August 16-31, 2014 Media Center, 2nd Flr., Capitol Bldg. Vol. II, No. 4

LGUs authorized to issue SAG permits Committee on Environment in Congress clarifies approving authority, says Cong. Mian

By Bong Pedalino

BELOW OR ABOVE 5 HECTARES

Maasin City joins ASEAN smoke-free Workshop

Permits for sand and gravel extraction, irrespective of size - either five hectares or above - will have to be approved by the provincial government before any other agency can issue succeeding permits. This was reported by Cong. Da-mian Mercado Friday in a block-time program over dydm, “Action, Solusy-on, Inisyatibo sa Congreso.” Quoting the gist of a House Envi-ronment Committee hearing in aid of legislation, which conducted a mara-thon session on the matter Wednes-day last week, Mercado said the clar-ification was also based in a Supreme Court ruling on a similar issue, in ad-dition to various rules, laws, and regu-lations cited by the committee. The hearing was held on the ini-

Being one of the Red Orchid awardees and a Hall of Famer in the successful implementation of An-ti-Smoking policies, Maasin City Mayor Maloney Samaco participat-ed in the two-day Smoke-free Cities ASEAN Workshop at Balanga City, Bataan starting August 27. He said in a phone interview over

By Rebecca Cadavos

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Business Club to help struggling entrepreneurs A group of individuals whose rags-to-riches success stories can inspire those wanting to follow in their footsteps banded together to do just that, to serve as willing life coaches for those with passion to go into business the entrepreneur way. The Southern Leyte Business Club, Inc. (SLBCI), based in Sogod town, partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial office, to conduct the first Southern Leyte SME Entrepreneur Summit scheduled on September 7 at Mali-payon Shores Resort, barangay Ju-bas, Libagon. Senator Bam Aquino is the guest speaker of the event, according to the organizers. Tito Calooy, SLBCI President, said in a recent Action Center Kapihan sa PIA cable TV program, that their orga-nization was born three years ago, in August, 2011, out of the need to meet the challenge of investing here in the province using whatever resources available, with limited finances. The SLBCI was different from the Southern Leyte Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, because the later was more composed of established businessmen, while the former was more centered on start-ups or the small and micro entrepreneurs, Calo-oy explained. As a group, SLBCI created a de-

By Bong Pedalino

mand for chickens by going into a food business called Sir Organco, a venture that boosts selling organical-ly-grown poultry products for as long as the supply is available, in at least fifteen (15) franchised outlets in the

city, in Sogod, and in Cebu – and still counting. To sustain the supply, SLBCI went into chicken dispersal projects with families in Libagon and nearby areas

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tiative of the lone Southern Leyteno solon in an effort to settle linger-ing questions on who can grant ex-traction permits, especially those concessionaires beyond five hectares. Mercado also quoted Cagayan De Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez, a member of the House Environment Committee, as saying that in their province the provincial government was empowered as the issuing body for such kind of permits. Earlier, shortly after an early morning tree-planting activity at barangay Cambooc here, Gov. Rog-er Mercado told TSS the same up-date as the main substance of the congressional hearing that he also attended. The elder Mercado, who was celebrating his 63rd birthday Fri-day, reiterated the authority of the province to issue extraction per-mits, whether big and small, in an interview with Nestor Abrematia, a Tacloban-based journalist, on the sidelines of his birthday party at the Capitol Tree Park. Meanwhile, some 1,870 seedlings of Acasia Mangium trees have been planted by about three hundred em-ployees who joined the tree-plant-ing, a regular activity every natal day of the Gov. Mercado, even long before when he was still the prov-ince’s lone district lawmaker.

THE SUBANG DAKU RIVER

The Board of Directors of the Southern Leyte Business Club

ESTORYAHI!Willie Justimbaste

Vol. II, No.4

Page 2 August 16-31, 2014

LET IT GO!

VIEWFINDER: A twin Tagnipa Barangay Council resolution and NGO Senior Citizens Feder-ation resolution are petitioning the Maasin City Government thru Mayor Maloney L. Samaco to declare the nearby open space vacated by a carwash business a no- parking area. Both entities have found the space hidden by parked big buses a haven for urina-tors smokers and suspicious characters creating environmental, sanitation and public safety problems especially for senior citizen clients. (Contributed)

radio station DyDM that representatives from the Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines as the host country also at-tended the undertaking. The smoke-free workshop which carries the theme, “Shaping the Future of Smoke-Free in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)” is led by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA). “As part of welcoming the participants to the two-day workshop, we were toured by the Balanga City officials in their differ-ent smoke-free places that gained the local government a Red Orchid award and a hall of famer for the successful implementation

of anti-smoking policies,” Mayor Samaco revealed this morning. “I have learned not only on the smoke-free policies implementation of Balanga City, but as well as tourism development of the place where a Private-Public Part-nership is adopted for its development,” the City Mayor added. It was learned that the anti-smoking workshop is focused on benchmarking of Smoke-free policies, strengthening of en-forcement and developing and putting in place effective tobacco control policies. It was learned further that this is the sec-ond Smoke-Free Cities ASEAN Workshop held by the SEATCA, a multi-sectoral alli-ance to provide technical assistance to the government officials across the region.

Maasin City joins... (from page 1)

Business Club... (from page 1)called “Hapi Nay, Hapi Tay”. “We can put Southern Leyte in the business map as our province is a very strategic place for travelling goods to Luzon or Mindanao”, said Rey Calooy, Tito’s brother, who is a member of the Board of Directors of SLBCI. The elder Calooy offered this advice to would-be entrepreneurs who lacked capital: the money will come later through an Angel Investor who will be sold out with the passion and the efforts you put in your enterprise. Other SLBCI Board of Directors who also shared inputs during the Kapihan were Crisandee Laroa, Gavino Dejito, Lito Amaris, Erman Se-libio, and the Manager of Padre Burgos Rural Bank Victor Pangilinan. Padre Burgos Rural Bank and SLBCI is in the process of forging an agreement, in which the former will be the one to finance the dispersal projects of the latter to qualified takers.

There’s so much happening, both tragic and comic, here in the country and abroad that makes us wonder if Armageddon or the Second Coming is at hand. The Middle East is racked with wars and rebellions reminiscent of biblical lines just like some parts of Europe threatened with internecine border conflicts and invasions. Coalitions and alliances between good and evil depend-ing which side you’re on resurface. Even the Supreme Pontiff hints of a Third World War, a very grim and painful reminder of what may have started as Lucifer’s pride scorned in heaven. So, the great tug of war never ceased since then, only magnified in casualties and mortalities of even the young and innocent victims of naked greed and unbridled ambitions. History never runs out of their purveyors and the inevitable road to doom and perdition. Mans’ greatest enemy is pride that leads to megalomania and messianic complex. Alexander the Great, Julius Ceasar, Na-poleon and Hitler, among others, are indelible lessons of past hu-man folly. Let this not happen here. No one has the monopoly of leadership and to stretch it beyond the limit of tolerable endurance is dangerous if not anomalous. Continuity is a legacy that should be passed on and not used as an instrument for perpetuity. Every Alpha must have its Omega, a beginning and end. So, let it go! We sincerely hope Pnoy’s better judgment is on the right side of history and would prevail over those personal interests in his inner circle. Remember what the late Don Chino Roces unso-licitedly advised then President Cory to look beyond her corridor of power and inner sanctum for other Filipinos who have the zeal and capacity to serve the people with honesty and integrity. There are still those outside the inner recesses of that snakepit called Malacañang who are yet undiscovered and unheralded. And it’s part and parcel of leadership to search diligently and intelligently for their successors for continuity. It would be the height of fool-hardiness and absurdity to imagine or think only a few or a per-sonality can singularly lead the Filipinos to greatness. Dili na ni “gilas but hilas” Pilipinas! Current controversies many of which are politics-relat-ed are not surprising, considering that the 2016 elections are just around the corner. To those who are hopefuls but have dirty lin-ens, it’s time to clean and clear skeletons in the closet. Political mo-tivation is necessarily imbedded in every corruption accusation directed to big politicians expected to run. But they have to pres-ent counter proof or evidence and not just shroud it in a cloak of political machination by enemies. The tentacles of politics and the pot are creeping and boiling. These are what make Pinoy politics exciting!

4Ps: About 1, 086 highschool students from Maasin City will have their 4P's educational grant increase from P300.00 up to P500.00 per child every month under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4P's) . Maasin City Link Zara Jane M.Edjoc said, As the Aquino Administration extended 4P's age coverage to 0-18 years old but elementary pu-pils- beneficiaries remains to get P300.00. Presently among 2,556 families from Maasin City will have the chance to receive the maximum of P4,000 in the next cash payment.

Vol. II, No.4

Page 3August 16-31, 2014

63rd Birthday Celebration: August 29, 2014Gov. Roger Gaviola Mercado

AT THE CAPITOL TREE PARK...

PRE-BIRTHDAY ACTIVITES (photos below); TREE PLANTING at Barangay Cambooc, Maasin City.

Vol. II, No.4

Page 4 August 16-31, 2014

DOUBLE ENGINE NGA PATROL BOAT NAGAMIT NA

Bontoc, So. Leyte - Dako ang kalipay nga gibati sa mga lungsora-non ilabina ang mga kalungsuran nga nahisakop sa SBSMMA, Sogod Bay Sustainable Marine Management Alliance. Ang mga naglangkob niini nga mga LGUs mao ang San Ricardo, Pintuyan, San Francisco, Liloan, Liba-gon, Sogod, Bontoc, Tomas Oppus, Malitbog, Macrohon ug Limasawa. Hinungdan sa ilang kamalipayon mao ang pag-angkon ug tulo ka patrol boats nga nagtangag ug duha ka 16hp nga Makina, nga hinimo sa Honda Philippines. ang sukod niini moabot ug 40 ft. ang gitas-on, nga ang kasko usab, gikan sa primera klase nga fiber glass. Sa nakuha nga pamahayag gikan ni SBSMMA Pres. Mayor Ricardo Borces sa Padre Burgos, siya nagkanayon nga dugay na kaayong panahon nga nangindahay ang ilang Association ug Patrol boat para mapanalipdan ang ilang kadagatan batok sa mga illegal og dagkong pangisdaan pero wala silay kadaghanun sa kwarta nga magamit. Ug miabot karong panahona nga si Gobernador Roger G. Mercado ang nagdumala sa lalawigan, nahimong tinuod ang ilang damgo. Sa pa-kisusi niining nagsulat, nasayran nga migahin og usa ka milyon ka pesos, ang administrasyon ni Gob. Oging para mahimo ang mga patrol boats. Sa laing bahin gibutyag ni Mayor Shirley Chiong Sa Liloan og Trea-surer sa Grupo nga ang maong sakyanang pangdagat mobalor ug mga 800 thousand, apil na ang 3 ka megaphone, 3 ka global positioning system device o GPS, 36 ka salva vida kon Life Vest, 3 ka Search Light nga dag-ko, mga uniform sa mga bantay dagat, ug ginalon nga gasolina. Matud pa ni Ms. Eva Abad sa PENRMO, nga kining patrol boat moposisyon sa kadagatan sa Panaon Island, Tomas Oppus ug sa Lima-sawa. Ang mepresentar sa katongod ni Gobernor Roger G. Mercado mao si Benito Gaviola, private Secretary sa gobernador. Didto usab sila Board Members, Tata Estrera, Allan Aroy ug Daisy Gamale. Si Board Member Bebe Almario nga maoy OIC Governor niadtong tungora, wala makatam-bong kay adunay laing ground breaking sa multi-million project sa lungsod sa Silago.

74.098 MILYON PROJECT GILUNSAD SA SILAGO

Silago, So. Leyte - Sunod-sunod nga deboynas ang nahimam-at karon sa administrasyon ni Govbernador Roger G. Mercado, ninning pag-entra sa ikaduha ka tuig niyang pagdumala sa atong lalawigan. Sa milabay nga semana gilusad didto sa Silago ang multi-milyong pesong proyekto nga gipangunahan sa kadagkoan nga mga opisyales sa Department of Agrarian Reform, National Irrigation Association, provincial government ug ang LGU sa lungsod sa Silago. Ang naasoy nga proyekto sa patubig nga moabot ug 74,098,486.00 gikalipay pag.ayo sa katawhan sa mao nga LGU nga gidumala ni last termer Mayor Manuel A. Labrador, Sr. Nasayran sa opisina ni Gobernador Roger G. Mercado nga ang katun-ga sa naasoy nga proyekto naggagikan sa National Government, pinaagi ni Pangulong Aquino og ang implementing agency mao ang DAR. Samtang ang katonga usab magagikan sa panudlanan sa LGU sa maong lugar. "Counterparting ang trend sa pang-goberno nato karon", nagkanay-on si Atty. ug Board Member Almario, OIC governor niadtong gihayona. Naglangkob kini sa potable water system, farm to market road with bridge, JNR katipunan to Catmon, Katipunan to Mahayahay Road. Gilauman nga kining proyektoha magahatag ug dugang ekonome-kanhong paglambo sa katawhan, pinaagi sa harohay nga mga kalsada padulong sa mga kaumahan, paghatag og maayo ug lunsay nga tubig mainom, ug dugang ani sa kahumayan pinaagi sa mga iregasyon nga ipa-haluna sa tulo ka mga barangay. Sa data nga nakuha sa Agrarian, ang barangay Katipunan sa Si-lago, nakatala isip 5th class. Adunay total land area nga 960 (HAS) ug ang agricultural land area moabot ug 672 ka ektarya, adunay population nga 623, 302 ang mga laki og 321 babaye. Adunay 120 ka mga balay og kasagaran taglima ang namuyo kada panimalay.

PRC REGIONAL DIRECTOR, BELIB SA MCC

Maasin City College - Dako ug pasalamat ni Mayor Maloney Samaco sa pagtambay ni PRC Regional Director Hermano Policarpio Palabyab sa gipa-higayon nga seremonyas sa mga social works professionals nga gipahigayon sa MCC Social Hall. Nasayran nga ang Maasin City College nagmalamposon sa pagpapasar sa 24 ka mga social works sa gipahigayon nga examination sa milabay nga buwan. Atol sa seremonyas nga diin nanumpa ang mga bag-ong professionals sa ilang responsibelidad, gihatag dayon s director ang ila nga mga PRC License. Sa iyang mensahi atubangan sa mga ginikanan, bisita ug pipila ka sakop sa As-sociated Media of Southern Leyte (AMSL) gibutyag niya nga belib na belib siya sa pagdumala sa MCC kay nakaprodyus kini ug 24 ka mga Social Works Pro-fessionals bisan pa nga bag-o palang kini sa natad sa edukasyon. Midugang pa siya nga gilupig sa MCC ang Tacloban City College, gumikan kay dyotay ra ang ningpasar sa BSSW nga kurso. Nadugangan ang kalipay sa mga nitambong sa dihang miingon si Director Palabyab nga sa dili madugay ang Professional Regu-lation Commission, mopahigayun na ug examination sa Maasin City sa mga pinili nga mga kurso, kay aron dili na mogasto ug dako ang mga kabataan. Sa habig usab ni Gob. Roger G. Mercado, nga wala niadtong tungora, apan mi-proxy kaniya, si ABC Pres. Nikko Mercado ug Board Member Almario, ang duha miingon nga garbo kaayo sa Maasin City College sa pagdumala ni Mayor Samaco nga adunay mga batan-ong mga professionals, pinaagi sa barato of dekalidad nga edukasyon. Mga Pangalan sa Nakapasar sa BSSW:1. Arot, Ricky Canico2. Arot, Rolly Canico3. Bragas, Carisa Gerong4. Cagorol, Ginalyn Sandoval5. Dayola, Ceasmar Malig-on6. Debajo, Dinah7. Deodora, Anabelle Serdan8. Eralino, Iarah Palco9. Gaviola, Jonalyn Morilla10. Gonzales, Ervie Ramos11. Laran, Daliana Siega12. Limas, Leah Cipres13. Luperte, Eduardo, Jr. Abiñon14. Macul, Joana Espina15. Metra, Jeamilyn Paña16. Marquez, Monalisa Ochavillo17. Maturan, Jhade Doron18. Opias, Estrella Escoro19. Omaga, Cherry Macoto20. Paler, Catherine Basco21. Rebaldo, Junessa Bestudio22. Rojas, Cristine Orag23. Vallejos, Lyndie Deligero24. Vallejos, Mylene Mapalo

Congratulations kaninyong mga kabataan ug sa mga ginikanan nga nagsakripisyo aron makahuman kamo, matud ni Gobernador Roger G. Mercado.

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