Kangleon who hails from Macrohon town which is about 15 kilometers away from Maasin city proper is not only a local war hero but also a national hero of significant prominence. He was a Guerilla Commander in the whole island of Leyte during the World War 2 when he was a soldier. It was also noted that he was in constant clandestine contact with General Douglas McArthur who was in Australia for logistics and ammunition support for the Guerillas in the entire island of Leyte. The armed support from the American General Commander of the Pacific were coursed and secretly delivered to the Guerillas via Submarine called M/V Nautilus that landed near the sea facing Macrohon.

Fierce fighting between the Japanese Imperial army and the combined forces of Americans and Filipinos have occurred in various areas of Leyte, of which at that time, it was not yet divided by boundaries of the current two provinces of Leyte Province and the Province of Southern Leyte.

When Douglas McArthur arrived in Leyte with fleet of battle ships in fulfilment of his promise, “I Shall Return”, the late Col. Ruperto Kangleon was there welcoming him. On that memorable day, the arriving American General Commander pinned on him the Distinguished Service Cross by the United States of America.

The American soldiers arrived in Dulag and Palo via barges and pettiboats after American battle ships from afar cleared the area by the continual bombardment of cannons and dropping of bombs from fighter planes.

The late Ruperto Kadava Kangelon is not only a national hero but also recognized and respected war hero of international scale. He gave honor and prestige to the Southern Leyteños as the first and only Southern Leyteño Senator. He was later appointed by President Roxas as the Secretary of National Defense during his active career in the Government Service.

His incorruptible reputation and good records as public servant is widely known in the country. It is also important, it was said, for the younger generations of Southern Leyteños to know and be reminded of the exemplary achievements of the late Ruperto Kadava Kangleon (1890-1958) as an outstanding military officer and World War 2 Guerrilla Commander in the entire Leyte Island who is worthy of emulation by all.

The heroic war exploits of Southern Leyteño war hero, including that of the Guerrillas during the war have greatly contributed much to the victory of the war against the foreign invasion. And the said exploits serve as the gratitude of all Southern Leyteños in particular and in the country in general.

Lourdes Bantug, Governor Damian Mercado’s Office Secretary informed that Mercado had already signed the SP resolution approving the 2 ordinances endorsed by the abovementioned organizations. Letters of communication were already sent to all Chief Executives of the one city and 18 municipalities, including all public and private schools in the entire province.

Recommendation

Furthermore, some concerned citizens recommended that DepEd would make the two books written about the late war hero Ruperto Kangleon as part of their reading materials of the students in both private and public schools in all levels-elementary, high school, and colleges. The books that tackled about the life of RKK as a citizen, a soldier and as a public servant who showed to the world the love of one’s country and God need to be reinforced in the minds and hearts of our present generations of Filipinos.

The two books entitled “Love Of Country (Saga of Ruperto K. Kangleon and the Leyte Guerillas) by Atty. Joaquin G. Chung, Jr., copyright 1989 and “The Soldier and Statesman” by Alfonso J. Aluit, copyright 2001, are worthy references and reading books on excellent soldiery and statesmanship that every student, professor, researcher, writer, anthropologist and avid reader should include in their reading.

Our youth, they averred, need good leaders to look up to whose characters and deeds are worthy of emulation. We have been taught from time and again while in school about the lives of Jose Rizal, Emilio Aguinaldo, Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini (the sublime paralytic), Marcelo Lopez Jaena, etc.

Now is the time to consider other heroes that we have in the past but still remain unknown because no-one had ever written about their lives. Writers and researches should start now their literary journey which is the gathering of the vast field of untapped valuable materials about our silent heroes in the country. They are not only in Luzon area, but also in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

Good Models

Our young and younger generations of Filipinos need good models of leadership because they are the ones who will replace the old ones when they will have departed from this life. The past heroes we have learned in schools are not sufficient models to the present batch of the younger generations of Filipinos. They need other heroes to look up to as source of inspiration, courage and honesty. The search for heroes in various fields of endeavour who will serve as models for our youth should not be confined only in Luzon area alone. The search for heroes by our writers, scholars and researchers as sources of materials in writing books about their lives should not imposed delineations of regionalistic boundaries. But rather be made encompassing down to the nooks and crannies of the entire country, Irrespective of their regional languages and classifications.

If a hero’s life is colored with good acts and deeds like honesty, compassion, generosity, hard work, courage and dedication to his/her calling then his/hers is a good material for writing a book for the young and the old readers alike. Thus the two books regarding RKK’s life as a soldier and statesman should be mass produced with permission from the authors. These are for distributions/acquisitions to all public and private schools throughout the country.

These 2 books should also be made available nationwide in bookstores in all cities of every province so that readers, students, teachers and professors can buy them for reading and as reference books. (Quirico M. Gorpido, Jr.)

In the Philippines, 98 Filipinos died everyday of the dreaded disease with a total of 115,000 deaths per year. Financially, the TB disease has caused an annual income lost of P6B due to morbidity, P27B lost annually in forgone wages and P8B in actual wages.

TB which is caused by a “rod-shaped” bacteria known as mycobacterium tuberculosis commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary disease) but also cause extra-pulmonary disease (such as in lymph glands, bones, joints, abdomen, brain, kidney, others). The effective treatment of this disease will be achieved thru the public-private collaboration, studies revealed.

It is disclosed by the health experts that tuberculosis is spread thru the air from one person to another via coughing, sneezing, talking, spitting and other similar mode of transmission.

On a slideshow presentation, Dr. Liza Orito-Rich, Medical-National TB Coordinator said that the TB- infected 2B individuals, one in every 10 persons will become sick with active TB in his/her lifetime. And that an untreated TB patient will contaminate 10 to 15 persons a year.

Another cause why some TB patients have not been cured is because of improper use of TB drugs, wrong dosage and have stopped taking their medicine during the length of coverage.

To find the correct solution to the spread of TB, health experts conducted studies and have discovered that to push thru with the goal of eradicating TB in the Philippine and in the global scale, there’s the great need to involve the private sector composed of medical private practitioners, barangay health workers, nurses, herbalists and the traditional healers.

In 1997, 36% of TB patients seek the care of private MDs. Fewer than it are those seeking care in health centers.

The result of the July 2002 NTP external evaluation conducted by WHO, JICA, USAID, CIDA-World Vision and Medicos del Mundo are: a) Acknowledge the remarkable expansion and coverage of public sector DOTS; b) Need to focus on quality-control as far as DOTS implementation is concerned; c) Correct some problems in drug supplies; d) Focus on promoting private-public mix (PPM) in DOTS implementation.

The program, explained Dr. Zenaida Bantug –Abiera, PHILCAT (Philippines Commission Against TB) provincial coordinator, the so-called PPM- DOTS collaboration was organized several years back to make the approach of treating TB more effective. This could be done by close partnership and cooperation between the government doctors and the private doctors in all areas of the country where there are RHUs and existing PPM-DOTS (Public-Private Mix-Direct Observe Treatment Standard) units.

Private medical practitioners, in this scheme of treating TB patients are obliged to refer their suspected TB patients to the RHUs- PPM-DOTS units in their respective localities. Patients referred to these units are given free TB antibiotics for the short term duration of six months.

Her statement was supported by Dr. Rich saying that with the existing program of the DOH-PPM –DOTS it is now the policy that infected TB patients who consulted private medical practitioners should be referred to the PPM-DOTS hospitals or at the RHUs-PPM-DOTS. Concerned TB patients are likewise advised by the doctors to religiously follow the prescribed dosage recommended and to complete the period of treatment to make it very effective.

The PHILCAT coordinator also urged those people who are both healthy and sick to have a good night sleep of at least 8 hours or even more depending upon a person’s body condition, eat nutritious foods, avoid smoking, avoid too much alcoholic drinks and exercise regularly. This is to make the immune system strong to fight disease.

Abiera further revealed that installation of PPM-DOTS units has now reached across the country. As of 2009, there are 1 NCC, 16 RCCs and 221 PPM-DOTS units with coverage of 36M or around 40% of the total Philippines population.

The Provincial Coordinating Committee co-chairman confided that as against the belief of many people, TB cannot be spread by shaking of someone’s hands, sharing food or drink, touching bed linen or toilet seats, sharing toothbrushes and kissing. Nevertheless, TB can be transmitted from person to person via coughing, sneezing, talking and spitting.

Common signs and symptoms of persons affected with pulmonary TB are: cough for two weeks or more, with or without fever, chest and back pain, poor appetite, weakness, weight loss, night sweats and blood in sputum or phlegm.

Although not all who have coughs for 2 weeks or more have TB, the doctor clarified, she strongly urged those who have such symptoms to consult the doctor in their respective localities.

On the other hand, Rich intimated that while the City of Maasin has involved itself in the 2nd batch PPM-DOTS implementation starting in 2007, the province of Southern Leyte which is under third batch has just started this year.

The Monday TB campaign awareness held at the bus terminal during the recent Provincial World TB Day was also attended, aside from the members of the IPHO technical staff, by nursing students from the College of Maasin and Saint Joseph College, some Maasin City College students, some SK chairmen, barangay officials, common city folks and two media representatives. Guest speakers were SP-MD Roberto Lagumbay, SP Committee Chairman on Health, Provincial Hospital Head and PPM-DOTS Committee Chairman Dr. Joselito Trumata and City Councilor Narciso “Ricky” Montalbo who represented Mayor Maloney Samaco. (Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)

City Councilor Romeo Geniston, Chairman Committee on Finance, read the proposed budget before his colleagues who raised no objection to the proposal. He then moved to pass a resolution approving the third and final reading of the 2011 annual budget. His motion was seconded by Geronimo Mercado.

The Finance Chair also distributed copies of the proposed budget and urged everyone to peruse everything its content so that they will be guided accordingly.

After their deliberations and discussions Geniston has moved to pass resolution enacting the appropriation ordinance. It was seconded by Geronimo Mercado and Margarita Bantug and was unanimously approved.

Earlier, City Budget Officer Maria Essie Garvez who was in attendance during the third reading told the SP members that the only change was that the interest income of P1M would be used by the Maasin City College for this year in its operation.

City Treasurer Costillas who was also present informed the City Councilor Nestor Sy regarding his query on the progress of resolution being passed previously with regards to the GTZ’s decentralization program thru ITAX system in the city.

Costillas said that according to City Administrator Feorillo Abiera Demeterio, Jr. the Maasin City College will be given the priority in the computerization project. “GTZ’s decentralization program thru ITAX system will be used this year”, he said

Specific programs/Services/Projects for the approved 2011 budget are the following: 1)Statutory and Contractual Obligations covering Life/Insurance Retirement,PAG-IBIG contributions,PHILHEALTH and ECC contributions-P1,273,241.52M; 2)Beginning Income covering interest income and Tax Revenue-P26,253,500.00M; 3)Current Operating Expenditures covering regular plantilla items,allowances,honorarium,cash gifts, yearend bonus, terminal leave benefits, among others-P15,656,883.54M; 4) Maintenance and other operating expenses comprising 21 items/programs like training and travel expenses; medical, dental and laboratory supplies, mobile phone and telephone expenses, repair and maintenance, IT equipment and software,others-P10,241,762.35M; 5)Capital Outlay comprising office equipment, IT equipment and software of Maasin City College building-P354,854.11.

It is noted that the Maasin City College is the brainchild of incumbent Mayor Maloney L. Samaco. Its main goal is to make it more affordable for the poor parents to let their sons and daughters take courses with low tuition fees compared to other schools in the city. He observed there are many “estambay”guys and gals in the city’s various barangays because their parents cannot afford them to enroll in college due to high tuition fees.

Now the enrollees at the MCC have dramatically increased in numbers. Before, most of its students were coming from the city’s 70 barangays. Now there are students coming from some of the municipalities of the province and in the neighboring towns in the northern part of Leyte Province like Matalom, Bato, Hilongos and Hindang. For the meantime, courses offered at the government-subsidized school are Social Work, Business Administration, Agriculture and Tourism. (Quirico M.Gorpido.Jr.)

This was his conclusion after he and his newly-organized group Southern Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SLCCI) conducted a province-wide studies of the economic endeavor that the pubic and the private sector were engaging.

“The dollar-earner abaca industry was wiped out by unpreventable infestation of airborne pests called bunchy top attacking all the plantations in different municipalities”, he pointed out. He stressed that the coconut industry, the second relied-on plants among the farmers earned P380M annually will go down if the brontispa infestation will not be checked out or prevented. Although palay (rice) was rated as good, he said, it’s not really much. “The farmers also lack of raw materials and major devices in cultivating their farms.”

“In business, 95% being registered are classified as micro-entrepreneurs, with only 50% small employers market,” he said. “Government agencies/offices were the biggest employers in the province employing 200,000 workers,” he disclosed to the members of the press, both broadcast and print media.

On real property taxes and other business taxes the percentage of collection were low, he said, with 80% of LGUs’ budgets were IRA-dependent.” But our tourism potential is not fully harness by LGUs”. He explained that the province has several tourist destinations that need to be developed to attract local and foreign tourists.

Castañares said the policies and regulations used by successful tourist places like Cebu, Bohol, Boracay, Siargao, Palawan and other well-known tourist destinations of the country can be studied and adopted by Southern Leyte tourism officials found applicable to the province. He said that in this new undertaking, agreements between the LGUs, the provincial government and the business sector were formulated as partners in this new approach. And the role of the government agencies is to provide infrastructure like roads and bridges leading to these tourist spots.

The private sector, referring to businessmen in the entire province who some of them are now members of the newly-organized Southern Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SLCCI), will take charge of the man-made attractions like buildings and other amenities near the location of tourist sites.

He confided that the province has already 500 air-conditioned rooms. “However, there’s still the need for the government and the private sector to provide clean and modern restrooms. Transportation services from Tacloban to Maasin and vice versa and the completion of basic facilities necessary to meet the tourists’ needs should be put in place”, he said.

The Business Development Analyst also emphasized that there’s also the need to amend some rules, regulations and policies of LGUs to make it investor-friendly, like providing tax holidays to newly-established businesses and the like.

In this connection, Castañares cited a 30-room hotel in Silago made of first class hardwood by a foreigner married to local lass. “Instead of providing moral support to his new business by imposing a minimum, tax”, he intimated, “the LGU did the reverse by imposing a maximum tax”. With that move, he said, the owner of the new hotel was discouraged and decided to close the hotel.

He explained that if 30 people will occupy every room, paying P5, 000.00 each per month that would have total earnings of P150, 000.00 per month. Multiply that by 12 months, it would be P1.8M or P2M a year, he said. “If it was allowed to operate with a minimum tax”, he continued, “the locality would benefit from it. But they do not know what they do not know”.

Included in the Southern Leyte Tourism Framework is the establishment of Tourist Hub in 4 places like Maasin, Sogod, Silago and Napantaw Dive Resort in San Francisco, Panaon Island. For Maasin proposed is as shopping mall with a cinema, development of Cagnituan Cave, the plan to build a 125-hectare Zoo at the Maasin Forest Park (formerly Danao Reforestation Project) to be named Zoo Leyte.

Castañares said that the builder of the proposed Zoo would come from the Subic Bay Zoo. “When the tourism industry in the province would already take off,” he said, “there’s also a plan to construct a 9-hole gulf course inside the MFP,” he added.

For the extreme adventure at the newly-finished, 350-meter length, 75-meter height, P1.024B the Agas-Agas Bridge, construction of zipline has already been started, he said, and it would be completed before the end of April this year.”A cable car will also be built”, he said.

For Silago he presented slides showing pictures of canopy walk. He claimed the tourist attraction has utilized about 40 to 50 feet apitong tree, which is also about 40 to 50 feet high.”This would make tourists to see 3 waterfalls after walking atop the canopy walk for 15 meters distance”. He said a coffee shop and a restaurant shall be built there soon.

Napantaw Dive Resort in San Francisco, which is one of the beautiful dive sites in the world, will also be developed. He said that Napantaw is one of the favorite sites for scuba diving and snorkelers.

Castañares disclosed that he has proposed to the LGUs where investors are engaged in tourism-related businesses to grant them 5-year tax holidays from 2011 up to 2016. “One of the effective ways to attract local and foreign tourists for the promotion of tourist destinations of the province is to invite travel agencies personnel to tour Southern Leyte”, he said. “Although the LGUs have to provide funds for such purpose for the guests touring in various areas of the place including foods and accommodations while staying here, but later on it would be compensated since they are the ones who will be spreading what they saw and their experiences while visiting Southern Leyte”.

He said in the offices of the travel agencies brochures on tourist destinations of the place can be made available for the local and foreign tourists to pick up as guides and references. While big billboards announcing the province’s tourism slogan like for instance, “Southern Leyte- remote, rural and rustic-the playground of region 8” will be posted conspicuously at NAIA-Manila, Cebu Mactan Airport, Ormoc and Tacloban airports.

Earlier, Castañares revealed that in September last year, the Southern Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry(SLCCI) was organized thru the sponsorship of the Department of Trade and Industry and GTZ, now changed to GEZ (German Economic Cooperation).It was held at Kuting Reef Beach Resort and Spa in Brgy. Asuncion, Macrohon. It has 50 initial members with Engr. Robert Castañares nominated as its Chairman of the Board. Mike Udtohan of the College of Maasin was the Vice-Chairman.

He added that “tourism is a community activity that would create wealth and provide employment to the people.”

“Every great accomplishment is a dream before it becomes a reality. Our vision is not simply to survive but to excel. Teamwork, discipline, dedication and unwavering faith in a God would solve for our lack of resources.” Quoting Lee Kwan Yew, former Prime Minister of Singapore. The SLCCI chair added another quote,” If you build it, they (it) will come”.(Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams).

Records of the summary of tourists’ arrival from the Southern Leyte Tourism, Investment and Promotions Center show the following figures. From January to December 2008-Maasin City: domestic-12, 977, foreign-1,259=total 14,236; Southern Leyte: domestic-13, 810, foreign-1,452= total 15,262.Total numbers for both Maasin City and the province of Southern Leyte are 29,498;

From January to December 2009-Maasin City: domestic-14,337, foreign-1,056=total 15,393; Southern Leyte: domestic-10,998, foreign-3,202= total 14,190. Total umbers for both Maasin City and Southern Leyte are 29,583;

From January to June 2010.No report yet from July to December-Maasin City: domestic-9, 105, foreign-483=total 9,588; Southern Leyte: domestic-7,121, foreign-1,744=total 8,865. Total numbers for both Maasin City and Southern Leyte are 18,453.

The top ten tourists’ arrivals of foreign nationalities during the yearly report were Germany, United States of America, United Kingdom, China, Australia, Japan, Austria, Canada, France and Korea. (Quirico M. Gorpido, Jr.)

This is in order to response to any emergency call that may arise in times of various rescue operations in the city and in other areas of the province. The seminar activities were held at the Ruperto K. Kangleon Function House located at Brgy. Mambajao here in this small city. They were billeted at Crises Child Center building adjacent to the office of the Provincial Department of Social Services and Development.

In the past, Roman Mancio revealed that the Red Cross had also conducted series of DMP trainings to Red Cross volunteers and other government employees from various LGUs representatives in different municipalities of the province.

Roman Mancio is one of the Red Cross trainors and Chapter Service Representative Safety Services in an interview at the Red Cross office in Brgy. Abgao here.

He pointed out that the training-seminar has the following objectives: 1) To be able to have a proper system of emergency rescue; 2)To gather concrete and concise data from the area of disaster so that the needs of the disaster victims can be addressed properly.

The trainings that imparted skills to the 55 participants, which has a funding of P298,000.00 from the provincial government, were composed of provincial and city employees and some Red Cross volunteers, who some of them were college students.

The skills trainings have covered Disaster Management, first aid, swift water rescue specialty, basic life support and swimming, in front CPR(cardio-pulmonary resuscitation), hazard mopping, situational assessment, evacuation of victims of floods, earthquakes and landslides, guidelines for emergency care, immobilization and bandaging, extrication (removing of victims from difficult situation), common medical emergency, basic swimming rescue, swift water rescue, basic rope technique and rappelling, water survival, basic life support for adults, child and infants CPR; foreign body airway management for adults, child and infants; and training for chocking instances.

The Chapter Service Representative also revealed that the seminar-training’s series of lectures and activities were translated into actual performances by the participants themselves under the supervision and guidance of their respective Instructors-trainors. These were in places where the untoward incidents were presumed to happen.

The equipments used during the actual trainings which was also being managed and supervised by the OIC-Red Cross head Noli Casas and Capitol consultant Jason Calva, were provided by the Provincial Disaster Management Council(PDMC) headed by Dodi Hernandez.

Aside from the interviewee, other resource persons who were all Red Cross staff were Noli Casas, Rogelio Aca-Red Cross-Davao City, Dominique Kagadas, Liex Sandoval, Edgardo Donato and Rene Panghuron.(Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)

The one-day afternoon affair, which was divided into two categories, has a total of 1,150 participants composed of men and women.

The 3-K run for the heart was participated in by 311 men and women, while the 6-K run has exceeded beyond the double number of3-K’s men and women, reaching its division’s participation to 839.

The 3-K run route started from City Hall playground towards the cemetery road, then turned left to R.K. Kangleon Street in Brgy. Mambajao and back to the finishing line at the City hall.

The 6-K run which also started at City Hall passing the National Highway and up to the Capitol compound. From there the runners went back from where they have started en route to Brgy. Canturing and passing by the “Tulay Sa Pangulo” steel bridge, then proceeded to the highway and back to City Hall.

Earlier, Daryl Cadavos Cinco of the Maasin City Sports Council Office said that before the start of the competition all participants were required to register to qualify them, paying one hundred pesos each.T-shirts that served as uniforms emblazoned with red-colored heart on its frontage and backgrounded with black letters, were given.

Cinco informed that the first, second and third winners in the 3-K in men’s and women’s divisions have respectively received prizes of P1, 500.00, P1, 000.00 and P500.00 each. While the three winners in the 6-K run of similar two divisions have received P2, 000.00, P1, 500.00 and P1, 000.00.

Winners of the 3-K run for men were: First-Jeffrey Bellota wearing no.1415 had a clocking time of 16:19 from Brgy. Lonoy; Second-Edgar Castillano #1745 with a clocking time of 16:48 from Brgy. Mambajao; Third-Enrico Ramos #1635, clocking time 16:52-Yawyan Club member from Brgy. Asuncion.

Winners of 3-K run for women were:First-Nory Ann Dumagat #1242,clocking time 27:35,a teacher of the Maasin City College; Second-Jilma Maraon #1629,clocking time 28:52-Maasin City Sports Council office; Third-Marlina Sabalo #1081,clocking time 29:45-City Hall Accounting Office employee.

Winners of 6-K run for men’s division were: First-Narciso Deterala #85,cloking time 23:23 from Tolosa,Leyte; Second-Miguel Egido #139,clocking time 26:42- Brgy. Hanginan 2; Third-German Egido #34, clocking time 28:52-Brgy. Hanginan 2.

Winners of 6-K run in women’s division have a tie: Mary Ann Lapasanda #110 and Joyce Jane Mancesa #105 who were both members of the Philippine Natonal Police have the same clocking time of 45:16. Second-Ritchiele Abiñon #100 with a clocking time of 45:57-PNP.

The MCSC employee further confided that the proceeds of the run for the heart were used to buy sacks of rice for the Guinsaugon survivors during the recent Feb. 17, 2011 5th commemorative day of the Guinsaugon massive landslide when more or less 2,000 people have been buried alive in cement-like mud. “One hundred repacked pieces of 4-kilo rice each were brought to St.Bernard by the heads of city hall offices led by Mayor Samaco”, she said.

Furthermore, Samaco pointed out that the previously concluded marathon aims to foster agenda for Sports Excellence; to increase participation amongst constituents in Sports and various wellness activities; to promote physical activities like sports as effective way of maintaining healthy lifestyle amongst employees of the City Government in particular and the constituency in general; to raise funds to the victims of landslides in Southern Leyte. (Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)

He said, the adoption of such thrust was derived from the information during the two-day Directorate Meeting, held at TESDA’s main office located at Tandang Sora Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City before the end of January 2011. The aforementioned meeting was attended by high officials of TESDA, Regional and Provincial Directors, Administrators numbering more or less 200 participants.

The meaning of this aforesaid acronym is very long, he implied, and perhaps the very first long meaning of any acronym that each of us has encountered in our readings. Here it is: Reach the grassroots, Empowers the rich, Assure quality skills training and Life-long Learning; to Develop, Enable and Actively engage Labor force members in job opportunities Thru Employability and Livelihood Skills Development (REALL-DEAL-TESD).

Juanillo also revealed that his office does not directly provide skills trainings to its clients/applicants but thru partnership and collaborative efforts with VOCTECH schools located in different areas of Southern Leyte.

However, before VocTech schools and colleges can offer skills trainings for interested workers/applicants, Juanillo stressed, each one of them must first be registered under TESDAS’ Unified TVET Program Registration and Accreditation System (UTPRAS). The purpose for this measure, he said, is “to assure that training providers meet minimum standards for quality assured TVET training delivery system”.

The LGUs that want to conduct skills trainings within its respective municipalities, are likewise required to coordinate with his office, he emphasized, with the possibility that TESDA might grant scholarships to poor but deserving students thru its scholarship and students assistance program, which include also other OFWs.

Courses TESDA is offering are: Massage Therapy, Hairdressing, Blood Pressure Monitoring, Blood Type Sampling, Demo in Bartendering and Waitering, Profiling for Strong Career, Free Service For Computer Hardware, Carpentry. He implied other courses might be considered after discussions and consultations with the TESDA-accredited VocTech schools in the province.

On the other hand, records show that in 2009 there were 554 PGs grantees for the province of Southern Leyte. They were enrolled in 9 duly-accredited training institutions in the province. For the Learning Education Program (LEP), there were a total of 109 LEP scholarship grantees from different municipalities. The highest numbers of grantees were from Sogod town. Most of them were enrolled in Commercial Cooking,NC2 leading to Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology major in Food Technology and Building Wirings Installers NC2 leading to BS Industrial Technology major in Electricity.

Also in the same year, TESDA has a total of 3,266 trainees and graduates in various livelihood and skills trainings program in TVET areas which included trainings in the sectors of Agriculture, Tourism, Health, Social and other community development services, automotive and construction. When asked about his office job target, he said that it would be around 1, 226.Nonetheless, Juanillo clarified that TESDA is more on facilitating employment, but the role in getting gainful employment for the skilled graduates rest on the VOCTECH registered schools thru TESDA’s so-called Blue Desk.

He further underscored that his office would always see to it that skills and vocational trainings provided by the authorized schools in the province are relevant to the qualifications abroad.

TheTESDA-accredited institutions are the following: Systems Technology Institute (STI-Maasin), Saint Joseph College, Saint Joseph Vocational Training Center, College Of Maasin, Southern Leyte Business College, St.Thomas Aquinas College-Sogod, St.James College-Padre Burgos, Southern Leyte State University Main Campus-Sogod, Bontoc-SLSU, San Juan Technical Vocational School and Hinunangan Skills and Technological Training.(Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)

The General Manager revealed they have already sent the necessary requirement documents to the main office of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) for the approval of P22.5M loan to be used for the development of the aforesaid spring.

The move was prompted by the present pestering occurrence of water shortage of the whole city consumers. He intimated that the seven-month dry spell, the additional one hundred plus concessionaires last year and the discovery of illegal connections in some areas are the main causes of the scarcity of water.Besides,the city population has gradually increasing, it was observed.

The previous occurrences of December rains have greatly contributed to the augmentation of water supply to many households whose faucets were installed in one-storey buildings. However, in 2 or three-storey buildings, water would come out from the faucets either during midnight or at dawn.

Geraldo explained that the January up July dry season last year with short duration of occasional rains did not compensate with the huge volume of water losses that the consumers have needed. “Although there were few rains occurring during the months of August, September and October last year”, he said, “still it did not fill up enough the concessionaires’ water needs”.

To solve the problem on illegal connections, he said, the Board of Directors have issued a resolution mandating the MWD field men to disconnect all illegal connections and to impose fines to violators.

“The illegal connections are considered as the first offense and the violators will be warned”, he said, “For the second infraction, the violator/s will be fined P1, 000.00. And for the third violation, an offender’s water connection will be permanently cut”.

At present, the Maasin Water District has three springs and three deepwells, which are located at Canlitid in San Jose, Capores in Batuan and in Nasaug.

The General Manager further informed there are 2 additional ongoing deep well projects in barangays Sorosoro and Batuan.

He said his fieldmen shall be soon connecting the Batuan deepwell to MWD’s mainline in the city thru series of PVC pipes to augment the supply of water to users. The cost of pipes and labors were estimated to reach the amount of P280, 000.00, he said.

MWD will also be buying 117 pipes, he said, to connect the Sorosoro deepwell to the mainline either in January or February this year.

On the other hand, Congressman Roger Mercado divulged that Rio de Verde, Water System Installer Company has sent recently some of its technical men here to conduct a feasibility study of the bulokbulok spring as another source of water supply.

The part time teacher of Saint Joseph College has confirmed this and confided that Rio de Verde will be the one to make a design as guide for the project implementation by MWD for a modern water system .It also Include the proper installations of pipes from its main source down to brgy. Maria Clara and the neighboring barangays of Pasay, Ibarra and Pugaling.

The 100 plus huge PVC pipes to be used for the series of pipes connections in the four abovementioned barangays, he said, would come from the City Government. He also said that when the works for the tapping of the bulokbulok spring would start any time this year, it could be finished within three to four months.

Moreover, he informed that MWD has its treatment plants in Canlitid and Batuan and that its water sources were treated with chlorine to kill the bacteria. However, “if the water becomes murky due to heavy rains”, he said, “we use alum, another chemical to treat it”.

Nevertheless, it’s always logically good and prudent not to drink unclear water caused by continuous rains despite the alum treatment. Drink it only when the MWD water becomes normally clear.

Now and then many folks will be going to the naturally-cold bulokbulok spring, especially during the hot season to take a bath, to swim and to soak themselves for a refreshing feeling. It s overflowing voluminous of spillage would go down into the nearby hectares of rice fields and even going farther to irrigate adjacent farms. But when the concrete-confined bulokbulok spring would be converted into another source of potable water, swimming and soaking in the deep bulokbulok spring would just become a thing of the past.

By Quirico M. Gorpido, Jr.

According to him, symptoms of the Dengue Fever are fever, rashes on skins or bleeding. “However, Dengue Fever currently doesn’t show symptoms recorded on the book. Sometimes patients experience only the fever without rashes. Sometimes there’s no bleeding… That’s why, the patient should be brought immediately to the hospital for immediate checkup and treatment,” the doctor said.

Dr. Trumata added that the two elementary grader who died this month of August were not immediately brought to the hospital before the illness’s worsen. The first victim was an 11 year-old girl from Barangay Abgao who studied at the St. Joseph College and the other victim was a resident of Barangay Mantahan and a pupil of the Tomas Oppus Pilot School.

However, the number of patients admitted at the SOYMPH who are suffering from Dengue Fever, according to Dr. Trumata,  has decreased compared to the number of patients last month of July. (Report by Jade G. Nombrado /English Translation by Sustines Laplana /Image credit to thinkquest.org )

The motorcycle driver was identified as Alexel Tantoy Galdo, 18 years old, resident of Upper Ichon.He is a senior freshman taking up Criminology at Saint Joseph College here. The victim sustained some bruises and injuries on his forehead, knees and other parts of the body. His left leg’s upper knee was fractured including his two wrist arms.

His neighbor backrider was identified as Joshua Reviera Gonzales, 18 years old, jobless, and a school dropout. He sustained slight bruises, but his skull has a crack as seem in an e-ray result by Dr. Elpidio Sibud,a orthopedic surgeon. He suffered from frequent headaches.

Dr. Sibud, the attending physician of the victims, recommended to Gonzales’ parents a CT scan for their son to determine the condition of his brain. He was brought by the provincial hospital’s ambulance to Tacloban City the following day and was confined there for observation

In an interview with Galdo, he said they’ve left Upper Ichon at about 4:00 p.m. a Thursday to visit some friends in brgy. San Joaquin, Macrohon, less than 20 kilometers away from their place. As they reached the bridge in brgy. Amparo, he said, a multicab-turn-fish car was evading a Revo car parked near the bridge’s entrance. The car was unloading some passengers who were about to enter the inner road towards brgy. Mabini. However, the multicab collided instead with his motorcycle in the bridge as they were driving in opposite direction, he said. The bridge has served as the marked boundary between the 2 barangays of Amparo and Mabini.

He said the multicab’s windshield was shattered from the impact of collision that hit his forehead, spraining his 2 arms and wounding some parts of his body. The multicab’s front was also deformed, he said, while his motorcycle has also suffered some damages. He claimed he do not know what happened next as he became unconscious. He regained his consciousness on the way before they’ve reached the provincial hospital..

He said he found later on that it was the helper of the fish car’s driver who brought him to the hospital for emergency treatment. He said the multicab’s driver has no injuries. While his helper who sat besides him has a cut on his face, which was treated at the hospital.

Ludy Tantoy Galdo, 42 years old, the victim’s mother disclosed that the fish car’s owner residing in brgy. Pugaling (Isagani) has provided some financial assistance for his son’s medications. He has also shouldered half of the cost of the expensive stainless steel needed as bone support during the operation.

She informed both of them have favored for an amicable settlement to settle their case as they’ve discussed it in front of the police investigator at the Macrohon police station.

As of press time, the victim with stretched left leg has continued taking his prescribed medications administered by the nurse on duty. He has already undergone a bone operation the other day by Dr. Sibud, his attending physician. (Quirico M. Gorpido, Jr.)