Evardone is 84th richest Lower House member

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May 2014
Volume 1 No 2
Nonoy Libanan
in big trouble?
Roy Lagarde
A PANDORA’S box of
possibilities is out in the
open after former Eastern
Samar Rep. Marcelino
Libanan was identified
among the alleged cast
of characters in the pork
barrel scam.
In the two separate
lists by alleged pork scam
mastermind Janet Lim
Napoles and whistleblower Benhur Luy, Libanan
is among the incumbent
and former lawmakers
implicated in the scandal.
Napoles’ list is now in
the hands of the Senate
Blue Ribbon Committee,
while Luy submitted his
digital records of lawmakers’ transactions with the
former to the National Bureau of Investigation.
Napoles is accused of
conspiring with lawmakers and other public officials in diverting billions
of Priority Development
Assistance Fund to fake
non-government organizations and ghost projects.
She is facing plunder
charges along with senators Juan Ponce Enrile,
Ramon Revilla, Jr., Jinggoy Estrada and 34 others before the Office of
the Ombudsman.
But in her one page affidavit, Napoles implicated at least 10 incumbent
and two past senators,
and more than 70 lawmakers in the scam.
In Luy’s list, included
were 10 names of former senators and more
than 150 past and current
members of the House of
Representatives.
Ombudsman Conchita
Carpio-Morale is eyeing
the filing of graft and plunder charges she had earlier
recommended against lawLIBANAN, PAGE 6m a k -
Evardone is 84th richest Bagacay mine spill still
Lower House member haunts Taft fishermen
Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone had a net
worth of over P39.184 million
in 2013, which made him the
84th richest members of the
House of Representatives.
His wealth, however, rose
to P42.492M from P41.113M
in 2012, reflecting an increase
of more than P1.379M.
Based on his current statement of assets, liabilities and
net worth (SALN), Evardone
claims to own the same number of real properties valued at
P14.263M.
The changes in Evardone’s
wealth are noticeable when it
comes to his other personal
properties and his liabilities.
While he declared an increase in personal properties valued at P28.229M from
P26.850M his liabilities also
rose to P3.308 million from
P900, 000 in 2012.
Evardone
has
actually
climbed four notches higher
from being the 88th wealthiest lawmaker in 2012 or in the
15th Congress.
The lawmaker has also
remained as the 5th richest
among the 14 lawmakers in
Eastern Visayas, the third
poorest region in the country.
Leyte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez is
the richest solon in the region
with a net worth of P475.002M.
He is also the 7th richest congressman in the country.
The second richest lawmaker in the region is celebrity-turned-politician
Leyte
4th District Rep. Lucy Marie
Torres-Gomez, who is the 14th
richest House member with a
net worth of P181.172M.
Neophyte Southern Leyte
Rep. Damian Mercado was
listed as the third richest in
the region with a net worth of
P68.917M followed by Leyte
2nddistrict Sergio Apostol with
P45.212M.
RICHEST, PAGE 6
Livelihood for Yolanda
survivors, not condoms
and pills – bishop
Dolores mayor’s kin may
face charges for coddling
Cedric Lee
AS Yolanda victims continue to suffer, a
Catholic bishop has criticized some foreign
aid agencies for giving out contraceptives,
such as condoms and pills, in Eastern Samar.
Instead of birth control, Borongan Bishop Crispin Varquez said that what the people need at the moment are livelihood and
other means to survive.
More than six months after Yolanda
struck, he said that victims are still suffering from the lack of food supply, no permanent shelter and no livelihood to help them
recover.
“We must be extra-careful in dealing
with NGOs, which promote the artificial reproductive devices,” Varquez said. “They
are taking advantage of the vulnerability of
the victims.”
The bishop called on the clergy, especially those assigned in typhoon-hit parishes, to ask their parishioners to reject
artificial birth control devices offered to
them by certain aid agencies which he
did not identify.
“Let us teach our people to accept their
assistance for shelter and livelihood but refuse their promotion of artificial reproduc-
Cedric Lee is escorted by NBI agents and local police
at the Tacloban City airport, 27 April 2014. Danny Pata
LIVELIHOOD, PAGE 6
A cousin of Dolores
Mayor Emiliana Villacarillo could face
charges for coddling
Cedric Lee and Simeon Raz, suspects in
the mauling of TV host
Vhong Navarro.
The National Bureau of Investigation
(NBI) said at least
three people are risking being criminally
charged for not informing the authorities about Lee and
Raz’s whereabouts.
The NBI, however,
refused to identify
the three individuals
pending verification
and establishing concrete evidence to support the filing of cases
against them.
LEE, PAGE 7
LOCAL fishermen are still struggling in Taft, Eastern Samar,
more than two decades after the
Bagacay mine-tailings spill.
Abandoned 22 years ago, the
mining in Hinabangan, W. Samar,
was said to have destroyed the
Taft River because of mine tailings,
causing siltation and fish kill.
Juan Ada, a fisherman from
Brgy. Mabuhay, still remembers
the environmental disaster and
how it affected several fishing
communities.
“After the disaster, the local fishing industry was dead for more
than two years,” Ada said.
According to him, despite the
significant recovery from the severe pollution as indicated by the
variety of plants growing on its
banks, Taft River is still hurting.
He said that the fishing industry
today was not as strong and vital
compared to what it was before the
tailings spill.
“Our catch has significantly decreased since then,” said the 66year old fisherman. “Our only consolation is that Taft River is slowly
recovering again.”
Fidel Ranille, a resident of Brgy.
San Pablo, remembers the desperation that everyone in his village felt after the tailings spill.
He recalled that for several
years the riverbanks were practi-
cally devoid of plants and the soil
was also colored red, black, and
greenish.
“Until now, several parts of the
river are still shallow because the
massive tailings spills have caused
heavy siltation,” said Ranille, who
served as San Pablo village’s chief
from 1989 to 2007.
“The number of fishermen have
also declined over the years and
resorted to rice and coconut farming instead.
“If there is one thing that Ada
fears at the moment, it’s the circulating rumor about a plan to revive
the copper mining project.
“We are not going to allow it
again. Why? We are going to die,”
he said. “The reality is that it’s always us—the poor that suffer the
big blow from the ill effects of mining, not the operators.”
The 130-hectares Bagacay
mine site, one of the country’s
seven abandoned mine sites, has
been undergoing rehabilitation
works since 2007.
The Mines and Geosciences
Bureau had reportedly spent
around P100 million already for the
rehabilitation which include reforestation, mitigation of acid drainage, soil stabilization, construction
of laboratory building and putting
up structures to stop soil erosion.
Roy Lagarde
WHAT’S INSIDE
Nat King
Coles talks
about some
issues in
Q&A page 6
Obama
asked to
return
Balangiga
bells page 8
Why did
White
Russians
settle in
Tubabao
Is., Guiuan?
page 9
Juan Ada, 66, displays his fishing net at Mabuhay village in Taft E. Samar.
PT
2
PACIFICTIMES
news
May 2014 / Vol 1 No 2 / www.pacifictimes.org
7 LGUs get P300M GEF grant for
marine conservation
CALCULATING the possible extent of damage brought by super
typhoon Yolanda on Region 8’s
coastal and marine resources is
hard, but it is certainly far more
difficult to consider reviving it.
Yet, hope springs eternal particularly for seven hardest hit municipalities in Eastern Samar.
While initial activities roll out relative to the implementation of the
Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) in the region, there is
something more to wait for. A team
headed by Gilbert Magno Braganza,
a World Bank Consultant on Natural
Resource Management, disclosed
that part of the package under the
PRDP is the Global Environment
Fund (GEF).
Braganza said that the GEF will be
used to support the conservation of
coastal and marine resource base
in the targeted priority areas by preserving biodiversity and fisheries
resource management.
“This fund is a grant from the World
Bank in the amount of US$7 million
which, in Philippine pesos is roughly
around 300 million. This is relatively
small such that there is a need to prioritize target areas to be supported
under the GEF,” he said.
“Although there are several parameters that are being considered
in the process of identifying the target sites, the degree of availability of
coastal and marine resources is most
critical,” Braganza explained.
Meanwhile, Ulysses Triambulo,
GEF – Natural Resource Management Specialist pointed out that in
Region-8, Guiuan coast is targeted
to be covered under the GEF which
shall potentially include the towns
of Salcedo, Mac Arthur, Giporlos,
Lawaan, Hernani, Mercedes and
Quinapondan.
He, however, pointed out that since
the list is not yet final, it will still have
to depend largely on the results of the
overall assessment being conducted
and the commitment of the LGUs and
other stakeholders to support the project. Rodel Macapañas
NMP offers course on Ship Hernani HS to get 19 new
Security Awareness Training classrooms, library
SEAFARERS will now have
the chance to learn skills in
enhancing maritime security
– and even get training credit
from the premier state-run
maritime training center in the
Philippines.
A course entitled Ship Security Awareness Training
for Seafarers with Designated Security Duties (SSATSDSD) is being offered at the
National Maritime Polytechnic in Cabalawan, Tacloban
City.
The NMP said the course,
which costs P1, 200, was pilot
tested last April 14 and 15 with
seafarer-trainee participants in
accordance with the Agency’s
Quality Management System.
This one day course covers theory and practical exercises in compliance with
the requirements of the 2010
Manila Amendments to the
STCW Convention, particularly of Regulation VI/6 (Mandatory minimum requirements for
security related training and
instruction for all seafarers),
of Section A-VI/6, paragraphs
4-8, Tables A-VI/6-1 and
A-VI/6-2 of the STCW Code
and as prescribed in MARINA
Circular No. 2013-11 Series of
2013, which mandated Maritime Education and Training
Institutions (METIS), among
others to adopt the Course for
Ship Security Awareness and
Seafarers with Designated Security Duties.
The NMP said the course
seeks to further enhance the
global competitiveness and
employability of Filipino seafarers in the international shipping industry.
For inquiries and reservation, applicants may contact
NMP on their hotlines: 09194
361409/09296881740/091654
29675.
Workers build temporary classrooms for students of the Pedro Candido Memorial High School at its new site in
Brgy. Nagaja, Hernani, 20 February 2014. FILE PHOTO
HIGH school students in Hernani, E. Samar will soon have
classrooms after two charitable organizations announced
that new structures would be
in place by next school year.
SM Foundation and Global
Hope International allocated a
total of 19 classrooms and one
library for Pedro Candido Memorial High School.
The new classrooms will
replace those that were damaged by typhoon Yolanda for
the school’s around 900 students.
However, since the old
campus was located in a “nobuild” zone, the new school
buildings will be constructed in
Brgy. Nagaja, approximately a
kilometer away from the original site.
Based in Seoul, South Korea, Global Hope is a nonstock, non-profit, humanitarian
organization committed to education, health and community
development.
Established in 2008, it has
worked closely with international and local communities
as well as local agencies concerned in helping victims of calamities in the Philippines.
Global Hope has chosen
Hernani as its main beneficiary
because of the large devastations it suffered from the strong
typhoon.
The two organizations also
organized livelihood programs
in Hernani and other calamitystricken areas in the province.
Last month, SM Foundation launched its Kabalikat sa
Kabuhayan Farmers’ Training
Program in Guiuan with participants coming from the town’s
different villages as well as
from nearby municipalities of
Mercedes and Salcedo.
Now on its 70th batch, the
program seeks to help introduce the farmers to advanced
technology for the production
of fruits, vegetables and highvalue crops.
In partnership with Harbest
Agribusiness Corp., the training program also aims to teach
farmers with entrepreneurial
skills. PT
nation
8 Chinese nationals,
4 Filipinos face illegal
mining charges
PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur—Police have filed
charges before the City Prosecutor’s Office here against
eight Chinese nationals and
three Filipinos earlier arrested
for illegal mining in this city, an
official disclosed May 21.
City police chief, Supt. Glenn
Dulawan, said the charges
were filed Wednesday for violating the Philippine Mining
Act of 1995 and the Philippine
Clean Water Act of 2004.
Dulawan said the charges
were filed against Chinese
nationals Liu Gi Yi, 29; Chung
Yong De, 27; Zhang Shu Kei,
24; Duan Guang Zong, 55; Lui
Chang Yin, 50; Xiao Min, 36;
Tang Zihan, 25; and a certain
“Dong dong,” 39.
The three Filipinos were
identified as Jennilyn Ramirez,
25, the group’s chief cook;
Roy Damondamon; and Jose
Sabroso.
Dulawan said also included
in the charge sheet is Rene
ment, it’s about the payment system because we
shifted to a case-based
payment system so there
are some glitches we need
to address... The offices
are adjusting (to the new
scheme),” he noted.
Lacierda said that reimbursement process normally takes 60 days.
“But they are committing
to pay it faster than the normal 60 days,” he added.
To squarely address the
problem, Lacierda said the
government is in constant
discussion with PHAPi
president Dr. Rustico Jimenez and some other hospital officials concerned.
”So we will look into it on
a case-to-case, per hospital-based discussions,” he
added. PNA
PAGASA still monitoring possible
occurrence of El Niño
THE Philippine Atmospheric
Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administration (PAGASA) continues to monitor the
rise of temperature in the tropical Pacific that could possibly
lead to El Niño phenomenon.
According to Analiza Solis,
PAGASA senior weather specialist, the atmospheric condition is currently still neutral and
there is no El Nino, but they still
need to monitor due to the rise
of temperature and formation
of easterly wind component.
She said the agency expects another El Niño season
this year that could start next
month.
”Based sa El Nino watch na
pinalabas ng PAGASA, may
development na pwede lumabas ng June or July”, Solis told
the Philippines News Agency
(PNA) in a phone interview.
The weather bureau said
that during El Niño, temperature in the Pacific Ocean
increases, resulting to the
intensification of weather disturbances such as storms and
typhoons.
PAGASA further noted that
El Niño also causes the behavior of tropical cyclones to
become erratic, affecting its
tracks and intensity.
Aside from drought, Solis
PACIFICTIMES
3
Philippines, Vietnam agree on enhanced
defense, security cooperation
Bersales, who is at large.
Dulawan said the arrested
suspects identify Bersales as
their “boss.”
Dulawan said the suspects
were arrested in an anti-mining operation on May 19 at
Labangan River in Barangay
Lower Sibatang, this city.
Dulawan said they were
arrested by combined personnel from the local police
and from the Provincial Environment Office, which is under the office of the provincial
governor.
Dulawan said they have coordinated with the Bureau of
Immigration and it was learned
that the Chinese nationals are
holders of tourist visas.
He said the arresting team
have confiscated two back
hoes and several doormats
being used as filters.
The suspects are temporarily detained at the lock-up cell
of the city police. Hirohito D.
Cadion/PNA
Palace: PhilHealth expediting
release of reimbursement
THE government is committed to fast-track the release
of reimbursement for private
hospitals for their services
to Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth)
members, Malacanang said
on March 21.
“The government will
not renege on that obligation,” assured Presidential Spokesperson Edwin
Lacierda in a Palace press
briefing amid a plan of the
Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines
(PHAPi) not to honor benefits of PhilHealth patients
due to delayed reimbursement.
Lacierda attributed the
delayed processing to a
new payment scheme undertaken by PhilHealth.
“It’s not about manage-
www.pacifictimes.org / Vol 1 No 2 / May 2014
said this phenomenon may
also trigger stronger storms,
much like tropical storms “Ondoy” and “Milenyo” which occurred while the country was
experiencing El Nino.
At present, she said there
are no particular regions yet
affected and different parts of
the country may experience
varying impacts.
PAGASA said El Nino is determined through a sea temperature of 0.5°C or higher.
The El Niño is the opposite
of the La Niña phenomenon,
which is associated with “wetter” conditions.
Government sectors are
planning their own interventions on the projected onset of
El Nino this June.
For his part, newly appointed National Risk Reduction and Management Council
(NDRRMC) Executive Director Alexander Pama said they
have started talking with other
agencies to prepare the public
against El Niño’s threat.
He said that the agency will
disseminate information to the
public through the local government units particularly on
saving water that may contribute in at least, alleviating
the possible problem on water
supply. PNA
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, right, shakes hands with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the Malacañang Palace in Manila, 21
May 21, 2014. Malacañang Photo Bureau
PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III said he and Vietnamese
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung discussed defense and
security cooperation during
their meeting in Malacanang
on May 21.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung arrived in the Philippines
for a working visit as well as
to attend the World Economic
Forum on East Asia.
In his message during the
joint press conference at the
Palace, President Aquino
said they discussed how the
Philippines and Vietnam can
enhance confidence building,
defense capabilities, and interoperability in addressing security challenges.
Cooperation between the
two countries’ navies has
been robust, he said noting
the recent staff-to-staff talks
conducted in Manila in March
2014. Matters pertaining to
exchanges in intelligence and
naval technology, and others,
were tackled, he said.
“I believe that continued
cooperation with Vietnam, as
well as with other members of
ASEAN, in defense and security will only contribute to promoting regional stability,” he
said.
“It is not an overstatement
when I say that I look forward
to increased collaboration between our respective defense
agencies.”
The President said he looks
forward for the two nations
jointly determining the prerequisites in forging a roadmap towards a strategic partnership.
Aside from discussing defense and security, the two
leaders also exchanged views
on maritime cooperation.
Collaborative activities between the Philippine Coast
Guard (PCG) and the Vietnam
Coast Guard (VCG) have increased over the years, and
these include oil spill preparedness and response, mechanisms for search and rescue
cooperation, as well as information exchange.
This information exchange
includes the Hotline Commu-
nication Mechanisms between
the PCG and the VCG, aimed
at protecting the two countries’
marine resources and suppressing illegal activities in the
adjacent sea area.
President Aquino said he
believes continued cooperation between the Philippines
and Vietnam will enable them
to better protect their maritime
resources, as they pursue
strategies for regional growth
and progress.
The President also said
he hopes the Philippines and
Vietnam remain steadfast in
their shared aspiration—that
by working together they can
build a more stable Southeast
Asia. PNA
‘Hello Garci’ case now closed – Comelec
MANILA— Commission
on Elections (Comelec)
Chairman Sixto Brillantes on May 14 said that
the “Hello Garci” case is
now closed.
Brillantes said this is
because the possible
election offense cases
against former Commissioner Virgilio Garciallano and other poll body
personnel suspected involved in the “Hello Gar-
ci” scandal have already
been prescribed.
With this, he said that
they could no longer file
any case against the
former Comelec official
and employees.
“No more… what
election offense they
supposedly
did
in
the 2004, we cannot
chase them anymore
since it has already
prescribed,” said Bril-
lantes. “We cannot do
anything (against them)
any longer.”
Section 267 of the
Omnibus Election Code
provides that “election
offenses shall prescribe
after five years from the
date of their commission.”
The so-called “Garci
Boys” were identified as
Ray Sumalipao; Renato
Magbutay;
Francisco
Pobe; Renault Macarambon; Teopisto Elnas
Jr.; and Cirilo Nala Jr.
They are suspected
to be “associates” of
Garcillano, the alleged
mastermind in the 2004
election fraud case.
The “Hello Garci”
scandal involves the
exposed
wiretapped
conversation in 2005,
wherein a voice of a
man, allegedly Garcil-
lano, and a woman, allegedly then president
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, were recorded
talking
supposedly
about favoring administration candidates in the
2004 election.
The alleged rigging of election results
marked its 10th year
anniversary this month.
Ferdinand G. Patino/
PNA
As Thailand declares Martial Law, DOLE
eyes deployment ban
LABOR and Employment Secretary Rosalinda DimapilisBaldoz on May 21 instructed
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)
officer-in-charge
Ameurfina
Reyes to closely monitor the
situation in Thailand, in close
coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),
in the wake of the Thai Army’s
declaration of Martial Law in
the ASEAN member country.
Baldoz issued the instruction before she left Manila to
attend the ASEAN Labor Ministers’ Meeting in Myanmar.
“The DFA has issued Alert
Level 2 (Restriction Phase) for
Thailand which requires Filipino nationals staying in Thailand to restrict non-essential
movements, avoid public plac-
es, and prepare for evacuation, if necessary,” said Baldoz
in a statement.
“I have instructed the POEA
to immediately convene the
Governing Board to decide on
a deployment ban in response
to the events in Thailand. I
strongly advise Filipinos in
Thailand to be vigilant, avoid
public places, restrict non-essential movements, and stay
in their houses as much as
possible,” she added.
Secretary Baldoz is the chairman of the POEA Governing
Board, while the POEA Administrator is the Vice Chairman.
Earlier, the POEA Governing Board banned the deployment of newly-hired overseas
Filipino workers (OFWs) intending to work in four specific
areas in Thailand in late January when Thailand authorities
declared a state of emergency
in Bangkok and other surrounding areas stemming from
the series of protests calling for
the resignation of Prime Minister Ying Luck Shinawatra.
The ban was issued after
the DFA raised the crisis alert
level for Thailand to Crisis Alert
Level 2 (Restriction Phase)
in Bangkok, the Thai capital;
Nonthaburi Province; Lad Lum
Kaew District (Pathumthani
Province); and Bang Phli District (Samutprakan Province), in
view of the declaration of a 60day state of emergency due to
the escalating civil unrest and
insecurity in the said areas. The
POEA Governing Board lifted
the ban on March 25.
Baldoz said R. A. 10022 authorizes the POEA Governing
Board, after consultation with
the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), to impose a ban
on the deployment of Filipino
migrant workers in pursuit of
national interest or when public welfare so requires.
While Thailand is not a major OFW destination, POEA
data show that the Philippines
deployed 8,659 overseas Filipino workers to Thailand in
2013, mostly teachers, engineers, production and related
workers, and composers,
musicians, and singers. The
Commission on Filipino Overseas’ Stock Estimate of Filipinos in December 2012 places
the number of Filipinos in Thailand at 16,303. PNA
4
PACIFICTIMES
editorial
May 2014 / Vol 1 No 2 / www.pacifictimes.org
editorial
Economic miracle, really?
AT the 23rd World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia
held in Manila from May 21 to 23, the Philippine government’s presentation hovered on the theme: “Philippines:
The Next Economic Miracle.”
At this forum, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III,
boasted that “For the past four years, through the unwavering support of our people, we have enacted reform
after reform. We overhauled systems that were prone
to abuse. We reformed the way we do our budget-consulting as many stakeholders as possible, crafting the
budget from the grassroots up, and implementing what
we call the zero-based budgeting, which makes sure
that all government spending will have corresponding
and tangible benefits for our people.”
If the “reform after reform” that Aquino has trumpeted
to some 600 business and government leaders from 30
countries who were present at the WEF has the slightest
semblance of truth then all such reforms have already
bungled with just one “deform”—the gargantuan porkbarrel system that until now defines the Aquino administration. Truth to tell, all the administration’s pretense
that it was a government of a high moral ground of a
“daang matuwid,” was actually a huge smokescreen that
tactically hid Aquino’s scheme that made both houses of
Congress his salivating “tuta” or lackeys.
Take this. PNoy’s mother, Corazon Aquino, restored
the pork barrel system in 1989 as a lump sum appropriation of P450 million and P240 million called the Mindanao Development Fund and the Visayas Development
Fund, respectively. It was later renamed Countrywide
Development Fund (CDF) so that in 1992 each congressional district across the country was allocated P12.5
million and P18 million for each senator. Under the Ramos and Estrada presidencies this “Pig” has swelled to
P4 billion yearly. During the term of Gloria Arroyo, which
was touted to be very corrupt, this has averaged at P7
billion per year.
But low and behold, under the smokescreen of his socalled “reform,” PNoy Aquino has almost quadrupled the
pork budget to P25 billion annually. From June 2010
to 2013, the Aquino administration has given away, or
should we say, wasted, P90 billion to the deep pockets
of corruption. Who among these honorable legislators
would have the gut to defy the wishes of Malacañang in,
say, impeaching Chief Justice Corona whose only fault
was to mis-declare his Statement of Assets, Liabilities
and Net Worth (SALN) which is not even a sigh compared
to the calloused thieves in government? Or who among
these “respected” representatives in an ironically “daang
matuwid” administration could resist approving the likes
of the divisive Reproductive Health with additional billions more to feast on from the anomalous “Disbursement Acceleration Program” (DAP)? Bribing legislators
by a co-equal body such as the executive department
is stifling its constitutional independence, and therefore,
destroying the very fundamentals of democracy.
And Aquino calls that reform? Or should it be a
mockery—or maybe criminal, after the Supreme Court
declared PDAF unconstitutional. This, without even
mentioning the dubious multi-billion contracts of the Department of Transportation (DOTC) from the 32-billion
Cebu international airport to the P5 billion vehicle license
plates of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) which is
under DOTC. Or the widespread smuggling, which, according to Manila Times columnist Rigoberto Tiglao, is
worse than the combined first two years of the administrations of former president Joseph Estrada and Gloria
Arroyo. One Chinese businessman jested that the biggest rice granary of the country is the port of Cebu, referring to the millions of tons of rice that are smuggled into
the country annually under the nose of the Department
of Agriculture’s Secretary Proceso Alcala who promised
in 2011 that the country will no longer be importing rice.
The first two years into his incumbency, PNoy has been
finger-pointing the previous administration for, among
others, anomalous rice cartel. Well, he seems to have
surpassed that.
In the same forum, Aquino repeated his mantra, which
he used to declare in other speeches, thus: “We have
always said that good governance is good economics,
Points to ponder
By Atty. Bebot Baquilod
Poverty amidst economic gains
PHILIPPINE economy has
steadily grown in recent years.
Our
staggering
economic
growth has earned us the title
‘rising economic tiger’ as per
World Bank and ‘the brightest
spark’ according to the Institute
of Chartered Accountants in
England and Wales. The overwhelming majority of our people however have remained
poor and struggling. Only the
rich 10% of our population, who
own the bulk of our economy,
are the direct beneficiaries of
the economic gains. Consequently, the disparity between
rich and poor has grown even
wider. Visible signs of a robust
economy, like the mushrooming of condominiums and other
buildings and the influx of new
businesses, are prevalent in
Metro Manila and in major cities. Our provinces however,
have remained poor and economically challenged, specially
Eastern Samar which still ranks
among the poorest in the country. CBCP (Catholic Bishop
Conference of the Philippines)
labeled this distorted economic
structure as ‘social scandal’
and exhorted the people to
understand our role in it, our
personal responsibility for it in
our individual lives and shared
cultures, and return to Jesus
“… and not just blame the government.” To be fair, there had
been many attempts by our
government to bridge the gap
between the affluent and the
impoverished. They however
seem to almost always end
up futile and corrupted by the
implementors who fatten their
bank accounts with the loot.
Thus, one can only wonder if
our pursuit for progress and a
balanced economy will forever
remain quixotic. Government coffers depleted
It is not remiss to note that
aside from the multibillion-peso
pork barrel scam, our government coffers are also continually being depleted by the
losses and indebtedness of our
GOCCs (Government Owned
and Controlled Corporations).
In his award winning research/
article, ‘Adopting a Model
Framework for Corporate Governance at the Public Sector:
Issues on Good Governance’
Published monthly by Pacitic Times with editorial and business offices at
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our government. Formidable it
might seem to eradicate this
crisis which has plagued our
government for so long, we are
all hoping that before his term
is over, the President will have
made a dent on this. And so far,
we have witnessed his administration’s uncovering of more
scams and how he is attempting to address them. This will
be no easy feat for him in the
light of the fact that a lot of the
people involved in the anomalies are his own advisers and
political allies.
Pinoys among the world’s
richest
Forbes Magazine has recently published the 10 richest people in the Philippines.
Henry Sy ($12B) tops the list.
His name and some other
Filipinos also appear in the
list of the world’s richest. As
a matter of fact, 12 Filipinos
were inducted last year into
the world’s exclusive billionaires club. While we want to
feel proud that some Filipinos
are among the world’s richest,
it is quite ironic that most of our
POINTS TO PONDER, PAGE 7
Views and Points
By Oscar V. Cruz, DD
EDITORIAL, PAGE 5
In search of truth,
in pursuit of progress
published recently, Atty. Rodolfo C. Sabio wrote that per
ADB’s report, most GOCCs are
incurring significant losses. In
the 5 years mentioned in the
report, there was a noticeable
increase in the aggregate deficit of the 14 monitored GOCCs
bringing their financial viability
in question. President Aquino
highlighted this problem on his
State of the Nation Address citing the excessive allowances,
bonuses and payroll abuses in
the MWSS (Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System) involving P51.4M, losses
and indebtedness in the sale
of NAPOCOR (National Power
Corporation), over-purchases
of rice by NFA (National Food
Authority) resulting in P171B
indebtedness, grant by PNCC
(Philippine National Construction Corporation) of excessive
benefits, bonuses and allowances amounting to P230M despite their existing multi billion
indebtedness, the questionable transactions of the North
Rail, multibillion peso spent on
overpriced coffee by PAGCOR,
etc. Needless to say, graft and
corruption is clearly endemic to
Courtesy resignation
CIVILITY and gentility, gallantry and deference, respectability and cordiality—all
these and other admirable personality
traits forward the meaning and implications
of the word “courtesy”. So it is that in spirit
and intention, “Courtesy Resignation” says
and implies nothing more than elementary
“good manners and right conduct” as its
fundamental reason. In fact, the assumption is that the more schooled someone is,
the more trusted he is; the higher authoritative position he is appointed to, so, too,
does the laudable practice of resignation
out of courtesy, is an expression of respectful submission to the appointing authority.
“Courtesy Resignation” is submitted by
someone to the superior authority who appointed him into office by reason of trust,
capability, friendship or other reasonable considerations. When the appointee becomes
the object of distrust, be accused of wrongdoing and the like—true or not—it becomes a
mandate of ethics for the same to submit his
resignation out of courtesy to the appointing
authority. Hereto belongs the right and prerogative to accept or reject the resignation as
dictated by prudence. This is why “Courtesy
Resignation” is usually considered as a sign
not only of self-respect but respect as well for
the authority that made the appointment.
In these times and under the present
administration, such a practice of honor
and decency appears unknown and thus
blatantly unobserved. How come? It is
enough to say the abominable phrase
“PDAF Scam”—not to mention so many
other shady deals and shameful contracts—the nature and implications of
which are in the sphere of big graft and
huge corrupt practices. Definitely more
than one Malacañang appointee has been
denounced publicly as personally involved
in the infamous porky deals. And more
than one appointee of Malacañang has
been tagged as incompetent or ineffective in key administrative agenda thereto
entrusted. And the record stands that no
one—yes, no one as of this writing—had
the courtesy to submit his resignation and
allow Malacañang to accept or reject it.
These are not only hard but truly trying
times for the People of the Philippines in
general—even but considering the singular and monumental, wanton and callous
thievery of their hard earned money demanded by the government—in form of
different kinds of taxes for different reasons—in order to fill up the public coffers
intended to finance public welfare. But
lo and behold, so much of the people’s
money merely end up in the big, deep, and
bottomless pockets of singularly covetous
public authorities—be they unfortunately
elected or undeservingly appointed.
What a shameless, crooked, and unfortunate
legacy to the young people of the Philippines!
opinion
www.pacifictimes.org / Vol 1 No 2 / May 2014
PACIFICTIMES
5
Letters from an Ibabaonon
By Mio de la Cruz
By the Roadside
By Euly B. Belizar, Jr., SThD
A saint’s simplicity and
the Napolist culture
THE canonization of St. John Paul II last April 27,
2014 brought me back to the 90s when I was a student priest in Rome. Even then I already counted
myself among the blessed (not in a technical way
and certainly without official church approval). I had
only one reason for feeling the way I did: I was
breathing the same air the Holy Father breathed.
And he wasn’t even canonized yet. Every time Bus
46 passed St. Peter’s Square as I tried to make my
way to The Greg (Pontifical Gregorian University),
I would silently breathe in, hoping some tiny bits of
grace from then Pope John Paul II’s prayers would
find their way to me and my little concerns. Which
brings me to the second reason: I was writing a dissertation on his vision of the local Church and its
role in societal transformation. I confess it all started
when I heard, as a seminarian, the Holy Father’s
strong words on upholding human rights and dignity
to then President Marcos (on his 1981 visit to the
Philippines). I wouldn’t tell you about that, at least
not here.
Since the canonization my mind keeps on giving
me flashbacks. My mind, as anybody else’s, is a veritable time machine. Lately these flashbacks have
taken me to two occasions at which I had a chance
to concelebrate Mass with Pope John Paul II out of
sheer grace. Each took place in the Holy Father’s
little chapel at the Vatican, with no more than 20 people in attendance.
On the second occasion I was a designated reader. It was only when I was actually doing the reading that I realized how lucky I was because the Holy
Father was only a foot away (it felt so much better
than Clarissa Ocampo’s being only a foot away from
Jose Velarde). Once in a while I glanced his way. It
struck me how simple he was. The Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church displayed none of
the pomp of power Hollywood associates with popes
and kings. In fact, I noticed his white papal zucchetto
(skullcap), like his dress, was rather worn-out and
faded. When he prayed I could hear him groaning as
though he was turning over to God the Church’s and
the world’s burdens. I thought afterwards that if the
Holy Father mingled with other senior priests then, it
would have been hard to recognize him as the Visible Head of Roman Catholic Church.
In fact, the Church’s Head was the epitome of simplicity. Because of his simplicity and poverty people
hardly recognized him for who he is. That is why, for
instance, he says in the gospel of Luke: “You cannot tell by careful watching when the reign of God
will come. Neither is it a matter of reporting that it is
‘here’ or ‘there’. The reign of God is in your midst”
(Lk 17:20-21). What is Jesus referring to here? Himself. The Kingdom of God is in our midst because Jesus has brought it to us in his person. In himself God
reigns and in himself God’s will is perfectly fulfilled.
Another saintly pope, Blessed Paul VI would agree
BY THE ROADSIDE, PAGE 7
EDITORIAL, PAGE 5
and the results of our reforms on the economic end
are proving us right. In 2013, our economy grew by
7.2 percent—making us one of the fastest growing countries in Asia. This we achieved despite the
seemingly endless succession of natural and manmade disasters that hit our country late last year—
which includes the Zamboanga siege incident in
September, the Bohol Earthquake in October, and
the Typhoon Haiyan in November.
But granting that he knows what he is doing,
what Aquino cleverly hides under his sleeves is
the NSO statistics that unemployment rate has
worsened from 6.5 percent in October 2013 to 7.5
percent in January 2014. And even worse than
unemployment rate, is the underemployment rate
that skyrocketed to 20.0 percent in 2013. This
is what independent economists calls “jobless“
growth—which, by all looks of it, is a penniless
growth. This may explain why in the past two
years (2012 - 2013) an average of two million
left the country as Overseas Filipino Workers or
5,500 Filipinos leaving per day in search of a better future abroad.
Granting without necessarily conceding that
there really is an economic miracle—but then, the
gall to declare so—that would not bode so well
in the face of repeated resolve to “institutionalize transparency” specially during his presidential
campaign (that smells to be partly funded by no
less than Napoles) but doing nothing to realize it;
instead, trashing the passage of the Freedom of
Information Bill (FOI).
So, what miracle are we talking about?
The Pulahanes of Leyte and Samar
THE Pulahanes, consigned to history books
as an organization of religious fanatics bitterly
against foreign colonial
rule, is perhaps one of the
most maligned freedom
fighters in the annals of
Philippine history.
American war propaganda had always refused to acknowledge
the existence of a Filipino-American War, even
if a state of war was officially declared on June
2, 1899, by the President
Emilio Aguinaldo against
the United States after
the latter’s decision to
colonize the country after Spain’s surrender. It
insisted that it was no
more than just a simple
insurrection, an uprising
against an authority or
government, not an or-
ganized armed struggle
by a state against another
state.
The Pulahanes’ order
of battle against Spain
and, later, against the
United States did not
emanate from then President Aguinaldo, but from
a religious belief that did
not tolerate foreign colonial rule. They used
bladed weapons, bamboo
spears, arnis, and amulets for aggression and
defense.
A former U.S. army
man and author of the
book entitled “The Philippine Islands” wrote: “The
Samar Pulahanes are
organized like regular
troops, with their generals and officers, but they
are deluded by a sort of
mystic religious teaching
under the guidance of a
native pope.”
Deluded or not, the Pulahanes were formidable
fighters. Ranged against
the Americans’ superior
firepower, the Pulahanes
needed
extraordinary
motivation to engage their
enemies in open combat.
They were ferocious warriors and were notorious
for mutilating the dead
bodies of their enemies.
They were cunning and
deliberate in their strategies, “had spies stationed
at every pass, shouting
the news of the enemy’s
approach to the next spy,
darting into the jungle,
and so on all along the
line, in most orderly fashion, until the main column
is advised.”
The Pulahanes’ war
against the Americans
did not stop even with
the capture of President
Aguinaldo and the war’s
official end on July 4,
1902. On the contrary, it
bolstered the movement
with more recruits from
Filipino soldiers who refused to surrender to the
Americans despite the
call of their commanderin-chief to surrender their
arms to the country’s new
colonial masters.
Barangay
Magtaon
in the present-day town
of Mapanas, a former
barrio of Palapag, became one of the major
recruitment stations for
the Pulahanes in Samar.
Remains of oversized
skeletons, believed to
belong to American soldiers, can still be found
today in the mountain
fringes of Mapanas.
The end for the Pula-
hanes came only in the
year 1907 when their cult
leader and military strategist – Ablen Faustino –
was captured in Ormoc
by the officers and men of
the Philippine Constabulary founded by Brig.
General Henry T. Allen,
whose name is immortalized by the present port
town of Allen and Fort Allen in Baguio City.
The Pulahanes did not
succeed in driving away
the Americans from the
Philippines, but they exemplified the Filipino’s
love of country and desire
for self-determination employed in parliamentary
debates to argue for the
cause of Philippine independence and self-rule.
https://www.facebook.
com/NorthernSamarOurHome
Bystander
By Pepe Quitorio
Scandalous “Napolist” posters
THE whole of Eastern Samar is now clattered
with big tarpaulin posters hoisted starting
from the boundary of West and East Samar
to most conspicuous areas throughout the
province, announcing that one politician is
not included in the so-called “Napolist”. This
is a very raw political scheme with an obvious
intention of jacking up a political image—as if
it were possible for this tactic that has already
dived so low. This campaign presumes that
the people of Eastern Samar are too naïve
and too “bobo”. Being listed or not among the
pork beneficiaries of Janet Napoles (or of the
DBM Secretary, if you wish) does not divide a
line between those who are corrupt and those
who are not. Consciously or otherwise, the
politician who authored these tarpaulin posters believes that Napoles has a moral ground
to decide that those who are not listed are not
beneficiaries of the pork and therefore are
not corrupt. That’s baloney, pure and simple.
Although these tarpaulin posters are not as
costly as the 10 billion-peso Napolis scam,
this is equally anomalous—and scandalous,
too, especially at this point in time when thousands of Eastern Samarenos are still hungry,
homeless and with no jobs after the super
typhoon; and still one political leader has
the gall to spend people’s money for his selfish personal agenda. Of course, the usual
justification that these were spent for by the
friends of such politician does not hold water
anymore. Kumita na yan, so to speak.
***
It’s almost 8 months after Yolanda, and the
Tacloban airport has not change much since
December. One wonders where goes the
terminal fee that each passenger pays? Had
all the collections been used for the repair of
the airport terminal, that could have saved
the Aquino administration from the shame of
allowing hundreds of local and foreign travellers from sweating daily at the arrival and
pre-departure areas. Granted, there are procedures, but why will it take ages for a government procedure to materialize, especially
in an emergency situation like this. Even the
comfort rooms are an embarrassment. Well,
even the rehabilitation of Yolanda survivors is
on a snail-pace, if at all. Time to leave it to
fate. It’s just disconcerting to hear the President Aquino bragging to the participants of the
recently concluded World Economic Forum
for East Asia in Manila, that “We have always
said that good governance is good economics, and the results of our reforms on the economic end are proving us right. In 2013, our
economy grew by 7.2 percent—making us
one of the fastest growing countries in Asia.
This we achieved despite the seemingly endless succession of natural and man-made
disasters that hit our country late last year—
which includes the Zamboanga siege incident
in September, the Bohol Earthquake in October, and the Typhoon Haiyan in November.”
***
With so many aid organizations donating
sustenance fishing boats to fishermen who
were victims of typhoon Yolanda, there is
an apprehension circulating that there may
now be overfishing in the fishing grounds of
Eastern Samar and Leyte. This is possible.
But estimates of the Bureau of Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources (BFAR) tell of about twenty thousand of boats in the entire Visayas that
were either destroyed or totally lost to the
fury of the super storm. Seven months after
Yolanda, thousands of fishermen in Region
XIII still can’t figure out how they could get a
replacement to their lost pump boats, especially now that chances of earning a living is
getting slimmer by the day. The Knights of
Columbus have been giving out pump boats
to poorest fishermen. And so is the Diocese
of Borongan with about a hundred fiberglass
boats to be awarded. But all assistance combined, including those from BFAR, will only
make a dent in the face of a very extensive
damage. That being the case, overfishing
is a remote possibility. Besides the number
of fishermen did not increase even if there
should be an increase in number of donated
boats. Overfishing is best triggered by illegal
fishing, not by some responsible fishermen
even if they have a horde of boats.
***
The difference between mice and men is
that the mice will never pass again on a trap
where they have been hurt; men do and they
never learn. The year 2016 is just around
the corner. In no time, we will hear again the
sweet nothings of politicians alluring one and
all for their votes. They will sing, dance, jump
and ultimately buy people’s votes even to the
tune of a couple of thousands. At the end of
the day, one gets the political crown not because he is efficient, honest and moral, but
because he pays the highest. Every election
then is not an exercise of suffrage or democracy. It is sadly a political grab of the highest bidder. The one who pays the highest
wins. The one who wins gets the government
largesse, the pork as in the case of legislators, and the SOP in all levels of political positions. Graft and corruption is the name of the
game. It has become normal and it has to be
so, because ever politician has to recoup the
expenses at political campaigns and establish
a bigger kitty for the next. Thus far, corruption
has attained its peak at the current Aquino administration, by reason of quantity and extent.
This should be enough to teach Filipinos a
painful lesson. We should now be electing our
candidates not by reason of money, but by integrity and efficiency—otherwise, we haven’t
learned a thing from the mice.
***
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reform (CARPER) will
finally be buried on June 30. This is sad because it’s an unfinished business. Despite its
substantial bearing with the country’s economy and the good of the farmers who are the
poorest segment of our society, it has became a horrible caricature of the lack of political will of government leaders, the greedy
brand of Philippine politics and a complete
disregard for the common good. At his State
of the Nation Address in July of 2012, President Benigno Aquino III forcefully declared:
“Tatapusin ang pamamahagi ng lupa sa ilalim ng CARPER sa aking panunungkulan.”
That, of course, is now a big lie. Ironically,
the Aquino government that was expected to
save the country from the aftermath of corruption and incompetence of previous administrations emerged to be singing the same
song—or even worse.
The serious implementation of CARP
and CARPER is not a matter of political
expediency by any government administration. It is in fact a constitutional mandate. Article XII, Section 4 of the Philippine
Constitution provides that “the State shall,
by law, undertake an agrarian reform program founded on the right of farmers and
regular farm workers, who are landless, to
own directly or collectively the lands they
till or, in the case of other farm workers, to
receive a just share of the fruits thereof.”
It is no wonder then that DAR—seemingly
acting at the behest of landed oligarchs, instead of its primary constituency that are
the landless farmers—has always failed
to meet its yearly targets and has done little if at all to provide support services to
its beneficiaries. Delos Reyes promised to
distribute more than 1.2 million hectares of
lands, targeting 200,000 hectares for 2011;
180,000 hectares for 2012; 260,000 hectares for 2013; and 200,000 hectares for
2014. CARPER will bow out on June 30,
2014 with 360,000 hectares of undistributed land or 30% short of its mandate.
***
School Year 2014-2015 will open first week
of June with a lot of apprehension especially
hereabouts where many classrooms have
been torn apart by typhoon Yolanda. Presumably, scholars of congressmen who allocated a dent of their pork for scholarship
will have to look for alternatives, now that the
pork barrel has been “unconstitutionalized”.
A congressman was so passionate about
defending his pork because, one, he had
some scholars to maintain; two, he had other
social development projects to sustain. He,
of course, is doing a run-around of people’s
money because there is DepEd and DSWD
who are mandated to do the job, and perhaps
better. Congressmen are legislators; they
should, therefore, be thinking about crafting
people-oriented laws instead of pocket-oriented projects.
6
PACIFICTIMES
Nat King Coles speaks
about some issues in Q & A
NAMED after a popular
American singer and the 6th
Bar passer of Eastern Samar
State University, Nat King
Coles recently made a social
media history, particularly
on Twitter, which put him to
sudden fame; not because
he topped the exam, but because of his unusual name.
He spoke to Pacific Times
this month.
The full text of the questions
and Coles’ answers follows:
PT: What motivated you to
become a lawyer?
NKC: The thought of a better life for my family really
pushed me to take up law
and eventually become a
lawyer. Of course, this was
also my dream since childhood.
PT: Is it for the fame, money?
NKC: It’s a fact that lawyers
earn a decent income compared to most professions. It’s
not just about money: it’s more
about giving your family the
best life that they deserve, one
that they can be proud of.
PT: What is your take on the
DAP?
NKC: It should not be totally
abolished, a stricter process
in its release should instead
be instituted to ensure accountability and transparency
in its use. There are many
poor provinces that rely on this
fund. As an example, when
the fund was stopped many
students at the ESSU (Eastern
Samar State University) lost
their scholarships and eventually led to them to dropping out
of school.
PT: Would you take a client
even if you know he/she is
guilty?
NKC: A lawyer should not
deny his services to a client
just because he/she is guilty.
It is a lawyer’s duty to at least
protect the rights of his client.
PT: Who is your most admired lawyer in and outside
Eastern Samar? Why?
NKC: I have friends who are
lawyers and whom I know
personally. I have seen them
practice their profession with
utmost competence and I ad-
mire them the most. Among
them are Atty. Gerry Val
Baquilod, Atty. Mario Abrenzosa, and Atty. Neil Estil.
PT: What is your take on issues like mining? Would
you defend mining firms?
NKC: Mining provides livelihood. But as long as sustainable operation cannot be instituted I am against it.
PT: What is your take on
religion? Should someone
practice one’s religion in the
workplace? What about the
other workers who do not
share the same belief?
NKC: I have no problem with
people exercising their religion, be it in the workplace
or in any other place. I also
respect the belief of other
people that religion should
not be practiced in the
workplace as long as they
respect those who believe
otherwise. It is all about reasonable tolerance— when it
exists, there is peace.
PT: What is your take on
large law firms? Would you
join them if offered?
NKC: Large firms or small
firms, they’re all fine to me as
long as I can practice my profession in a manner that suits
my work ethic.
PT: Would you enter politics?
NKC: No, if I want peace of
mind.
PT: Where does your loyalty
lie— to your sworn oath as
a lawyer or your principles?
NKC: To both, because my
oath is my principle.
Storm damage? Make a claim at Pag-Ibig
IF you’re a Pag-Ibig Fund member and
your home has been badly damaged by
typhoon Yolanda, contact your insurance provider and they will take care of
the rest.
Jackie Constantino, head of PagIbig’s Business Development Department in Eastern Visayas, assured the
members that damage to their houses
would be covered by the mutual fund office.
As to the amount of the insurance
claims, she said it would depend on the
result of the agency’s assessment on
damaged houses.
“They can claim insurance anytime.
The claims will now depend on the extent of damage,” Constantino said.
Constantino also said that they
have a special program for Pag-Ibig
members in areas devastated by
Yolanda.
She said the program includes
“interest-free” home rehabilitation
loans for the first six months then at
subsidized interest rates for the next
1.5 years; private-public partnerships with top developers in building
housing projects; six-month grace
period for new calamity loans; and
six-month moratorium on amortization payments for existing loans as
well as short-term loans of existing
housing loans.
Constantino said that the houses to
be developed under the special program
shall cost no more than P470, 000.
She added that developers will follow the house design set by the agency, which should be disaster-resilient,
as mandated by the national government.
“This is the first time that Pag-Ibig
came out with such program for the
members,” she said. PT
PAGASA’s Doppler radar in Guiuan
yet to be repaired
PAGASA acting administrator Vicente Malano said the
JICA would shoulder the repair
of the equipment, which was
wrecked by super typhoon
Yolanda’s destructive 315-kph
winds last year.
Yolanda destroyed 15 PAGASA stations in Visayas and
each stations costs about P1
million, excluding the equipment.
Malano said most of these
stations and equipment have
been repaired already with the
help of the World Meteorological Organization of the United
Nations.
The state weather bureau
relies on Guiuan radar to monitor storms coming from the
Pacific Ocean. PT
IT will more time before the
country’s first line of defense
in Guiuan E. Samar against
storms could be used again.
But the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and
Astronomical Services (PAGASA) said the P450-million
Doppler radar equipment
would be repaired within the
year.
The radar was one of the
three radars funded by the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) through a P1.7billion grant in 2009 although
it became operational only in
March 2013
The two other radars are
stationed in Aparri, Cagayan,
and Virac, Catanduanes.
LIBANAN, PAGE 1
CONTRACEPTIVES, PAGE 1
tive devices,” added Varquez.
“It is our moral stand that the
survivors still have the right to
health and life. The artificial reproductive devices are threats
to such rights,” he said.
Birth control is a delicate
subject in the predominantly
Catholic country, especially
with the recent implementation
of the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) law.
The church official also said
that farmers and fishermen
need all the support they could
get from the government and
aid agencies.
news
May 2014 / Vol 1 No 2 / www.pacifictimes.org
Though the bishop did not
identify any group, among the
visible agencies providing aid
in the province in the form of
family planning is the United
Nation Population Fund (UNFPA).
Immediately after the onslaught of the typhoon, the
UNFPA has been rolling out
information campaign on birth
control services.
The UN agency also said
that they are concerned about
unwanted pregnancies and
the possible spread of sexually
transmitted diseases. PT
ers linked to the scam.
A lawyer by profession, Libanan had served as congressman
from 1998 to 2007 albeit marred
by allegations of corruption.
The former congressman’s
three terms could have extended, had his wife Elda won
against former Rep. Teodulo
Coquilla in the congressional
slate in 2007.
Pacific Times tried to get the
side of Libanan but still has not
gotten a reply as of press time.
From Congress, Libanan was
appointed as commissioner of
the Bureau of Immigration (BI)
from 2007 until the end of the Arroyo administration in 2010.
Until the last election, the
former BI chief has remained
to be a powerful political figure
in the province with several
politicians asking his support.
The recent controversy
has brought Libanan again
under the scanner, and with
no leniency being shown by
Malacañang against Arroyo’s
allies, it seems that he will
have to fight his own battle.
Samar folk lament civil
registration problems
JULIO Gloria, a resident
of Hernani E. Samar, was
35 years old when he registered the birth of his son
in the local civil registrar’s
(LCR) office. He just turned
48, but still doubtful if his
son could get an authenticated copy of certificate of
live birth.
His
skepticism
was
stemmed from an incident
seven years ago in Manila, when his youngest
son, Jaypee needed copy
of birth certificate from the
National Statistics Office
- a standard requirement
for enrollment in a public
elementary school.
“We were in Manila back
then. I went to the NSO
office to get a copy of my
child’s live birth, but I found
out that he’s not actually
registered,” Gloria recalled.
It was a big surprise
to him since he was sure
that his son’s birth is recorded in the LCR and he
got the registry number - a
sequential number indicating the order by which the
document for registration is
entered in the appropriate
civil registry book.
Jaypee’s civil registration took place few days
after his birth to ensure that
recording is within the 30day reglementary period.
“I went back to my
hometown here in Hernani
to check what really happened. I discovered that a
girl already used my son’s
birth registration number.
That was very disappointing,” he added.
In 2010, for the second
time, Gloria processed
his son’s civil registration
record, paid a considerable amount as penalties
for late registration, got
a new registration number, but still wonders if
he could get an authenticated copy printed in a
security paper.
“I found myself paying
for someone else’s negligence,” said Gloria, considered as the most well
versed man on civil documentation in San Miguel
village, being the barangay
secretary for half a decade. His task is to orient
villagers about the process
of civil registration.
His case is not isolated
in this economically depressed town flattened
by both fierce winds and
storm surges. A team
from Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment
through Legal Services,
Inc. (IDEALS) found that
many residents - young
and old - have no birth
certificates,
especially
those deliveries attended
by hilots or traditional
birth attendants.
In San Roque village,
Marabut, Samar, couple
Gerardo and Mylene Silvano are still puzzling on how
to register the birth of their
third child, Megan, who
was born October 12, 2013
aboard an ambulance,
heading to the Eastern
Visayas Regional Medical
Center in Tacloban City.
“We asked the hospital
to help us process civil registration of my child’s birth,
but they told us to go to
our town’s local civil registrar office. We’re not able
to process the registration
within 30 days because we
have no money for us to
get to the town center and I
have to attend to the needs
of my wife,” recalled Silvano, a low-income farmer.
When super typhoon
Yolanda
struck
three
weeks after Megan’s birth,
the couple almost forgot
the need to process the
documentation.
According
to
NSO,
“when a child is born
aboard a vehicle, vessel
or airplane while in transit
within Philippine territory
and the exact place of birth
could not be ascertained,
the birth shall be recorded
in the civil register of the
city or municipality of the
mother’s destination or
where the mother habitually resides.
Now that the registration
of his child’s birth is already
delayed, the Silvano couple
has to obtain copies of baptismal certificate, barangay
certification, and affidavits.
Earlier, they sought assistance from a team of community workers of IDEALS.
A study of the United
Nations Children’s Fund
disclosed that unregistered
children are almost always
from poor, marginalized or
displaced families or from
countries where systems of
registration are not in place
or functional.
Civil documentation is
also constrained by lack
of awareness on the importance of civil registration, difficulty of reaching
the city or town proper,
and financial capability to
pay documentation fees.
Under regular procedures, securing a birth
certificate entails a fee of
between P200 and P500,
depending on the classification local government units
(LGUs). Under the IDEALSled mobile civil registration
project, LGUs agreed to
waive all registration fees
until June 30. PT
RICHEST, PAGE 1
Here are the eight other
House members from Eastern
Visayas who are also multimillionaires, based on their SALNs:
8. Samar 1st district Rep.
Mel Sarmiento – P9.312M
9. Northern Samar 2nd district Rep. Emil Ong – P7.845M
1. Samar 2nd District Rep.
Milagrosa Tan – P32.456M
2. Biliran Rep. Rogelio Espina – P22.547M
3. Northern Samar 1st
District Rep. Harlin Abayon –
P21.322M
4. An Waray Party List Rep.
Neil Montejo – P15.706M
5. Leyte 3rd District Rep.
Salvacion Andres – P13.490M
6. Leyte 5th District Jose
Carlos Cari – P13.111M
7. An Waray Party List Rep.
Victoria Noel – P12.460M
Boxing champion and Sarangani
Rep.
Emmanuel
“Manny” Pacquiao has remained the richest among the
289 members of the Lower
House with a net worth of
P1.35 billion.
He was followed by Ilocos Norte 2nd district Rep.
Imelda Marcos with P992.80
million and House Speaker
Feliciano Belmonte Jr., with a
net worth of P819.75 million.
Roy Lagarde
news
www.pacifictimes.org / Vol 1 No 2 / May 2014
PACIFICTIMES
7
New classrooms remain bleak in 8 towns
STUDENTS in many schools
in the province will have to
bear commencing their first
day of classes of the school
term in makeshift classrooms
until new school buildings are
built for them.
When the new classrooms
will be finished, Department of
Education Region 8 Program
Supervisor Rey Bulawan has
no definite answer.
He said that as much as
they want to rehabilitate the
facilities destroyed by typhoon
Yolanda, the extent of the
damage was too overwhelming for the agency’s “scarce”
resources.
“We are still crossing our
fingers that more help will
come from both local and international
organizations,”
Bulawan said.
The DepEd official said the
damaged schools are mostly
from the province’s southern
towns—Lawaan, Balanggiga,
Giporlos, Quinapondan, Hernani, Salcedo, Mercedes and
Guiuan.
Of the 474 elementary
schools, a total of 133 were
affected by the typhoon. In the
secondary level, 20 out of 83
schools also suffered damages.
Bulawan said that there are
about 748 partially damaged
and 364 totally destroyed
BY THE ROADSIDE, PAGE 5
when he directly and accurately taught the NT idea of
the Kingdom of God as “not a
place but a person, the Person of Jesus Christ.” And yet
this Jesus Christ was clothed in
simplicity unlike anyone else’s.
The non-simple could neither
recognize him nor fathom his
message. Is it any wonder?
The Napolist culture is an
indictment of how we have
abandoned simplicity in our
society for big money life
and politics. While the media
have almost single-mindedly
brought our attention to the
names of lawmakers (senators and congressmen) as
well as other personalities in
their public or private capacities, the media or even the
Church, we conveniently forget that we too share in the
blame we so willingly cast
on others. After all, it is we
who have long cultivated the
Napolist culture by allowing
money to control our politics
and almost anything else in
our social relations. That no
one, no matter how qualified
in other crucial criteria, can
run for any local or national
office without him/her wooing
the masses to the tune of millions (I suspect, even billions)
of pesos is the staple food of
any ‘Napolitan’ practitioner or
aspirant. This, together with
patronage politics, provides
highly fertile ground for the
Napolist culture. A remark
by Ruby Tuason, explaining
why she allowed herself to
be a bag lady for a senator’s
PDAF share so she could
help him respond to people
who were constantly asking
the senator for money assistance to needs of various
kinds, was very telling. Multiply that situation with the
number of our public servants or even celebrities and
it wouldn’t be too hard to see
why the ‘Napolist’ may only
be the tip of the iceberg.
I guess I could say, to paraphrase a popular saying, I
have seen the Napolist and
the Napolist is us.
We need to rediscover
simplicity, even if through
a saintly pope whom we
love in the Philippines, to
respond to the Napolist culture. St. John Paul II’s simplicity urges us to be simple
enough to be uncluttered by
the materialism around us in
order to get to the essence
of life: faith, hope and love
that should be concrete in
the way we hold office, work,
transact business or provide
services. Simple enough to
see that the abuse of power
starts with us who abuse the
power to vote when we vote
the undeserving into office.
Simple enough to refrain
from treating public officials
as fiscal messiahs because it
compels them to be corrupt.
Simple enough never to stop
demanding transparency and
accountability from those
who manage, well or ill, the
resources of our government
and society. Simple enough
to demand both sides of the
Napolist or other corruption
charges. Simple enough to
admit that if we keep refusing
to check the performance of
people in power out of fear or
sloth, we reap the whirlwinds.
Simple enough to realize, every constantly, that we
must live simply so that many
more may simply live.
Borongan elderly man finds
refuge in Tanay home
TANAY Rizal— We all dream of a
comfortable life when we reach our
twilight years. Sadly though, partly
due to poverty, there are some older persons who go through this last
phase of their lives alone, abandoned
by their children and relatives.
Good news is, there are facilities
that welcome these abandoned seniors, and ready to provide the love
and care they need.
Such is the case of Nicolas Camposano, 89, from Borongan City in
Eastern Samar.
The Haven for the Elderly, a residential care facility of the Department
of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD) in this hilly town has been
the home of Camposano for three
years now.
In 2005, Camposano decided to
go to Manila to look for his youngest
daughter.
Due to fatigue and hunger, he
fainted. Fortunately, a good samaritan helped and referred him to Golden Acres in Quezon City, and subsequently he was transferred to “Haven
for the Elderly” in 2010.
Camposano wife passed away a
few years ago due to illness. The
death of his wife made him long for
his children who now have their own
families. Two of Camposano’s children are in Tacloban City and the
other two are in Manila.
The hope of seeing his four children seemed lightless especially
after Typhoon Yolanda hit Eastern
Visayas.
He, however, learned to cope with
his depression by being busy with
the activities at the center. Also, the
medical team of the center conducts
a regular psychiatric assessment.
The Haven for the Elderly already
contacted the long lost relatives of
Camposano in Borongan through the
DSWD Field Office VIII, but the family refused to accommodate and take
care of him due to poverty.
Usually, the center provides reintegration service when an older person
can remember the names and addresses of the family and relatives.
If the family or relatives are just
leaving nearby, Haven for the Elderly
will interview them to assess their
capability in taking care of the older
person. After being assessed, both
parties will have an agreement and
the family signs a waiver.
If the family or relatives are living
in farther areas, the Haven for the
Elderly will coordinate with the Local
Social Welfare Development Office
(LSWDO) or DSWD Regional Office
for assessment.
Finding love later in life
Currently, majority of the older
persons in Haven for the Elderly are
separated or widowed, but Emma de
los Reyes, 63, single, found love for
the first time through Dominador Estrada, 82.
Both admitted that the blossoming
relationship started as friendship.
”Hindi naman kami nabighani sa
una naming pagkikita, wala nga kam-
ing kilig na nararamdaman (It was not
love at first sight),” De los Reyes and
Estrada stated.
Until Estrada realized he needed
someone to love again. He courted
Lola Emma for eight months.
”Hindi naman ako naghahanap
ng mapapangasawa, gusto ko lang
mayroon akong masasabihan ng aking iniisip at mga plano. Nakaka-miss
lang kasi ang mayroon kang taong
gustong alagaan (I’m not looking for
someone to be my wife, just someone to share a bit of my thoughts and
plans. I miss having a person to care
for),” stated Estrada.
Lola Emma never had a relationship with men since she grew up in a
convent with nuns after her parents
died at an early age.
“Hindi ko naman pinili na mag-isa
ako sa buhay pero kung ikaw itinapon
ka sa ganitong tadhana wala ka ng
magagawa kung hindi tanggapin ito.
Wala talaga akong hilig sa mga lalaki,
ang gusto ko lang noon ay makaahon
(It wasn’t my choice to be on my own,
but when you’re thrown into it you just
have to accept it. I never had any interest in men before, my only goal in
life is how to survive),” De los Reyes
mused.
At first they hid their relationship
since the center does not encourage
this kind of interaction. But because
Center Head Ricky Bunao views the
relationship as more platonic than romantic, he decided to allow it.
“Whatever their reason, I believe
Refuge, Page 11
LEE, PAGE 1
POINTS TO PONDER, PAGE 4
people are hardly surviving.
Here’s the Forbes list of Philippine’s richest people with
their estimated net worth:
1. Henry Sy (SM group) –
$12 billion
2. Lucio Tan (LT group) –
$7.5 billion
3. Andrew Tan (Megaworld)
$4.6 billion
4. Enrique Razon (ICTSI)
$4.5 billion
5. John Gokongwei Jr.
(JG Summit) – $3.4 billion
6. Jaime Zobel de Ayala
(Ayala Corp.) – $3.1 billion
7. Aboitiz family (AEV) –
$3 billion
8. David Consunji (DMCI)
$2.7 billion
9. George Ty (Metrobank)
$2.6 billion
10. Lucio & Susan Co
(Puregold) – $1.9 billion
classrooms in Eastern Samar
alone.
As of May, 166 classrooms
have been repaired so far,
which means that several
students will hold classes in
makeshift classrooms next
month with the rainy season
just around the corner.
The DepEd official assured
that the agency’s efforts are
ongoing to “normalize the
school system” particularly in
the most affected areas in the
region.
He also said that school officials and teachers are preparing textbooks for students
to use in time for the school
opening on June 2. PT
–
–
–
–
Big crime equals special
treatment
Filipinos have come to believe that virtually everyone
implicated in plunder charges
or high profile crimes ends up
in government custody with
special treatment. To cite a
few, Ex-Presidents Estrada
and Gloria Arroyo, and now
pork barrell scam queen Janet Napoles. The legal justification for the latter’s special
airconditioned jail room and
expensive security is the fear
that someone might attempt
on her life and thus jeopardize the case against her.
There is definitely something
wrong in this picture. It looks
like one only needs to commit
a heinous crime to merit special custodial treatment. This
is why Senator Chiz Escudero suggested to the effect that
if anyone wants to commit a
crime, he better do it bigtime
so he can avail of special jail
treatment. A wrong message
of course, but this is what we
provide under our legal system. Hence, there is an urgent need for our lawmakers
to address this delimma and
revisit our laws and repeal
or revise whatever needs
changing.
But a source said one these
personalities include Benjie
Picardo, a cousin of Villacarillo, who accompanied Lee
and Raz in Dolores where they
stayed for several days.
The two suspects were
spotted by the authorities in a
private beach house, owned
by Picardo’s family, in Dolores
in the morning of April 25, but
were able to evade arrest.
Outsmarted
Had the cops caught Lee
and Raz, it would have boosted the morale of local police in
Dolores, Eastern Samar.
The suspects in the mauling
of Navarro last January were
able to evade around 20 NBI
agents from Catbalogan and
local cops who were running
after them.
A source privy to the “surrender” of the suspects, but refused to be identified, said that
Lee and Raz hid near the short
bridge in Japitan where some
cops were actually positioned.
“According to them, they
stayed there for several hours,
and few meters away from
them were some local authorities and operatives of a police mobile unit hunting them
down,” the source said.
When the cops left the area
in the afternoon, they rented
a boat and went to the nearby
island barangay of Hilabaan
where they stayed until the
evening, the source added.
From Hilabaan, using the
same boat, they went to Oras
where they spent the night in
a coconut field. While in hiding, they reportedly ate coconuts.
As the hunt for the suspects
in the much-celebrated case
continued, the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila
got a call from Atty. Howard
Calleja, Lee’s lawyer, telling
them that his clients were going to surrender.
The following day, April 26,
the NBI sent special investigator Isaac Carpeso, Jr., to
Tacloban then went straight
to Oras along with some NBI
operatives from Catbalogan,
Samar.
Carpeso said he was constantly exchanging text messages with Lee on his way to
Oras, roughly 12 kilometers
north of Dolores town.
“He kept on updating me
about his location,” he said.
Carpeso said they caught
up with Lee and Raz before
the Oras bridge at around
11:15 in the morning of April
26. “They gave themselves up
voluntarily,” he added.
“When I saw them, they
looked really tired and they
had bruises in their hands and
feet,” Carpeso said.
‘No such hydropower project’
Lee claimed they were already in Dolores during the
Holy Week or even before the
warrant for their arrest was issued.
They, however, said that
they were not hiding in the
area but were merely attending a business engagement
there.
Lee said he also visited
their hydropower project in the
remote and upstream town of
Maslog.
Maslog Mayor Septemio
Santiago said, “There’s no
such project” in his town although he confirmed that they
have an untapped hydropower
potential.
According to him, Picardo
had been visiting Maslog from
time to time along with some
potential investors and experts
in hydropower project development.
Since 2007, he said that
some businessmen have been
in and out of Maslog to study
a possible hydropower project;
however, he is not aware that
Lee is one of them.
It was on April 14 when a
Taguig City court issued the
arrest warrants for serious illegal detention charge, a nonbailable offense, against Lee,
Raz and three others filed by
Navarro.
Carpeso said the NBI received a copy of the warrants
of arrest on April 23, or 10
days after they were issued.
Roy Lagarde
8
PACIFICTIMES
May 2014 / Vol 1 No 2 / www.pacifictimes.org
Group seeks deferment of
civil records printing fees
AN ORGANIZATION that renders free legal aid is seeking to
deter printing fees of 100,000
copies of civil registration documents for Typhoon Yolanda
survivors in Samar and Leyte.
Preliminary talks have been
ongoing between the Initiatives
for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal
Services (IDEALS), the Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD), and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to give
free copies of the vital records.
“The proposal is still on the
drawing board,” Edgardo Ligon,
IDEALS executive director, said.
“We are hoping that this will
be approved or else we will
find a way to shoulder the cost
since target beneficiaries are
the poorest of the poor and they
couldn’t afford to pay,” he said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority – National Statistics Office, an agency under NEDA,
charges P140 for each authenticated copy of birth, marriage, and death certificates
printed in security papers.
The group said it would cost
P14 million to shoulder the
cost of printing for 100,000 target beneficiaries.
The mobile civil registration
project, primarily funded by the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR)
was launched in April and it
will run until June.
As of this week, more than
44,000 individuals have been listed for processing of documents.
The project also provided
computers and printers to the
local civil registrar, and deployed 200 community workers and additional staff to facilitate community-based civil
registration.
Earlier, the group asked local government units to waive
all civil registration fees until
June 2014.
IDEALS noted that one of
the major hindrances for the
NSO to provide free copies is
the deal between the agency
and its service provider Unisys
Public Sector Services Corp.
In 2002, Unisys invested
P2.12-billion for the computerization civil registry system
under the build-transfer and
operate scheme (BTO).
“While we concentrate on
physical rehabilitation, we
should also concentrate on the
rehabilitation of the heart. What
goes to the heart and mind of
survivors. Restoration of legal
records is important. It is giving
back dignity to these people,”
said Bernard Kerblat, UNHCR
Philippines representative.
For the registration project,
the UNHCR has allocated
US$380,000 for the procurement of computers, printers,
forms, generator sets, and
mobilization of teams, according to Kerblat. PT
Local farmer, fisher families to benefit
from P139.9M rehab project
FAMILIES of farmers and fishermen from
five severely typhoon-damaged towns in
Eastern Samar are to benefit from a mutimillion peso project to rehabilitate agriculture and fishing communities.
The
AKBay-Agrikultura:
Kaagapay ng Bayang Pinoy Program will be
funded under the Japanese Grant Assistance for the Food Security Project
for the Underprivileged Farmers (2KR
Program).
A fund of P139, 979,500 from Japan’s
Official Development Assistance was approved for the project that will be managed by the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF).
Yolanda’s onslaught in the Visayas last
November 8 caused multi-billion peso
worth of damages, mostly in agriculture
and infrastructure.
“While the immediate needs of the affected families were provided, there is a need for
continuing help through livelihood opportunities that would provide sustainable means
to assist the victims towards recovery,” the
Japanese Embassy said in a statement.
PCAF, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, will implement the
recovery and rehabilitation works in collaboration with DA Regional Office VIII.
Through the project, the Japanese
government will provide income-generating opportunities to farming and fishing
households affected by Yolanda and help
them reestablish their livelihood.
Aside from E. Samar, it will be imple-
mented for one year targeting around
8,500 farmer and fisher families in three
other badly hit provinces in Region 8,
namely, Leyte, Biliran and Western Samar.
Project components include grant assistance for planting materials or fishing
boats and paraphernalia worth P15, 000
per farmer/fisher household “with no repayment”.
The concerned agencies will also undertake capacity-building activities that
will prepare the beneficiaries to undertake
the livelihood endeavors provided by the
program.
The DA said these include trainings on
basic project management, skills enhancement, technology and record keeping. PT
Obama asked to return Balangiga bells
AN online petition on
advocacy
platform
Change.org is asking
United States President Barack Obama
to bring the bells of
Balangiga home, especially after typhoon
Yolanda.
As of May 30, the
petition, which was
posted late 2013, already has 2,776 signatures.
As the townspeople
rebuild their lives, Gary
Ramirez, the main petitioner, said it becomes
clearer that “strength
of sprit will always be
the one element that
will see us through this
difficult time”.
According to him,
the church of Balangiga has always been
the center of people’s
faith and unity and has
always been at the
heart of Balangiga’s
history, and that of the
Philippines as well.
“As we rebuild the
heart of our town, the
Balangiga
Church,
there is one thing
missing that will help
make this spirit whole.
The bells of Balangiga
Church,” Ramirez said
in his petition.
He added: “At no
other time in our history have we needed
the bells of Balangiga
more than now.”
Obama visited the
Philippines last April
but said nothing in his
speeches about the
Balangiga bells.
“We ask that you
help bring back the
song to the heart of
Balangiga. We ask
thatou return these
bells to their rightful
home, the Balangiga
Church in Samar,”
Ramirez also said.
“With the return of
the bells of Balangiga,
we will, together, not
just rebuild a church
and strengthen the
spirit of a devastated town, we will be
strengthening the ties
that bind us,” he said.
The Balangiga Bells
were taken by US
forces as a war trophy
in the aftermath of the
Balangiga Massacre in
Samar during the Philippine-American War.
Efforts to return the
bells to the Philippines
have started in 1957
when Jesuit historian Fr. Horacio de la
Costa requested the
13th Air Force in San
Francisco, California
to repatriate the bells.
One of the bells is
in the possession of
9th Infantry Regiment
at Camp Red Cloud
based in South Korea
while two others are
at a former base of
the 11th Infantry Regi-
ment at F. E. Warren
air base in Cheyenne,
Wyoming.
Meanwhile,
the
Balangiga Historical
Society through the
National
Historical
Institute and the Department of Foreign
Affairs initiated formal
government efforts in
reacquiring the Bells
in 1989.
The Borongan diocese has also stepped
up its efforts in recent
years by organizing a
Diocesan Committee
on Balangiga Bells
composed of Filipinos
residing the Philippines and in the US.
In August 2010, Borongan Bishop Crispin
Varquez met with the
members of the committee in the US who
are leading the lobby
in the US Congress for
the return of the bells.
PT
news
Bishop warns against aid
‘dependency’
BORONGAN Bishop Crispin
Varquez warned against aid
dependency as more Typhoon
Yolanda victims still struggle to
pick up pieces.
Varquez said that five months
after the typhoon devastated
several towns in the province,
longer-term recovery should
take priority over food aid.
Since dole-out would not
be enough, the bishop said
that sustainable ways will not
only help survivors get back
on their feet but will raise their
dignity as well.
“It’s my hope that all the interventions done for the survivors
of the super typhoon Yolanda
will not create a dole out and
dependency mentality,” Varquez
said.
To empower the survivors
of the calamity, he said that it
would help a lot if their livelihood, especially the farmers
and fishermen, will be restored.
“Even the poor and those in
need have a right to the dignity
of being God’s co-creators,”
Varquez added.
“They are robbed of such
dignity when they lose their
sense of livelihood and become overly dependent on donations,” he also said.
In Eastern Samar, nine out
of its 22 towns were hardest-hit
by the country’s deadliest-ever
and the world’s strongest typhoon in recent history. PT
More women bosses than men in EV
IF you go to work whether in
the government or in a private
company in Eastern Visayas,
there’s a good chance you’ll
be working for a woman.
According to the 2013 Labor
Force Survey Report issued
by the National Statistics Coordination Board, women are
dominating the top positions in
the professional workplace at
a torrid pace.
The number of women business owners is likewise keeps
rising as interest in entrepreneurship grows.
The study noted that 52.9%
of the 274,000 officials of
government and special interest organizations, corporate
executives, managers and
supervisors in the region are
women.
“This shows that more
women than men occupy
managerial and supervisory
positions where they exercise
decision-making
functions,”
the NSCB said.
The report also stated that
women also make more than
half of the professional workforce in Eastern Visayas.
The study listed 73,000 persons or 79.5 percent of women
in contrast to 27,000 persons
or 21.5 percent of men.
Women also outnumbered
men among clerks (56.9%)
and service workers and shop
and market sales workers
(50.7%).
On the other hand, men
dominated in the following
occupation groups: plant and
machine operators and assemblers (100.0%), special
occupations such as those
in the military workforce
(100.0%), trade and related
workers (90.2%), farmers, forestry workers and fishermen
(84.7%), and laborers and unskilled workers (63.9%). PT
history & culture
www.pacifictimes.org / Vol 1 No 2 / May 2014
PACIFICTIMES
9
Why Did the White Russians Settle in
Tubabao Island Guiuan?
THE evacuation of more than
5,800 emigres to the island of
Tubabao, Guiuan, Eastern Samar in 1949-1951 sprang from
the relentless efforts of the
White Russians in Communist
China to flesh out their aspiration to live as a free people.
It should be recalled that
during and after the 1917 Bolshevic revolution in Russia
under Vladimir Lenin against
the Tsar and the Russian civil
war that ensued, the White
Russians, who were opposed
to the Communist regime, fled
the country.
Emigres from
Southern Russia and Ukraine,
for instance, went to Eastern
Europe. But those in Siberia
and in the Russian Far East
settled in Harbin, Hankow and
Shanghai, among other cities
in China, where they felt safe
from the clutches of Communism.
Their stay in these Chinese
cities was not for long, how-
ever. After World War II, when
China was freed from the
Japanese, the Chinese civil
war between the Communists
under Mao-Tse Tung and the
Nationalists under Chiang Kai
Shek resumed. By 1948, the
Communists, who were supported by Russia, took control of northern China, forcing
hundreds of Russian émigrés
in Peking, Hankow, Tiensin
and nearby cities to transfer to
Shanghai. But it was clear to
them that Mao’s army would
eventually overrun the whole
of China and place it under a
Communist rule.
Meanwhile, it came also
to their knowledge that, as
a result of the Yalta Conference, the White Russians in
Europe were being repatriated by force to Russia. It was
claimed, for instance, that in
Austria, around 40,000 Cossacks were deported to Russian labor camps. In Harbin it-
self, the Russian Army and the
Secret Police (KGB) were already arresting and deporting
Russian emigrants to forced
labor camps. Indeed, all White
Russians living in China were
advised to leave.
Alarmed by these developments, Gregory Bologoff, a
Cossack, formerly a colonel
in the Russian Imperial Army
(which opposed Communism),
became involved in organizing
the White Russians in China
into the Russian Emigrants’
Association. As President, he
rallied the Russian émigrés
to organize the evacuation of
their fellow White Russians to
a safe and secure place.
Thousands supported him,
declaring their irreconcilability with Communism. Rather
than having themselves subjected to a communist dictatorship either in Russia or in
China, they decided to leave
Shanghai. Col. Bologoff ap-
pealed to the United Nations,
to the International Refugees
Organization (IRO) and to all
countries in the free world to
save them and give them asylum.
The Philippines, under
Pres. Elpidio Quirino responded—actually, ours was
the only country that did—to
the appeal, and offered to the
refugees the island of Tubabao, Guiuan. And, through
an arrangement made and
facilitated by the IRO, to the
island they did come. (Later
on, Quirino himself, as well as
Senator Noland and Orthodox
Archbishop John Maximovitch,
visited the camp to express his
concern and solidarity to the
refugees.)
Though almost uninhabited
when the first batch of refugees came, Tubabao, a triangular-shaped island south of
Guiuan, was, as described in
HyperWar, formerly a Quonset
“city” with mess halls, recreation facilities, churches, and
utilities for 10,000 men. It was
chosen by the American forces
as a navy receiving station. It
was connected to Guiuan by a
515-ft long bridge of timber, 22
ft. wide.
However, save for the
bridge, a few Quonset huts, a
rusty pontoon serving as pier,
a nonfunctioning walk-in refrigerator, an abandoned large
mechanized laundry, and a
dilapidated church, there was
hardly any trace of the “city”
when the first White Russians
arrived in January 1949, 49 of
them (the “advance echelon”)
by air on the 12th, and 492 by
sea on the 23rd, on board S.S.
Hwa Lien.
As refugees poured in, the
practically uninhabited island
of Tubabao was transformed
into what was known as Russian Refugee Camp. It was
divided into 14 districts, each
What is the significance of the Santiago statue in Borongan?
MANY Boronganons seem
to think that the now defunct “Plaza Rizal,” the
town square south of the
St Joseph’s College lot,
just across the “Tilang”,
was the original plaza of
Borongan. No, it was not.
The ORIGINAL SQUARE
of the town of Borongan
was the PLAZA DE SANTIAGO, in front of the parish church.
History
It should be remembered that before a settlement could become a
pueblo (municipality), one
of the legal requirements
was a church square; without it, a royal decree could
not be issued. On account
of this, the old towns and
settlements of Eastern Samar have their plaza just
across the church. Thus,
the plaza of Balangiga,
Giporlos, Quinapondan,
Llorente, San Policarpo,
Oras, Dolores, Can-avid,
Taft, Sulat, Libas, Borongan, Guiuan, among others. Needless to state, the
Church owned these. In
the 1960s, statues of the
Sacred Heart could still
be seen in the plazas of
Balangiga, Giporlos, Dolores, Can-avid, to mention some.
Plaza De Santiago
The original plaza of
Borongan was the “Plaza
de Santiago,” in keeping with the European
town planning where the
square held the important
institutions of the town:
the church, the “tribunal,”
and the residences of the
“principales”. (You see the
pattern in Intramuros. The
“plaza de Roma” is surrounded by the Cathedral,
the “Ayuntamiento” and
the “Palacio del Gobernardor”.) Since “plaza” is a
Spanish word that means
“public space,” it is not
surprising that during the
Spanish period, the only
structure that stood in that
“plaza de Santiago” of Borongan was the monument
to Señor Santiago, and all
the rest was a wide-open
space. It was the people’s
park. (Today, “Onli in da
Pilipins”, in its remote areas, nga ginbubutangan
hin basketbolan, or may
inalad nga sarayawan,
or worse, gin-aatpan, it
plaza. No one in his right
mind nga magplaplano hin
pag-atop hiton Rizal Park,
o magbubutang dida hin
basketbolan hiton Tiananmen Square ha Beijing, o
ha Plaza Miranda ha Quiapo. Bali man basketbol o
kuratsa it sentro hit kultura
hit nasud.)
Significance
The “plaza de Santiago” in Borongan follows
the “plaza de Santiago”
in the city of Madrid,
capital of Spain, where
the city square named after St James is near the
Cathedral dedicated to
the Blessed Virgin. For
the Boronganons during the Spanish period,
when nothing could be
more terrifying than the
experience of Muslim
incursions, Señor Santiago was significant to
their lives, because he
was their Protector in the
battle against the Muslim raids that wrecked
havoc on the townspeople, leaving many of
them dead and property
burned, or destroyed.
Muslim intruders used
to come to Borongan
to catch natives for the
slave trade; but the Boronganons, under the
leadership of their parish priests, defended the
town from those raids,
under the protection of
Señor Santiago. It may
be noted that in Spain,
Señor Santiago was also
popular in the cultural life
of many Spaniards, for it
was to him that they attributed the defense and
preservation of northern
Spain from the Moors. To
date, millions of pilgrims
visit the shrine of Santiago de Compostela every
year. Lope Robredillo,
SThD
district taking care of its own
needs. Eventually, electricity,
hospital, sanatorium, supply
office, cemetery and churches
of every denomination were set
up. After almost three years
of refuge in the island and of
waiting for immigration officers,
they were eventually admitted to France, Chile and other
South American countries, the
United States and Australia,
but the great majority was finally settled in the U.S.
However unpleasant may
have been their life in the
island, especially for the elderly, the White Russians
were freed from the power
of Josef Stalin and Mao TseTung. Indeed, their very lives
were saved from pogrom and
certain death.
Obviously,
their plight was better than of
those who chose to remain
in China, for whom life in the
1950s was almost intolerable. Lope Robredillo, SThD
The Dolores Massacre
ALTHOUGH the Balangiga Massacre is well
known in our history
books, few people are
aware that there was
also a massacre in Dolores, Eastern Samar.
At the height of the
Pulajan rebellion, when
virtually the whole island
of Samar was controlled
by Enrique Dagohob
and Isidro Pompac alias Otoy, the American
Government did not
send the US Army to
the province. Instead, it
organized the Philippine
Scouts to battle with the
Pulajanes.
Contrary to the impression created, the
Philippine Scouts were
not “Boy Scouts”; they
were part of the regular
US Army. An American
officer headed it, but
the rest of the company was composed of
Filipino soldiers.
In 1904, intelligence
reports indicated that
the Pulajanes had a
concentrated force near
Dolores; they were believed to be completely
armed with Krags captured from the Company C that was massa-
cred in Balangiga.
Accordingly, Lt Hendrix, who was supposed
to establish a base in
San Ramon (Arteche),
had orders to cross the
Oras river and proceed
cautiously to the Dolores river. There, he
was supposed to make
junction with the 37th
Company of Philippine
Scouts, scouting from
the interior along the
Dolores river toward
the east, and with the
38th Company scouting from the south.
But before they could
make the rendezvous,
the 38th Company, on
December 12, met an
overwhelming force of
about 1,000 Pulajan
fighters who attacked
from the rear and flanks
under the command of
Pedro de la Cruz.
The company composed of 38 soldiers,
headed by Lt Stephen
Hayt, was entirely destroyed, except for a
sergeant who escaped,
bearing fearful bolo
wounds, and reported
the massacre to the government at Taft. Lope
Robredillo , SThD
What native language do Estehanons speak— “Waray-waray”, “Binisaya”, Samareño”?
Contrary to what many Estehanons think, the original name of their
native language is not “Waray” or
“Waray-Waray”.
During the pre-Hispanic and Hispanic period, the inhabitants of Samar called it “Binisaya” or sometimes
“Bisaya” (No, Virginia; “Bisaya” is
not exclusive of the Cebuano language). The Spaniards kept the
name. For instance, Claude Fleury’s
book, “Lactud nga Casayuran san
Historia Sagrado nga Pagturon-an
san Cabataan,” was “guinbinisaya
ni Fr Francisco de Paula Marques”
in 1872. “Novena ni San Vincente
Ferrer” was never “guinwaray” but
“guinbinisaya ni Fr Antonio Sanchez”
in 1895. Antonio Sanchez de la
Rosa’s dictionary on Samar-Leyte
language was entitled, “Diccionario Bisaya-Espanol, Diccionario
Hispano-Bisaya para las provincias
de Samar y Leyte” in 1895. Nothing
is mentioned about “Warays”! Even
in the 1960s, when the native language was used in the elementary
schools in Eastern Samar, teachers
never employed the term, “WarayWaray”, but always “Binisaya”.
It is pleasing to note that, especially during the American period, there were attempts to distinguish the different languages in the
Visayas region, and the language in
Cebu became known as “Cebuano”
while that in Samar and Leyte was
“Samareño.”
Thus, in 1937, when the American Bible Society translated the Bible into the tongue spoken in Samar
and Leyte, the translators called it
“Samareño Version” (Not “WarayWaray” version). The same name
was used in 1984 by the Philippine
Bible Society for the new translation
for these islands: “Samareño Bible.”
In the 1960s, in describing the
language of the two provinces, “The
Manila Times,” probably the most
respected newspaper until martial law padlocked it, preferred the
term “Samareño.” However, before
the war, when Samareños started
migrating to Manila, especially in
Tondo, where many of them worked
as laborers in piers, these migrants
began to be called by outsiders as
“Waray-Waray”, obviously because
when Samareños greeted each other, they casually answered, “Waray
upay.” (This is a typical Samareño
response, even to date.) This could
have described the general status
of many Samareños in Tondo—migrants who had no or little social mobility, with hardly any improvement in
economic conditions. Outsiders, who
heard the word frequently uttered,
began identifying them as “Warays.”
But the identification of Samareños with “Warays” was enhanced by
the fame or notoriety of the “OXO”
gang (zero times zero equals nothing = ”Waray”), whose members
came mostly from Samar and Leyte,
and by Nida Blanca’s 1954 song,
“Waray-Waray,” which tended to create the impression that the “Warays”
were fierce, fearless and furious—a
moniker many Samareños delighted
in.
Thus, the description “Waray”
stuck; it gave them identity. Yet,
in Luzon, when a Tag-alog says,
“Waray kasi!”, what he normally
means is that the person referred to
is either fierce, or unable to distinguish between “e” and “i”, that is to
say, uncouth, uncultured.
No wonder, on account of the
meaning (nothing, nil, nada, zero),
and, obviously, the not-so-praiseworthy history of the word, the late
Justice Norberto Romualdez, Iluminado Lucente, and other members of
the “Sanghiran han Binisaya ha Samar ug Leyte” held on to the original
name of the language, “Binisaya,”
and refused to go along with what
outsiders used to describe the people of Samar and Leyte—“Waray.”
As Eduardo Makabenta, who
translated “Noli Me Tangere” into
Binisaya, puts it well, “as a term for
people and their language, [Waray]
is not music to the ear.” Hence, when
he wrote his dictionary, he titled it
“Binisaya-English, English-Binisaya
Dictionary.”
Used as an adjective, “Waray” or
“Waray-Waray” could describe people who have nothing, or who have
nothing better to do, or who have no
direction in life.
Unfortunately, though, many Samareños seem to swallow the epithet hook, line and sinker, without reflecting on its implications, or without
questioning how bad the term outsiders used to call them. But hopefully,
time will come when they will be conscious of their RIGHT TO A GOOD
NAME. Of course, Eastern Samar
History and Culture does not use the
term “Waray” or “Waray-Waray” to
describe Estehanons and their language for obvious reasons. Its preference is either “Binisaya” or “Samareño”. “Binisaya” is ancient and
faithful to history, while “Samareño”
conveys a collective consciousness
of the inhabitants of the island as a
people with a definite character and
language. Lope Robredillo, SThD
10
PACIFICTIMES
news
May 2014 / Vol 1 No 2 / www.pacifictimes.org
UN: 56% of Yolanda response plan funded
NEARLY six months after super typhoon Yolanda slammed
into the central Philippines,
foreign aid supporting the
United Nations (UN) Strategic
Response Plan (SRP) has already reached USD 441.26 or
56 percent of the USD 788 million requirements.
As of May 5, aid from private
individuals and organizations
have reached USD 127.22
million, accounting to 28.8 percent of the total contribution for
SRP, according to the UN’s Financial Tracking Service.
So far, Canada has been
the top donor to the recovery
plan at USD 45.43 million,
which accounts 10.3 percent
of the total donations for SRP,
the UN’s blueprint in responding to the immediate needs of
the affected population.
Other top 10 donors are
the United Kingdom (USD
45.02 million), United States
(USD 40.11) Japan (USD
30.50 million), European
Commission (USD 28.19
million), Central Emergency
Response Fund (USD 25.28
million) Australia (USD 20.62
million), Norway (USD 15.85
million), and Germany (USD
10.98 million).
Of the USD 441.26 million,
USD 3.32 million will be for
camp coordination and camp
management, USD 8.29 mil-
Survivors rebuild their house in typhoon ravaged Brgy. San Antonio in Basey W. Samar, 16 November 2013.
lion for coordination, USD
31.94 million for early recovery
and livelihood, USD 27.60 million for education, USD 73.79
million for emergency shelter,
USD 1.78 million for emergen-
Caritas Manila to build
‘multipurpose chapels’
in E. Samar
CARITAS
Manila
wants to build “multipurpose chapels” in
Eastern Samar and
Leyte, one of several
projects funded by
agency in the typhoonstruck provinces.
Fr. Anton Pascual,
Caritas Manila executive director, said that
aside from church activities, the plan is for
the structures to also
serve as evacuation
centers in times of calamities.
“What is important
with these chapels is
they are built in a way
that it is reinforced to
withstand Category
5 typhoons,” Pascual
said.
“It can also be utilized as evacuation
centers since it will
have faucets and
comfort rooms aside
from foremost being a
chapel,” he said.
The social action
arm of the Archdio-
cese of Manila is eyeing about 20 to 30
chapels, but Pascual
said it still depends
on the availability of
funds. So far, he said
that the construction
of eight chapels has
already been completed, while 15 are
still under construction.
According to the
priest, a chapel may
cost at least P500,
000 to P900, 000, depending on its size.
“For those completed, I think we
may have shelled out
about P6 million already, more or less,”
Pascual added, as
he appealed for more
help for the project.
He noted the difficulty in allocating
funds for the construction of chapels
since many donations
are specified for livelihood, education and
housing projects. PT
cy telecommunications, USD
121.03 million for food security
and agriculture, USD 49.53
million for health, USD 22.38
million for logistics, USD 13.34
million for nutrition, USD 20.29
A TOTAL of 11 Eastern Samar municipalities are among the 62
towns that will receive
P215 million worth of
water supply projects,
the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said.
Eastern
Visayas,
particularly
Eastern
Samar, was one of the
worst affected areas
when typhoon Yolanda
struck Central Philippines last November.
The
government
is currently stepping
up rehabilitation and
recovery efforts in a
total of 71 towns affected by the typhoon.
However, the region remains one of
the poorest in the
country, with access
to water and sanitation being one of the
major concerns.
The DILG did not
identify all the towns
in E. Samar that will
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receive the projects
but most of these
were hit by Yolanda
including Quinapondan and Mac Arthur.
DILG
Secretary
Mar Roxas said a total
of 59 towns will get a
total of P197.87 million under the Grassroots
Participatory
Budget Process –
Water Supply Project
(GPBP).
Aside Eastern Samar, 11 municipalities
in Western Samar, 14
in Northern Samar, 4
in Southern Leyte, 16
in Leyte and 3 in Biliran will also benefit
from the project.
Meanwhile, under
the Sagana at Ligtas
na Tubig para sa Lahat or SalinTubig Program, a total of P18
million has been allocated for 2014, with
Mapanas,
Northern
Samar and Villareal,
Western Samar get-
ting P9 million each.
Roxas said the implementation of these
projects is unique in
the sense that they
have been identified
as top priority, through
a consultative process
by people in the communities.
“Under the grassroots
participatory
budget process, the
people
themselves
said that they need
water, that’s why we
are building this project now,” he said.
The DILG chief
said many areas in
the region had remained
“waterless”
even before the powerful typhoon struck
last year.
Roxas said the
DILG Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) Office
has been directed to
fast track the implementation of the projects. PT
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million for protection, and USD
61.53 million for water and
sanitation.
The SRP, which will be carried out until November 2014,
was designed to complement
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FILE PHOTO
along Yolanda’s path. There
are about 14 million affected
people in these areas, according to the UN OCHA.
The plan will directly reach
out three million people where
they will get direct assistance
through programmes planned
by the Food Security and Agriculture cluster interventions.
Target population are three
million for water, sanitation and
hygiene; 2.2 million for camp
coordination and camp management; 550,000 for education; 500,000 for emergency
shelter; 300,000 for nutrition;
400,000 for early recovery and
livelihood.
“More than seven million
people will benefit from support to health services and up
to five million people will receive benefit from protectionrelated activities,” the plan
stated.
Listed as priority interventions under the plan are provision of shelter assistance for
the emergency and recovery
phases; food assistance, nutritional support and agricultural
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news
www.pacifictimes.org / Vol 1 No 2 / May 2014
PACIFICTIMES
11
ES launches mental health program
THE Eastern Samar Provincial Health Office announced
a new program dealing with
services for individuals with
severe and persistent mental
illness.
The program, in collaboration with the World Health
Organizations and other international agencies, starts a
long-term strategy to integrate
mental health into the primary
care system.
Dr. Jean Marie Egardo, Provincial Health Team leader,
said the need to put up the
program was spurred by several cases of mental health
problems emerging in typhoon
Yolanda-hit areas.
“We realized that many of
our constituents have symptoms of mental illness as a
result of the trauma brought
about by the monstrous Yolanda,” Egardo said.
According to her, many
survivors are still recovering
from the trauma caused by the
worst typhoon to hit land in recent history.
The agency, Egardo said, is
providing people with the best
care that it can “to take care of
the mentally-ill patients.”
Dr. Julie Hall, WHO country
representative, said that six
months after the typhoon mental health problems are emerging in several areas devastated by Yolanda.
“We are seeing the emergence of mental health problems in communities with people coming to terms with the
enormity of their loss, whether
of loved ones, homes or livelihoods,” said Hall.
The WHO has been training
local heath workers in psychological first aid and community based mental health care
to help address physical and
mental health needs.
It is also funding activities
aimed at supporting the thousands of people disabled as
result of injuries caused by the
typhoon.
“Six months on, we have
made real progress, but the
resilience of the Filipino spirit
alone will not be enough,” Hall
added.
“Ensuring the resilience
of the health infrastructure,
universal health care for all
Filipinos, and continued investments in health promotion are all required,” she
said.
The typhoon has destroyed at least four of 12
major hospitals in the province. Ten of the 24 rural
health units (RHUs) were
also severely damaged including 38 of 136 barangay
health stations.
International relief agency
Farmers, fishermen face looming ‘income crisis’
An international humanitarian group fears a
looming income crisis is
in the offing among the typhoon Yolanda-hit farmers
and fishermen in Eastern
Samar.
Six months after Yolanda devastated the province and other parts of the
region, Oxfam said those
in the agriculture and fisheries sector urgently need
support for the next phase
of recovery.
“The reality facing many
poor people is that they are
going to build back worse
– not better,” said Leo
Roozendaal, Oxfam’s Asia
Deputy Regional Director.
“The initial emergency
response by the Philippines Government and
international
community
saved lives and prevented outbreaks of disease,
but we cannot rest on this
good work,” he said.
According to him, the
Aquino administration is
talking about the difficult
issues that need to be
tackled “but there is not
enough action”.
“Strong leadership is
needed at all levels to
speed up the recovery
programs and help the
poorest people get back
on their feet,” Roozendaal
said.
The Oxfam called on
the government to fast
track the clearing of fallen
coconut trees and the restoration of destroyed coral
reefs and seabeds.
It also urged the administration to invest in smallscale aquaculture and
seaweed farming.
No way of earning money
Maria Mendoza, executive director of Fair Trade
Alliance (FTA), said, “farmers are in crisis” as food
distributions have stopped
and cash support is slowing down.
However, she lamented,
coconut farmers have no
way of earning money to
support their families.
“Many now face the
threat of rhinoceros beetle
infestations that can decimate remaining coconut
trees and farmlands, jeopardizing income opportunities,” Mendoza said.
“The more we delay
in clearing the farms, the
more time it will take to
plant quick-growing crops
and secure immediate food
and income,” she said.
The Oxfam and the
FTA welcomed the government’s 90-day target
of clearing 390,000 trees.
However, this represents
only 3 percent of the 13
million totally damaged
trees that need to be
cleared in Eastern Visayas
alone.
Assessment
The NGOs for Fisheries
Reform (NFR) also urged
the government to make
an assessment on the impact of the typhoon to ma-
rine resources.
“We urge the government
to
immediately
conduct
comprehensive
coastal and marine resource assessments to
ascertain the extent of
damage, and to determine
appropriate measures for
rehabilitation,” said Al Bernarte, program coordinator
of NFR.
Oxfam said fishing communities who live along
the coasts are also anxious about plans of government to relocate them
3 mayors rescue embattled
DSWD
At least three mayors from
Eastern Samar defended the
Department of Social Welfare
and Development following a
storm surge of criticism for the
supposedly sluggish relief operations.
Mayors Edgar Boco of
Hernani, Jaime Ty of MacArthur, and Emiliana Villacarillo
of Dolores come as deodorizer for the agency amid fresh
criticisms that it distributed
rotten relief goods to the victims.
As far as his town is concerned, Boco said that typhoon survivors have received
enough relief goods from the
DSWD.
“We have enough food to
last until May this year from
the relief assistance provided
by the DSWD,” Boco said in
an article posted at the DSWD
website, www.dswd.gov.ph.
“DSWD is doing all it can to
respond to the problems, given the magnitude of the disaster,” he said.
Villacarillo lauded the employees of the agency for their
dedication at the height of the
super typhoon Yolanda.
“DSWD has always been
there for us, only during disasters, but all times of the year,”
Villacarillo said.
She claimed that 70 percent
of the affected communities of
Dolores have already been
“rehabilitated”.
“We have distributed pump
boats for the fishermen since
the main livelihood here is
fishing. We have also started
a housing project for those
left homeless by Yolanda,” the
mayor added.
In MacArthur, Ty disputed
claims of some activist groups
that relief goods are not reaching the survivors causing hunger and death among them.
He claimed that there are
no casualties in his town and
“nobody’s complaining”.
“No one has died of hunger
in our respective barangays,”
Ty said.
The mayor, however, admitted that they have a “few”
spoiled sacks of rice but they
did not distribute these.
The mayors were among
the participants of the Leaders
for Disaster Resilient Communities workshop recently held
in Manila.
Boco, on the other hand,
added that Hernani is also on
its way to recovery, adding that
farmers have begun planting
crops that can be harvested in
the coming months.
“We also have received
bancas for our fishermen
which they are now using for
their livelihood,” he said.
A group of Yolanda survivors, People Surge, earlier
blamed the DSWD for failing
to deliver relief goods in Eastern Visayas before they were
spoiled.
DSWD Secretary Dinky
Soliman had denied the allegations. PT
away from the sea.
The international aid organization also called for
the construction of safe
evacuation centers and
contingency plans ahead
of the next typhoon season.
Barely a month before
the next typhoon season
starts, 40 percent of disaster-affected households
still live in makeshift shelters. In Eastern Samar,
only 8 percent of evacuation centers are functional.
PT
Save the Children said that
as of May, only 50 percent of
health facilities have restored
services but most of the facilities are operating in temporary
tents.
Egardo said challenges
continue to disrupt the agency’s mission to deliver services
to communities.
“We have to start all over
again. We have to restore our
facilities and our systems so
we can deliver universal health
care for the people,” she said.
PT
Storm-damaged Surf
Camp to reopen again
Guiuan’s top-class
resort that was badly
damaged by typhoon
Yolanda will be repaired before the year
ends, Mayor Christopher Sheen Gonzales
has said.
The mayor, in a
state news report,
said that The Surf
Camp’s management
plans to reopen again,
with work underway to
rebuild its structures
and other facilities.
Located in Calicoan, the resort on
the side of the island
that faces the Pacific
Ocean had been battered by huge waves
and strong winds during the onslaught of
typhoon Yolanda last
year.
The resort is known
for its well-furnished
cottages and villas. In
both architecture and
furnishings, the cottages take inspiration
from Thai, Balinese,
Indonesian, and Filipino cultures.
Since Calicoan is
a surfer’s paradise,
the real attraction of
resort is its access to
best waves rolling in
from the ocean, which
are perfect for beginners and experienced
surfers alike.
Gonzales said that
Surf Camp owner,
Mayor Sandy Javier of
Javier town in Leyte,
has assured him that
the resort could once
again be opening its
doors to guests once
fully restored.
Yolanda has again
proven that tourism industry is probably one
of the most vulnerable
to disasters.
The local government has earlier laid
out plans to revive
the tourism industry
to regain the town’s
reputation as one of
the country’s popular tourists destinations.
“There is really a
very notable decline.
But little by little, we
are reviving our tourism industry because
this is one of the main
source for our local
economy,” Gonzales
said. PT
REFUGE, PAGE 7
that every human has the
need to love and be loved
even in your later years.
The center allows them for
an hour to talk, but not beyond that. We strictly practice some rules, no holding
hands or any gesture of affection,” Bunao explained.
Grateful
Rico Talusig, 74, feels
good from the time he was
transferred to Haven for
the Elderly from the Golden
Acres in Quezon City despite
his age.
Camposano is healthier
now because of the fresh air
and healthy natural environment surrounding the center.
Furthermore, the climatecontrolled rooms make them
feel comfortable through hot
or cold weather.
Talusig is living a productive life doing gardening
and taking care of chickens, and other sustainable
activities.
“Nararamdaman ko na
ang mga ginagawa namin
dito sa center, at mga pagkain na masustansiya ay
nagpapalakas sa akin. Karamihan ay gulay at ineenganyo kami na magbanat banat ng buto para hindi kami
magkasakit (I feel that the
activities we do here in the
center, and the nutritious
food makes me healthy and
strong. Most of our food
consists of vegetables,
and we are being encouraged to exercise daily so
we don’t get sick),” Talusig
explained.
In Progress
The center has improved its
facilities and quality of service
within a span of four years.
Formerly known as Golden
Acres located in Quezon City,
it was transferred here and renamed Haven for the Elderly
in 2010. In 2013, the center
was accredited by the DSWD
Standards Bureau.
Aside from the cottages
with 300-bed capacity, Haven for the Elderly offers
amenities, which include
therapy and fitness room,
music room, and recreational room.
It is an environmentfriendly place surrounded
with trees and flowers,
hence, fostering a serene
ambiance conducive for its
residents.
To date, there are 213 residents at the center.
In the past few years, Haven for the Elderly still has
been able to deliver high
quality services despite the
lack of staff.
Hence, the center is looking forward to improving
more of its services for older
persons in the coming years
by seeking more partnerships with other government
agencies, non-government
agencies, volunteers, and
donors.
Recently, DSWD, World
Experience
Philippines
(WEP), and the munici-
pal government signed two
Memoranda of Agreement to
expand the provision of social services to seniors staying here.
Under the agreement,
the LGU (Local Goverment
Units) will allocate a yearly
budget of P300,000 for the
laboratory and burial expenses of the elders. It will
also provide medical and
dental services, and will improve the center’s facilities.
Moreover, WEP agreed to
provide volunteers who will
share their skills, experience
and resources to augment
the center’s staff, hence providing more quality services
to the residents.
In the coming years, the
center plans to construct a
multipurpose hall, swimming
pool and team building area.
Also, there are plans to
improve the facility to turn
it into an eco-tourist park in
the region.
Bunao also said that the
vegetable orchard will also
be expanded to provide the
clients and staff with a regular supply of fresh vegetables.
“Haven for the Elderly continues to strive to become
a “Center for Excellence”
which is likely possible in
the succeeding years, but
still our main goal is to serve
the abandoned, neglected,
and homeless elderly offering them a safe and caring
environment,” Bunao ended.
DSWD
12
PACIFICTIMES
May 2014 / Vol 1 No 2 / www.pacifictimes.org
Typhoon Yolanda refugees
want to go home but…
AFTER typhoon Yolanda
swallowed the life they
had known, survivors
who fled Eastern Samar
to seek refuge in the big
city want to go back – but
it won’t happen anytime
soon.
At least seven families from Guiuan town
have remained at the Isla
Bonita de Salinas Survivor Community in Rosario, Cavite for six months
now.
While they do want
to go home, it remains
impossible because the
typhoon destroyed everything they owned. “We
have nothing to return
to,” says Carmelita Gaji,
65.
A resident of Brgy. Sapao, Gaji was among the
refugees who flew to Metro Manila on a Philippine
Air Force’s C130 mercy
flight from Guiuan last
November 11.
From Villamor Airbase,
some refugees who don’t
have relatives in Manila
were brought to Red
Cross in Mandaluyong
and stayed there for few
days.
She and her family moved to Rosario last
Nov. 23 when they heard
over the news that its officials are adopting sur-
Typhoon Yolanda survivors from Leyte and Eastern Samar are silhouetted against the sunset at the Isla Bonita de Salinas Survivor Community in Rosario, Cavite,
3 May 2014. ROY LAGARDE
vivors— in what is now
called as the Isla Bonita
de Salinas Survivor Community.
For six months now,
Gaji and her family have
been occupying the small
cottages at Isla Bonita,
a local government-run
beach resort, which is
known skim boarding.
Out of the 94 families,
who remained at the Isla
Bonita, seven of them are
from Eastern Samar—
mostly from Guiuan. All
the rest are from different
parts of Leyte.
“Our situation here in
terms of food and other
basic things are some-
Solar-powered eJeepneys
coming soon in Tacloban
A fleet of electric jeepneys
powered by the sun will soon
arrive in Tacloban after a solar-powered charging facility
for the vehicles quietly broke
ground in the coastal city on
May 19.
Once it goes into full swing,
the facility will not only charge
eJeepneys, it will also provide
energy supplied by a 9.75-kilowatt hybrid solar photovoltaic
system. The facility, will run
commercial enterprises—including an Internet café—in
a 750-square meter lot along
Padre Burgos Street, located
near Tacloban’s downtown
district. The facility shall also
house a full service center for
the maintenance of the eJeepney fleet and the conversion
of multicabs’ engines to run on
rechargeable batteries.
“We welcome this project
because it will help augment
the number of public vehicles
in Tacloban, many of which
have been irreparably damaged by typhoon Yolanda,”
said Roy Ribo, who grew up
in Tacloban and who now
helps advise the project proponents. “This is an investment agenda that matters,
because it will provide green
jobs and skills for the new
economy.”
The facility is part of RECharge Tacloban, an initiative
of the Institute of Climate and
Sustainable Cities (iCSC),
which pioneered the eJeepney revolution in 2007 in
Makati City. “We will hire and
train local drivers and technicians who will operate and
maintain the RE-Charge facility. Through new technology
and tools, we are determined
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities or iCSC, a nonprofit group
working on sustainable energy solutions and climate policy, breaks ground
for a solar-powered charging facility in Burgos St., Tacloban City, under
the program RE-Charge Tacloban. The facility will power a fleet of electric
jeepneys that will soon arrive in Tacloban. iCSC/Teddy Arellano
“
This is an investment
agenda that matters,
because it will
provide green jobs
and skills for the
new economy.
to invest in Tacloban’s future,”
said Reina Garcia, iCSC program coordinator.
RE-Charge Tacloban aims
to contribute to the rehabilitation of public transport
service in the city, much of
which was damaged by super typhoon Yolanda, the
strongest typhoon recorded
at landfall.
The typhoon has affected
almost 95 percent of the public transportation sector, especially the commuter multi-
cabs plying the San Jose and
Downtown routes, according
to reports from the City Traffic Operation Management
Enforcement and Control Office. Office and school hours
remain limited, making it difficult for both workers and students to catch a ride to their
homes.
The Institute for Climate
and Sustainable Cities (iCSC)
works on fair climate policy
and sustainable energy initiatives. It incubates ideas, innovates approaches and implements solutions.
iCSC led the national effort
that established the People’s
Survival Fund, or Republic Act
10174, the country’s first legislated direct access-driven financial mechanism dedicated
to supporting the adaptation
agenda of local governments
and communities. PT
what okay,” Gaji said.
“But when it’s raining,
rain water leaks into the
house. During a hard rain,
the sea level rises causing floods that affect our
house,” she said.
While they do want to
go home already, it remains impossible. “We
have nothing to return to,”
a teary-eyed Gaji said.
“We’d rather sacrifice
here for the meantime.
Anyway, my children
found jobs already so I’m
the one taking care of my
grandchild. My husband
also go out to fish,” she
added.
Lorena Pagaspas, also
from Brgy. Sapao couldn’t
agree more with Gaji.
According to her, the
destruction of their properties by the typhoon
brought them no choice
but to leave the town.
“We have nothing to
eat there because we lost
everything including our
livelihood. We relied solely on the coconut industry
but the trees were destroyed,” Pagaspas said.
She said that the local
government of Rosario
has promised them livelihood, and even permanent housing.
“If they provide us livelihood, we’ll stay here. But
as of now, there’s nothing
yet,” said Pagaspas. “We
can’t apply for work in
factories and other jobs
because we’re over aged
already.”
As they are starting
to get back on their feet,
counting on promise of
opportunity from both the
government and other
organizations, they said
that there’s still no place
like home. PT
Borongan students proud to represent PH
Kimberly Badocdoc is grateful for the opportunities they
have had in an international
science olymspiad recently.
A 17-year-old BS Biology
student at University of the
Philippines in Tacloban, she
considers a big honor to represent the Philippines alone in
the international competition.
According to her, there is no
other feeling than having Philippines in a placard they were
holding during the competition
and representing the country.
“We just did our best thing
during the contest. That time,
to represent the country was
more than enough for us,” Badocdoc said.
Badocdoc and Nina Lyn
Cesista have won the silver
for their entry in the 8th International Environment Project
Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan
held last April 2 to 6, 2014.
Around 400 students of 51
countries took part in the prestigious event in which several
environmental projects were
exhibited.
Badocdoc and Cesista,
both graduates of the Eastern Samar National Comprehensive High School (ESNCHS), won the silver medal
for their project on rechargeable “wooden batteries”.
The research project that
the two presented in Azerbaijan was the one they conducted when they were still 4th high
year high school students with
their coach Mrs. Alexandra
Parena.
“It was an honor to represent not only Eastern Samar,
but the country as well. Actually, we never expected that
we are going to win a medal,”
Badocdoc said.
Like Badocdoc, Cesista is
also BS Biology at the Leyte
Normal University in Tacloban
City.
The Philippines was among
15 countries that won silver
medals in the competition.
Gold medalists include participants from Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macedonia, Somalia,
South Africa and Turkey.
Bronze medals, meanwhile,
were awarded to 30 teams
such as those coming from
Iran, Myanmar, Mexico, Russia, Taiwan, England, Ukraine,
Romania, Slovakia, Tajikistan
and Myanmar.
Held once a year, the event
aims to provide opportunities
to students around the world
to exhibit the solutions for environmental issues and the protection of nature. PT