesses and the usual temptations that come from the flesh and the world.

But we still have enemies tougher than these. As St. Paul said, Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principali-ties and power, against the rulers of the world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. (Eph 6,12)

This type of enemies affects us more deeply. They corrupt not only the body, but also our very spirit that is supposed to be our immediate and direct conduit with God. They bring our warfare from the arena of the natural to that of the spiritual and supernatural.

With these enemies, our intelligence and will, our thoughts and desires would then operate outside the context of Gods will. Our thoughts and desires would then be at the mercy of evil spirits that can only be handled properly if we also use spiritual and supernatural means, and not just some natural power.

When we fail to deliberately offer every-thing we think, say and do to God, as told to us in the gospel, then we open ourselves to the coming of another spirit that will offer us, at

FILIPINOS SHARE one common item in our everyday existence: rice, National Scientist Gelia Castillo wrote in her book on a cereal that makes or breaks presidents. Rice In Our Life reviewed three decades of studies into rice that was sown, between 6,000 BC and 400 AD, in Ifugao to Lucena.

Rice self-sufficiency has been an upward moving target, always out of reach, even as we calculate we are only three percent short, she wrote . Seared deep in the psyche of Filipino politicians are crises when we could not find rice, even if we had the money to buy it.

Unseasonal storms, meanwhile, ripped up the old rice calculus. Sendong tore into Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in 2011, leaving 1,080 corpses. Typhoon Pablo later clobbered Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental.

This shattered the historical pattern of one typhoon cutting through Mindanaos breadbas-ket every 18 years. Then, the Bohol earthquake and Super-typhoon Yolanda, last November, savaged farms.

Only 97 percent sufficiency was attainable for 2013, Agriculture Department conceded. National Food Authority opened the applica-tions for imports, for use and as buffer stock. Ayaw magsaligan ring tiyan, sa anat ibang taegsan, an Aklan proverb says. Dont count on someone elses rice bin for what you eat.

The immediate, however, can blur the long term threats. The number of crop species that now feed more people than half a century ago, is shrinking. Rice, wheat, sugar and potatoes form a new globalized diet.

Over the past 50 years, diets around the world have become more similar, notes Colombia-based International Center for Tropi-cal Agricultures Colin Khoury. Todays diet includes staples that were not important half a century ago, particularly oil crops like soybean.

Other crops however declined, including sweet potatoes, cassava, yams and millets. This narrowing base raises concerns about the global food systems resilience.

Another danger is a more homogeneous global food basket makes agriculture more vul-nerable to drought, insect pests and diseases, Luigi Guarino, from Global Crop Diversity told BBCs environment reporter Mark Kinver.

Diversity of cultivated crops, in fact, de-clined by 75 per cent during the 20th century, UN Food and Agriculture Organization esti-mates. If this slide persists, a third of todays

diversity could disappear by 2050.Seepage of crop diversity also jacks up the

number of people that are exposed to harvest failures. And climate change compounds the risk.

Warmer temperatures are causing malaria to spread to higher altitudes and once-disease free regions in Asia, South America and Af-rica, says the Science journal. A 1 C rise in temperature could lead to an additional three million cases in a year, cautions University of Michigans Mercedes Pascual.

The Philippines targets nationwide malaria elimination by 2020. But it still lacks a long term domestic program even as international funding dwindles.

A perfect storm of growing populations, climate change and diminishing resources for food production confronts the world, warns the new Foresight Report on Food and Farming Futures, commissioned by the United King-dom. The two-year study involved 400 experts from 35 countries.

Do we have 20 years to arguably deliver 40 percent more food; 30 percent more fresh water and double energy output? asks the UKs chief scientific adviser, Sir John Beddington. The current system must be radically rede-signed to produce more food sustainably. We cant wait ...

There is an urgency in taking what may be very difficult policy decisions, he adds. The food system is working for the better off..... But those at risk of hunger have least influence on decision-making. The UK recommends that the most resource-intensive types of food be curbed. Waste in food production has to be radically curbed.

Yearly, the Philippines loses a million metric tons of already-harvested rice, from slipshod processing to shabby storage. Cabbage spoilage mars a third of harvests, UP Los Baos studies found. Fish losses crest at 40 percent.

Consumers in rich countries junk as much food as sub-Saharan Africa produces. Wasting food is stealing from tables of the poor, Pope Francis told a UN World Environment Day audi-ence. A culture of waste is despicable when many suffer from hunger. Our grandparents were very careful not to throw leftover food.

WHILE COVERING the session this week, councilor Vincent Rama handed me a paper containing the report of city treasurer Angelo Roman on how much the city already got from money donations. (see story on page 2 about the donors)

First, let us thank the donors for their generosity. Most are LGUs. There are also kindhearted individuals who gave from out of their pockets.

Aside from these generous donations, in-tended to help the city respond to the calamity, the city itself has P 93-million in calamity funds. Initially, it was thought to be P 130-million but after a thorough accounting of the funds, what was actually on hand as of December 2013 was P 93-M.

This is the money where the citys emergen-cy purchases like the P 50,000 a day for crude oil and gasoline for the six water sources come from. There has been no liquidation shown of the money yet, I was told.

However, despite having such funds, the city already has posted one dengue fatality.

In his report before media during a UN-OCHA affair, sanitation inspector Rolando Quilantang reported that Ormoc already posted its first fatality this month. In January, there were 164 cases while there were 133 cases for February.

The dengue outbreak last December which spiked to an all time high by January was declared a calamity already by the City Di-saster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC), in its full council meeting held last February 7 yet.

With the declaration, a report by Dr. Nelita Navales was adopted, including a recommenda-tion to buy Temephos, a larvicide. The larvicide is to be sprinkled on where clean water stag-nates because it becomes the breeding ground of mosquitoes, especially Aedis Egypti kind which is the vector of dengue and a cousin, Chikungunya.

At this juncture, I recall Quilantangs Power-Point spell it as Chickengunya which made it seem it was a disease affecting chickens, L-O-L.

To recall, CDRRMC approved the release of funds to purchase Temephos, which by the way, IPI is offering at cost. Commercially, this larvi-cide is being sold at P 3,000 per kilo. But IPI, owned by the very generous Rotarian Bobong Castillo who has even lent his huge property in Tacloban for the temporary housing of Yolanda victims, is selling it at cost (P 315.00 per kilo) to help combat dengue.

I came to know this week that the larvicide has not yet been bought as wa pay P.O.. Com-pounding the problem is that the Commission on Audit (COA) has reportedly told Navales that her recommendation to hire 100 people to do apply larvicide simultaneously in the citys barangays had no legal basis.

I learned this during the councils discus-sion about the matter. Dr. Mario Rodriguez reported that he got the said information from Dr. Nelita Navales. At that time, he even said

The Gospel on Sunday

MARCH 23, 20143rd Sunday of Lent

5March 10-16, 2014

Perfect PitchSt. Joseph: The least heard of the saints

FR. ROY ... from P. 4

MERCADO ... from P. 4

WE ALL know the circumstances that pro-pelled St. Joseph to an enviable accolade; after all, he was the foster Father of Jesus Christ, who redeemed mankind from the abyss it was headed due to sin. And as such, he was also the husband of Mama Mary which in itself is quite a feat and an honor.

There was a time when the young girls were dreaming to be the mother of Jesus Christ as foretold by the prophets. The young girls were vying for such an honor. Little did they know that the honor was already earmarked to Mary who was already chosen by God the Father even when she was yet in the womb of her mother. To be the mother of Jesus, she had to be spotless. The title Immaculate Conception was to be bestowed on her because Jesus Christ cannot be born to a young girl who was not clean, one who is not free from sin.

Mama Mary is the Queen of Heaven and Earth. For those who pray the Rosary, all the attributes of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) is found in the Litany which follows after each recital. There are more than fifty of such ac-colade attributed to the BVM. The Rosary is considered the highest form of prayer; second only to the holy sacrifice of the mass; it is like a small Bible.

There are two people in the Bible with the name of Joseph which this corner would like to dwell on. There is one which is quite popular in the play entitled Joseph the Dreamer. He is the youngest of 12 brothers with 2 mothers. He was hated by his older brothers because of his many dreams that depict him as a person where his elders would bow to him. Moreover, he was also the pet of his father, Jacob, who made him a robe with several colors which made his broth-ers envious of him all the more. They could no longer hold their hatred for him. The opportunty came for them to dispose of him by killing him and telling their father that he was devoured by wild beasts. They changed their plan to a lesser evil: selling him as a slave due to the urging of Reuben (who was friendly to Joseph). It was his destiny that he will become an officer, in fact a Governor of the Pharaoh, because the Lord was with him. The complete narrative of him can be found in Genesis from Chapter 37 onwards. It is a beautiful narrative in which his brothers, the very ones who hated him, were made to eventually realize their biggest blunder. It was here that Joseph showed his humility by telling his brothers not to worry about what they did

because it was Gods plan to save them from the famine that lasted seven years.

The other Joseph is the direct descendant of David who was betrothed to Mary who was already chosen by God the Father. When he found out that she was carrying a child not by him, he could have denounced her. She would have been stoned to death because this was the penalty for infidelity. What did he do to exercise his right as husband? Not only did he remain silent, he was even willing to leave her without creating noise.

Here in Ormoc City, he was the equivalent of a turutot, an under the saya or what is termed USAFE for under the saya forever and ever. Jewish law would have demanded stoning. But this is the kind that saintly people are made of. Considering that it was what made him ten feet tall, and considering that he was eventually elevated to be the Patron Saint of the whole Catholic Church, there is not much about him that can be found in the Bible. His death was never mentioned. There is an entry in the Concordance that claim he must have died during the three years of the public ministry of Jesus Christ because of the term that Jesus Christ is the son of a carpenter. If we use that as our yardstick, then Mama Mary was already a widow during the time when Jesus went through with his Passion on the Cross. With the death of Jesus on the Cross, she became a loner. She was only 48 years old when she died. She was wed at 15 yrs and Jesus died at age 33: not so young and not so old.

St. Josephs feast day is this coming 19th March. To all graduates of the University of San JoseRecoletos (USJ-R), this day is very memo-rable because it is its College day. This corner, along with three other brothers was enrolled during its founding in 1946. This year makes it its 68th anniversary. At that time, the school gave free scholarship to one of four brothers who enrol at the same time. The privilege was given to me, but eventually given to my next in line Tony - when I earned my own scholar-ship on my merits. Tony passed away last year. Bless his soul!

Being a Carpenter by profession, it follows that St. Joseph is the Patron Saint for the labor sector. The Church therefore celebrates two masses in honor of St. Joseph on the 19th March and on 1st May.

first, a lot of attraction and allurement, until we are so enslaved by it that it would be very difficult for us to detach ourselves from it.

Thats why today we have such phenomena as atheism, agnosticism, materialism, and other forms of ungodliness, with their corresponding manifestations, such as, the legalization of abor-tion, the spreading culture of death, all forms of corruption, etc.

This big and open hostility against God and also against our nature always starts in a small, unobtrusive way, cleverly spiced and glibly packaged to grab our attention. We have to be most wary of these little openings to sin by mak-ing our conscience more refined and sensitive,

Our so-called food surpluses are a mirage, former FAO agricultural economist Ti Teow Choo stressed. Increase purchasing power of todays poor even marginally. Then, those impressive stockpiles would be bought out overnight by people who needed the food but could not afford it.

Government is trying to whittle down the poverty rate from 25 percent in 2012 to 16 percent by 2016. When President Benigno Aquino III steps down, he hopes therell be

and by growing in the virtues.We have to understand that at every point

of our life is always a choice between God and ourselves, between God and the devil, between God and the world. We have to be humble enough to choose God always.

The humility involved here would lead us to feel the need to continue asking for the grace of God, since without him, we can accomplish nothing that would bring us to our eternal life.

The humility involved here would lead us also to trust in God, especially when we see our own weaknesses, mistakes, failures. With such trust, we simply begin and begin again in our struggles. Email: [email protected]

fuller rice bins.What if Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jing-

goy Estrada and Bong Revilla funneled their pork chunks to curbing post harvest rice losses, reducing fish and vegetable spoilage? Theyd have had the blessing promised to those who gave the hungry to eat.

Instead, they chose to sow the wind with fake NGOs. Ironically, they dont have a clue why theyre reaping the whirlwind of what is a perfect storm.

RANDY JACKSON, former judge of Ameri-can Idol, used to comment to a contestant that he or she is pitchy. I dont exactly under-stand what it means but it is obviously not good. Turning to science, researchers have found that a drug known as valproate (or valproic acid) might help people learn how to produce perfect pitch.

Besides the assistance valproate could give to The Voice of the Philippines contestants, the study is intriguing because it suggests the adult brain can learn better and faster through drugs that enhance its neuroplasticity.

Perfect pitch, which scientists refer to as absolute pitch, is the rare ability to identify or produce the pitch of a musical note without any reference point. Experts believe that the ability to produce absolute pitch may be a genetic trait that must be nurtured through musical training in early childhood or its unlikely to develop.

Young children are known to have an un-usual degree of neuroplasticity, which enables them to pick up languages and other skills much more easily than adults, play a new musical instrument or learn other new skills.

But the latest study into the development of absolute pitch suggests that neuroplasticity isnt necessarily a closed window after childhood, and valproate might help open that window.

Valproate belongs to a class of drugs known as histone deacetylase inhibitors. Mar-keted under the names Depakote, Depacon and Stavzor, valproate has been used for years to treat migraines, epileptic seizures and mood disorders, including bipolar disorder. (The drug is not recommended for women who might be pregnant, because it can cause decreased IQ and

other developmental problems in newborns.)Earlier research in rats had suggested that

histone deacetylase inhibitors might help the animals recover from neural deficits induced by limiting vision in one eye. The drugs seem to work through epigenetics, the external modifi-cations to DNA that switch certain genes on or off.

To build on this earlier research, and to test the hypothesis that psychoactive drugs might enhance neuroplasticity, researchers gathered volunteers and gave them either a placebo or valproate for two weeks.

After two weeks of taking either valpro-ate or a placebo, the volunteers were asked to identify pitch tones: Those who had taken valproate learned how to identify absolute pitch and scored significantly higher than those who had taken the placebo.

Valproate is a mood-stabilizing drug but it also restores the plasticity of the brain to a juvenile state. This finding suggests that val-proate could have some use in teaching adults skills that they would otherwise have difficulty mastering.

But the drug has two common side effects - stomach pain and rapid hair loss. Perhaps a bit of off key singing is not so bad after all.

Besides, the use of any drug to enhance learning by inducing greater neuroplasticity also poses some ethical issues. Critical periods have evolved for a reason, and it is a process that one probably would not want to tamper with carelessly.

John 4: 5 - 15, 19 - 26, 39 - 42So he came to a city of Samaria, called

Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacobs well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, `Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.

The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?

Jesus said to her, Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling

up to eternal life.The woman said to him, Sir, give me

this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you wor-ship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worship-ers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things.

Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he.

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the womans testimony, He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.Chikadora Momentz

OVERHEARD. A manager of a util-ity firm here has been branded by the bugoy in his neighborhood as having a stiff neck already. Di na daw man-aged, labi na og singitan kun kumusta na daw mga buhay-buhay? Paspas buhay-buhay, hinay ang trabaho, they said. Guess who?

rrrLEGITIMATE CONCERN. Some

people are asking if the so-called contractors of LEYECO V are paying their taxes to BIR? Some of them re-

portedly made a killing in the recent months, ngano daw dili maoy gukdon sa BIR?

Theyve got a point here. Calling the attention of Atty. Otero, our very abtik nga RDO!

rrrILLEGITIMATE CONCERN. Naay

nagbuwag nga mag-asawa. Di na ka-hibudngan. Ang kahibudngan, gwapa man unta si girl and the boy is not that gwapo. Pero guess kinsay gi-alisdan?

6 NEWS March 10-16, 2014

ORMOC CITY A member of the royal family of Malaysia and a past international director of the Lions International was in the city this week to lead relief efforts here, in Tacloban City and in Biliran province.

Ellis Suyirate Omar, a Malaysian princess and a past international director of District 302 B2 of Malaysia, told members of the receiving Ormoc Host, Ormoc Supreme and Ormoc Ultimate Lions Clubs here that she wanted to be incognito during her stay. Members said she only had one bodyguard with her and very casual, relaxed and approachable.

Together with members of her district, the Malaysian royalty partnered with District 301 AI Philippines led by Past District Governor Robert Sy and wife, Marissa Sy, to distribute P 2.68-mil-lion worth of relief assistance and intervention to victims of super-typhoon Yolanda in Ormoc, Tacloban and Biliran.

Alfred delos Santos of the Ormoc Supreme Li-ons Club said that the partys first engagement was in Biliran where they distributed relief goods and livelihood intervention. An employee of the Parole and Probation Office, delos Santos convinced the Malaysian district to help their clients turn a new leaf by giving them livelihood opportunities.

In Naval, Biliran, the Malaysian group together with their hosts inaugurated the Furniture Shop of the Biliran PPO where they donated power tools and a sewing machine to help parolees who wanted to become furniture makers They also distributed 14 motorized fishing boats and 10 fishnets and kitang (multi-pronged fishing hooks) to selected beneficiaries, also parolees.

They also distributed relief packs to the families at Brgy. Larrazabal.

Back here in Ormoc, they gave out relief packs to affected families at Brgy. Camp Downes and three sewing machines.

ACTOR RICHARD Gomez, who ran as mayor of Ormoc City last May 2013 elections, will be wearing the Philip-pine colors when he joins the countrys national vol-leyball team at the inaugural Asian Mens Club Volleyball Championship next month.

Richard Gomez, 47, told media age wont be a factor, and that he secured his place in the Philippine team by going through the team tryouts. The challenge of keeping up with the younger players pushed Gomez even more to show his best and is happy he got the slot.

This is the 4th time that Gomez is represented the Philippines. His first foray was rowing, followed by fencing and shooting. He is the first Filipino athlete to represent the country in four sporting events.

The Asian Mens Club Volleyball Championship will take place at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena and Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City from April 8 to 16.

Among those who made it to the national team, which will be bankrolled by the PLDT Home TVolution, are Australian reinforcements

Richard Gomez makes it to the Philippine volleyball team, dons natl colors for the 4th time

Cedric Legrand and William Robert Lewis.

The rest, coached by Fran-cis Vicente, are JP Torres, Ronjay Galang, Jeffrey Mala-banan, Alnakaran Abdilla, Jason Ramos and Rodolfo Labrador.

Already, 18 countries have signed up for the volleyball tourney, the biggest interna-tional volleyball tournament in the Philippines in years.

Vicente also told media that he hopes to recruit more players from the UAAP includ-

ing National Universitys Peter Torres, UAAP rookie MVP Mark Espejo and Rex Intal of Ateneo, Jay dela Cruz and Ed-mar Castro of Perpetual Help.

He only wants the best, he said. Only the best and dedi-cated players will be chosen because we want to form a very competitive team for this tournament, he added during the launch held at SM Aura.

The PLDT Home TVolu-tion team has been bracketed with Iraq, Kuwait and Mon-golia in Group A. The other

brackets are Iran, Japan, Leba-non and Vietnam in Group B, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Oman, Hong Kong and Turkmenistan in in Group C and United Arab Emirates, India, Papua New Guinea and Chinese Taipei in Group D.

PLDT Home Fibr is also supporting the womens PLDT Home TVolution squad and sending it to compete in the 2014 Asian Womens Club Volleyball Championship in Nakhonpathom, Thailand set from April 17-25. PR

Malaysian Princess leads Lions relief operations in Ormoc, Tacloban and Biliran

Councilor Cristina Romualdez leads Womens Month celebration in Tacloban

TACLOBAN CITY As an advocate on womens welfare, particularly the drive against domestic violence and human trafficking, Councilor Cristina G. Romualdez joins women from all over the world in cel-ebrating Womens Month.

On March 8, International Womens Day, the lady councilor kicked off the event with a fun walk around the citys main thoroughfares, followed by a short program at the city hall grounds. This years national theme is, Juana, ang tatag mo ay tatag natin sa pagbangon at pagsulong.

In her speech, Councilor Cristina enjoins women to know their rights and empower themselves so as not to be abused. She also urged them to fight for their family rights and welfare.

Councilor Romualdez informed them that Tacloban has a shelter home for abused mothers and children, where they can go to in case this happened to them. Their, which would be a safe haven for them, social welfare experts and medical professionals can assist them. At the haven, she added, their friends and neighbors can visit them to lend moral support

LAST DECEMBER, Mrs. Paula Locsin-Bondoc, the younger sister of Ormoc Vice-Mayor Toto Locsin Jr., embarked on a fund-raising raffle to raise shel-ter kits for residents of Ormoc.

Using the power of so-cial media, Paula spread the word about the fund-raiser through a Facebook page called Help Rebuild Homes for Ormoc.

The fund-raising cam-paign drew the attention of Paulas friends, who donated a variety of prizes to make it more attractive. Tickets were sold at P 500 each.

Truly enough, with the attractive prizes up for grabs, the raffle was able to raise an ample amount from the ticket sales. It was held on Jan 18, 2014, a Saturday, at 3:00 PM at the MUNCHTOWN in Greenhills.

Immediately, the funds raised were used to buy GI sheets and other building materials to meet the shelter needs of Ormoc residents, which still is a pressing need until now.

The Locsin family started distributing the core shel-

Locsins Help Rebuild Homes for Ormoc raffle fund-raiser puts roof over the heads of Ormocanons

Photos show Mrs. Vicky Locsin, Vice-Mayor Toto Locsin Jr.s mom, personally leading the distribution of GI sheets and other rebuilding materials to constituents at Brgy. Nueva Vista (top photos) and Patag (bottom). The Vice Mayors family, aside from generating funds from a raffle, also generated many donations for Ormoc from friends.

ter kits end of February and early March.

If Vice-Mayor Toto Locsin Jr. is not available, his mother, former Ormoc mayor and congresswoman Vicky Locsin takes over the task. The vice-mayors staff often assists in the distribution which are done

on weekends. On his own, Vice Mayor

Toto Locsin Jr. has been gener-ating donations for Ormocan-ons. He recalls that one of his first acts after Yolanda hit the city was to write letters appeal-ing for seed donations from various companies. A farmer

before he joined politics, the vice mayor said he im-mediately saw by then that one of the pressing need of Ormoc, an agricultural city, was to plant cash crops to augment the income of the farmers whose farms were badly damaged.

Leyte Governor Mic L. Petilla receives the key for a donated ambulance from Dato Dr. Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus, president of Mercy Malaysian. The humanitarian organization also rehabilitated the operating and delivery rooms of the Leyte Provincial Hospital. Below, Gov. Petillla and Korean Ambassador Lee Hyuk tour the Korean Base Camp at the Government Center in Candahug, Palo, Leyte.

Palo Mayor Remedios Matin L. Petilla receives from Mr. Praveen Sheen, country head of EuroP2P Direct Inc., Tabletop water purifier and Tumblerwater Purifier. With them are Mr. Dipak Shinde, accounting and finance head and Mr. Allan Guinto, national sales manager. Photos by Gina P. Gerez

7March 10-16, 2014 PEOPLE, PLACES & Happenings

ORMOC CITY A member of the royal family of Malaysia and a past international director of the Lions International was in the city this week to lead relief efforts here, in Tacloban City and in Biliran province.

Ellis Suyirate Omar, a Malaysian princess and a past international director of District 302 B2 of Malaysia, told members of the receiving Ormoc Host, Ormoc Supreme and Ormoc Ultimate Lions Clubs here that she wanted to be incognito during her stay. Members said she only had one bodyguard with her and very casual, relaxed and approachable.

Together with members of her district, the Malaysian royalty partnered with District 301 AI Philippines led by Past District Governor Robert Sy and wife, Marissa Sy, to distribute P 2.68-mil-lion worth of relief assistance and intervention to victims of super-typhoon Yolanda in Ormoc, Tacloban and Biliran.

Alfred delos Santos of the Ormoc Supreme Li-ons Club said that the partys first engagement was in Biliran where they distributed relief goods and livelihood intervention. An employee of the Parole and Probation Office, delos Santos convinced the Malaysian district to help their clients turn a new leaf by giving them livelihood opportunities.

In Naval, Biliran, the Malaysian group together with their hosts inaugurated the Furniture Shop of the Biliran PPO where they donated power tools and a sewing machine to help parolees who wanted to become furniture makers They also distributed 14 motorized fishing boats and 10 fishnets and kitang (multi-pronged fishing hooks) to selected beneficiaries, also parolees.

They also distributed relief packs to the families at Brgy. Larrazabal.

Back here in Ormoc, they gave out relief packs to affected families at Brgy. Camp Downes and three sewing machines.

Malaysian Princess leads Lions relief operations in Ormoc, Tacloban and Biliran

The next day, the Malaysian Lions went to Brgy. San Jose in Tacloban City to distribute relief packs, 45 fishnets, 45 kitangs and toys to 400 children. They even did a feeding program. In Tacloban, the group was received by the Tacloban Host Lions.

On their last day here, the Malaysian Lions distributed eight fishing boats at the fishing communities of Naungan and Lao here, 53 kitang, three more sets of Singer sewing machines and a total of 1,500 relief packs. with Alfred delos Santos and Khryz Gonzales

Photos show the Malaysian Lions with their hosts in the various activities at Naval, Biliran. Big photo on top shows the cutting of the ribbon during the inauguration of the furniture shop

for parolees. With Ellis Suriyata Omar is Rosana Solite (3rd from left), assistant regional director of the PPO, who received the power tools for the furniture shop. Other photos show them in their various activities like distributing relief goods, posing with their bright yellow

motorized bancas. Last photo right shows the members of the Ormoc Supreme and Ormoc Ultimate Lions posing with their guests at the facade of the Sabin Resort Hotel.

Mindoro Oriental Province donates goods, educl supplies to 5 Albuera barangaysALBUERA, LEYTE The Pro-vincial Government of Oriental Mindoro donated relief goods, educational supplies and cash assistance to some barangays in this town on March 8 yet.

Leyte Vice Gov. Carlo Loreto said the assistance was person-ally turned over to 5 barangays in Albuera by Vice Governor Humerlito Bonz Dolor.

Dolor, it was learned, spear-headed a fund-raising fun run in their province called the KKK Run Adopt-a-Community and chosen as lucky recipient were the Albuera villages.

The proceeds of the fun run, said Loreto, was used by the vice-governor to buy relief goods and books and school supplies which were distributed to elementary pupils. In Cambalading, the vice-governor also turned over P 10,000 to the school principal to help repair their facilities, and another P 10,000 to the barangay.

Loreto said Dolor told him the cash was a prize his wife won as matron queen which she wanted to be donated to a deserving com-munity.

The Oriental Mindoro vice-gov-ernor and Loreto was received to Albuera by councilors Cathy Tolero and Dr. Rodanimod Cayanong and the village chairmen since other councilors were in Manila that time to attend the Philippine Councilors League national assembly. Mayor Junie dela Cerna was not also around.

Loreto extended his gratitude to Dolor for thinking about Albueras plight after Yolanda and also to the other LGUs who extended their help in one way or the other. By LMJ

At Brgy. Mahayag.

With very happy school kids at Cambalading.

Councilor Cristina Romualdez leads Womens Month celebration in Tacloban

so that they will not feel lonely. The Tacloban womens shelter is located at the foot of the City Hall

and just a few meters away from the Tacloban City police station. She established it four years ago with the full support of her husband, Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez.

In the country, March is Womens Month.The whole country is mandate to mark it with their own set of activities to boost women power.

The City of Tacloban, together with cause oriented groups who ad-vocate for women empowerment, celebrate the month with livelihood trainings in every barangay, medical missions, maternal child care health programs to include a campaign on awareness of womens health.

Some cause-oriented groups, on the other hand, express their advoca-cies through rallies and marches to call attention to the welfare of women who are a highly vulnerable sector, especially in after calamity situations where they have to fend for their children, look for food and ensure they have adequate shelter from the elements. By Gay B. Gaspay

8 NOTICES March 10-16, 2014

Republic of the Philippines SUPREME COURT Regional Trial Court Eight Judicial Region

Branch 17 Palompon, Leyte

SP. PROC. CASE NO. R-PAL-13-0397-SP FOR: CORRECTION OF ENTRY IN THE CER-

TIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH OF THE PETITIONER PERTAINING TO 5 (b) THEREOF

ELENA P. BASILIOPetitioner, -versus-

THE LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRAR OF VILLABA, LEYTE AND THE NATIONAL STATISTICS OF-FICE, represented by its Administrator and Civil

Registrar General, CARMELITA N. ERICTA

Respondents. x----------------------x

ORDER A verified petition having been filed with this

Court by petitioner, through counsel, Atty. Elroy Raymund S. Bertulfo, praying that after publication, notice and hearing an Order be issued directing the Local Civil Registrar of Villaba, Leyte and the Civil Registrar General, National Statistics Office to remove in the Certificate of Live Birth of the petitioner the check mark before the word First in the space num-bered 5 (b) in her Certificate of Live Birth relating to the statement IF MULTIPLE BIRTH, CHILD WAS as the check mark before the word First implies that the petitioner has at least a twin when in fact there is none.

As the petitioner appears to be sufficient in form and substance, the same is hereby set for initial hear-ing, pursuant to Section 4, Rule 108 of the Rules of Court on May 26, 2014 at 8:30 oclock in the morning at the Hall of Justice, Regional Trial Court, Branch 17, Palompon, Leyte at which date, time and place, any person may appear and show cause, if any why the petition should not be granted.

Let a copy of this Order be published at the expense of the petitioner in a newspaper of general circulation in the Province of Leyte, once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks, with the last publication to be made at least one week prior to the date set for initial hearing.

Furnish copies of this Order to the Office of the Solicitor General, the Local Civil Registrar of Villaba, Leyte, the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of Leyte, Atty. Elroy Raymund S. Bertulfo, Office of the Civil Registrar General, National Statistics Office and the petitioner.

SO ORDERED. Given in Chambers, this 18th day of February,

2014 at the Hall of Justice, Palompon, Leyte. (Sgd.) MARIO O. QUINIT

Presiding Judge Copy furnished: 1. Atty. Elroy Raymund S. Bertulfo Torres Bugallon St. Villaba, Leyte 2. The Office of the Solicitor General Manila 3. Pros. Lorna Pades Palompon, Leyte 4. National Statistics Office- Manila 5. Elena P. Basilio- Brgy. Tagbubunga, Villaba, Leyte 6. Local Civil Registrar of Villaba, Leyte 7. EV Mail, Ormoc CityEV Mail March 3-9, 10-16, & 17-23, 2014

Republic of the Philippines SUPREME COURT Regional Trial Court Eight Judicial Region

Branch 17 Palompon, Leyte

SP. PROC. CASE NO. R-PAL-14-0401-SPFOR: CHANGE OF NAME FROM CERIACO L. AGOSTO JR. TO CIRIACO L. AGOSTO JR. AND

CORRECTION OF DATE OF BIRTH FROM JANU-ARY 5, 1960 TO JULY 20, 1958 IN THE RECORD

OF BIRTH AND CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH OF THE PETITIONER

CERIACO L. AGOSTO JR. (a.k.a CIRIACO L. AGOSTO JR.)

Herein represented by his Attorney-in-fact,MARINA P. CALDERON

Petitioner, -versus-

THE LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRAR OF VILLABA, LEYTE AND THE OFFICE OF THE CIVIL REGIS-

TRAR GENERAL represented by the CIVIL REGIS-TRAR GENERAL CARMELITA N. ERECTA

Respondents. /---------------------/

ORDER A verified petition having been filed with this

Court by petitioner, through counsel, Atty. Elroy Raymund S. Bertulfo, praying that after publication, notice and hearing an Order be issued directing the Local Civil Registrar of Villaba, Leyte and the Civil Registrar General, National Statistics Office to change the first name and date of birth of the petitioner in his Certificate of Live Birth and Record of Birth as found on Page 0034, Book No. 009 in the in the Register of Births in the Office of the Local Civil Registrar of Villaba, Leyte from CERIACO to CIRIACO and Janu-ary 5, 1960 to July 20, 1958, respectively.

As the petition appears to be sufficient in form and substance, the same is hereby set for initial hear-ing, pursuant to Section 4, Rule 108 of the Rules of Court on June 16, 2014 at 8:30 oclock in the morning at the Hall of Justice, Regional Trial Court, Branch 17, Palompon, Leyte at which date, time and place, any person may appear and show cause, if any why the petition should not be granted.

Let a copy of this Order be published at the expense of the petitioner in a newspaper of general circulation in the Province of Leyte, once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks, with the last publication to be made at least one week prior to the date set for initial hearing.

Furnish copies of this Order to the Office of the Solicitor General, the Local Civil Registrar of Villaba, Leyte, the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of Leyte, Atty. Elroy Raymund S. Bertulfo, Office of the Civil Registrar General, National Statistics Office and the petitioner.

SO ORDERED. Given in Chambers, this 18th day of February,

2014 at the Hall of Justice, Palompon, Leyte. (Sgd.) MARIO O. QUINIT

Presiding Judge Copy furnished: 1. Atty. Elroy Raymund Bertulfo- Torres Bu-gallon St., Villaba, Leyte 2. The Office of the Solicitor General- Manila 3. Pres. Lorna Pades- Palompon, Leyte 4. National Statistics Office- Manila 5. Marina Calderon Brgy. Abijao, Villaba, Leyte 6. Local Civil Registrar of Villaba. 7. EV Mail Ormoc City EV Mail March 3-9, 10-16, & 17-23, 2014

Republic of the Philippines Local/Civil Registry Office

Province: Leyte City/Municipality: Palompon

Republic of the Philippines) Province of Leyte ) SS

Petition No. CCE-0014-101RA 10172 PETITION FOR CORRECTION OF CLERICAL ERROR

IN THE CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH I, JULIVI MANSING ASTILLERO, of legal age, Filipino and a resident of Brgy.

Tabunok, Palompon, Leyte, After having been duly sworn to in accordance with law, hereby declare that:

1) I am the petitioner seeking correction of the clerical error in: My certificate of live birth 2) I was born on July 19, 1990 at Palompon, Leyte, Philippines 3) The birth was recorded under registry number 90-667 ,4) 4) The clerical error(s) to be corrected is (are): Item No. Description From To 2 Sex MALE FEMALE5) The facts/reasons for filing this petition are the following: For error No. 1: to correct my sex which was wrongly written and recorded

in my birth certificate. 6) I submit the following documents to support this petition. a) Certificate of Live Birth (SECPA & Office File Copy) b) Certificate of Baptism/DECS Form 137-E & form No. 137-A c) NBI Clearance/ Police Clearance/Personal Affidavit d) Court Order/Manifestation & Formal Withdrawal of Petition e) Medical Certificate/Sonographic Report/ Voter Certification f) Medical Certification / Certificate of Authenticity, 7) I have not filed any similar petition and that, to the best of my knowledge,

no other similar petition pending with any LCRO, Court or Philippine Consulate. 8) I am filing this petition at the LCRO of Palompon, Leyte in accordance

with R.A. 9048/R.A. 10172 and its implementing rules and regulation. (Sgd.) JULIVI M. ASTILLERO

Petitioner VERIFICATION

I, JULIVI M. ASTILLERO, the petitioner, Hereby certify that the allegations herein are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.

(Sgd.) JULIVI M. ASTILLEROPetitioner

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 7th day of March 2014 in the city/municipality of Palompon, Leyte, petitioner exhibits in Community Tax Certificate No. 34484629 issued at Palompon, Leyte on March 4, 2014.

(Sgd.) CARMELITA G. LODOVICA Municipal Civil Registrar

Administering Officer EV Mail March 10-16, & 17-23, 2014

Republic of the Philippines Local Civil Registry Office

Province of Leyte Municipality of Hilongos

NOTICE OF PUBLICATION In compliance with Sec.

5, R.A. No. 9048/R.A. 10172, a notice is hereby served to the public that CYRIL JANE M. JULIA, has filed with this office a Petition for Change of Gender from MALE to FEMALE in the birth certificate of CYRIL JANE M. JULIA who was

born on June 27, 1992 at Hilon-gos, Leyte and whose parents are EDWARD M. JULIA and JOSEFINA L. MANCIO.

Any person adversely af-fected by said petition may file his/her written opposition with this office not later than fifteen (15) days after publication. (Sgd.) ERNESTO MA. FULACHE

Municipal Civil Registrar EV Mail March 10-16, & 17-23, 2014

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC CCE-0025-2014 R A 10172

CFN-0001-2014 Date: FEBRUARY 11, 2014

In Compliance with the publica-tion requirement and pursuant to OCRG Memorandum Circular No. 2013-1 Guidelines in the Implementation of the Administrative Order No. 1 Series of 2012 (IRR on R.A. 10172), Notice is hereby served to the public that CHRISTIAN ALPHIE C. YAP has filed with this Of-fice, a petition for change of Gender from FEMALE to MALE & Petition for Change of First Name from ALPHIE to CHRISTIAN ALPHIE in the certificate of live birth of CHRISTIAN ALPHIE C. YAP at BAYBAY, LEYTE and whose parents are PAUL M. YAP & ALMA P. CAETE.

Any person adversely affected by said petition may file his written op-position with this Office not later than FEBRUARY 11, 2014.

(Sgd.) NOEL V. MANAGBANAG City Civil Registrar

Name of Newspaper: Eastern Visayas Mail Place of Publication: LeyteDate of Publication: March 10-16, & 17-23, 2014

rrrNOTICE TO THE PUBLIC

CCE-0034-2014R.A. 10172

Date: MARCH 07, 2014 In Compliance with the publica-

tion requirement and pursuant to OCRG Memorandum Circular No. 2013-1 Guidelines in the Implementation of the Administrative Order No. 1 Series of 2012 (IRR on R.A. 10172), Notice is hereby served to the public that LEONEDISA V. BANDALAN has filed with this Office, a petition for change of GENDER from MALE to FEMALE in the certificate of live birth of LEONEDISA V. BANDALAN at BAYBAY, LEYTE and whose parents are ALBERTO QUIAMCO BANDALAN and EMERENCIANA BALDEVIA VEGA.

Any person adversely affected by said petition may file his written op-position with this Office not later than MARCH 07, 2014.

(Sgd.) NOEL V. MANAGBANAG City Civil Registrar

Name of Newspaper: Eastern Visayas Mail Place of Publication: LeyteDate of Publication: March 10-16, & 17-23, 2014

Republic of the Philippines Department of Transportation and Com-

munications LAND TRANSPORTATION FRANCHISING

AND REGULATORY BOARD Regional Office No. VIII

Ormoc CityCASE NO VIII 2014- 0425

Application for Reconstitution of Records of a Certificate of Public Convenience to

operate a UVS services With prayer to adopt trade name

RODOLFO PFLEIDER II Applicant/ PetitionerNOTICE OF HEARING

Applicant is a grantee of a Certifi-cate of Public Convenience to operate a UVS service for the transportation of passengers and freight on the route: FROM TACLOBAN CITY TO ANY POINT IN REGION 8 & VICE VERSA with the use of two (2) unit/s which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to FEBRUARY 6, 2014

In the present application, applica-tion request authority for reconstitution of re-cords of the said certificate on the same route with the use of the same number of unit/s.

NOTICE is hereby given that this application will be heard by this Board on MAY 6, 2014, at 9:00 A.M. at this Office at the above address.

At least TEN (10) days prior to the above date, applicant/s shall publish this notice once in one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Visayas.

This application will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and documentary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it neces-sary to receive additional documentary and/or oral evidence.

WITNESS the Honorable ARTHUR L. SAIPUDIN, Regional Director, this 25TH day of FEBRUARY, 2014.

(Sgd.) GUALBERTO N. GUALBERTOCLERK OF BOARD

Copy furnished: -Applicant/s: R.R. PFLEIDER II, BLM. 2,L4 PHASE 5 V & G SUBD, TACLOBAN CITY -Counsel for applicant/s: ATTY. N. SIA. AVENIDA VETERANOS TACLOBAN CITYEV Mail March 10-16, 2014

rrrRepublic of the Philippines

Department of Transportation and Com-munications

LAND TRANSPORTATION FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARD

Regional Office No. VIIIOrmoc City

CASE NO VIII 2014- 0660REF. CASE NO. VIII-2001-1660


operate a UV SHUTTLE services With prayer to adopt trade name


Applicant is a grantee of a Cer-tificate of Public Convenience to operate a

UV SHUTTLE service for the transportation of passengers and freight on the route: FROM TACLOBAN CITY TO ANY POINT IN REGION 8 & VICE VERSA with the use of ONE (1) unit/s which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to Dec. 7, 2016







Copy furnished: -Applicant/s: R.R. PFLEIDER II, Sto. Nio St., Tacloban city -Counsel for applicant/s: Atty. Neil Sia, Ave-nida Veteranos St., Tacloban City EV Mail March 10-16, 2014









Applicant is a grantee of a Cer-tificate of Public Convenience to operate a UV SHUTTLE service for the transportation of passengers and freight on the route: FROM TACLOBAN CITY TO ANY POINT IN REGION 8 & VICE VERSA with the use of two (2) unit/s which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to March 17, 2015
















Applicant is a grantee of a Cer-tificate of Public Convenience to operate a UV SHUTTLE service for the transportation of passengers and freight on the route: FROM TACLOBAN CITY TO ANY POINT IN REGION 8 & VICE VERSA with the use of ONE (1) unit/s which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to December 5, 2017







Copy furnished: -Applicant/s: R.R. PFLEIDER II, Sto. Nio St., Tacloban city -Counsel for applicant/s: Atty. N. M. Sia, Mabini Cor. Carlos Tan St., Ormoc CityEV Mail March 10-16, 2014

rrr Republic of the Philippines








Applicant is a grantee of a Cer-tificate of Public Convenience to operate a UV SHUTTLE service for the transportation of passengers and freight on the route: FROM TACLOBAN CITY TO ANY POINT IN REGION 8 & VICE VERSA with the use of two (2) unit/s which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to Jan. 22, 2015.

In the present application, applica-tion request authority for reconstitution of records with extension of validity of the said certificate on the same route with the use of the same number of unit/s.











CASE NO VIII 2014- 0667(REF. CASE NO. VIII-2010-0650)


operate a UVS services With prayer to adopt trade name


Applicant is a grantee of a Certifi-cate of Public Convenience to operate a UVS service for the transportation of passengers and freight on the route: FROM TACLOBAN CITY TO ANY POINT IN REGION 8 & VICE VERSA with the use of FIVE (5) unit/s which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to NOVEMBER 3, 2015.







Copy furnished: -Applicant/s: R.R. PFLEIDER II, Brgy. 91 Abucay, Tacloban City-Counsel for applicant/s: Atty. Neil Sia, Ave-nida Veteranos St., Tacloban City EV Mail March 10-16, 2014









Applicant is a grantee of a Cer-tificate of Public Convenience to operate a UV SHUTTLE service for the transportation of passengers and freight on the route: FROM TACLOBAN CITY TO ANY POINT IN REGION 8 & VICE VERSA with the use of FIFTEEN (15) unit/s which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to SEPTEMBER 15, 2014.







Copy furnished: -Applicant/s: R.B. PFLEIDER II, BAP Bldg., Brgy. 91 (Abucay), Tacloban City-Counsel for applicant/s: Atty. Neil Sia, Ave-nida Veteranos St., Tacloban City EV Mail March 10-16, 2014









Applicant is a grantee of a Cer-tificate of Public Convenience to operate a UV SHUTTLE service for the transportation of passengers and freight on the route: FROM TACLOBAN CITY TO ANY POINT IN REGION 8 & VICE VERSA with the use of ONE (1) unit/s which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to FEBRUARY 20, 2018.



At least TEN (10) days prior to the above date, applicant/s shall publish this notice once in one (1) daily newspaper of

general circulation in Visayas. This application will be acted upon

by this Board on the basis of its records and documentary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it neces-sary to receive additional documentary and/or oral evidence.



Copy furnished: -Applicant/s: R.B. PFLEIDER II, BAP Bldg., Brgy. 91 (Abucay), Tacloban City-Counsel for applicant/s: Atty. E. JOMA-DIAO, COR. ZAMORA & SALAZAR ST., TACLOBAN CITYEV Mail March 10-16, 2014









Applicant is a grantee of a Cer-tificate of Public Convenience to operate a UV SHUTTLE service for the transportation of passengers and freight on the route: FROM TACLOBAN CITY TO ANY POINT IN REGION 8 7 VICE VERSA with the use of ONE (1) unit/s which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to NOVEMBER 22, 2017




This application will be acted upon

March 10-16, 2014 Layout

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