VG Bagulaya: SP institutionalizing system in the legislative house as legacy

TACLOBAN CITY – Members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan are currently institutionalizing a system in the province’s legislative house which would be one of their landmark legacies when their terms end in 2012, said Vice Governor Mimiette Bagulaya.

Vice Governor Bagulaya was referring to the Legislative Tracking System (LTS)- a system of computerized process of archiving and safe- keeping of all ordinances which could also be easily drawn and accessed from the system when needed.

According to Bagulaya, this week, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) together with the members of the provincial legislative body, had conducted an initial presentation and orientation regarding the system as the first step, and on January 18 they will convene again for the next presentation of the next level and so on until the whole system has been introduced.

With today’s very advanced technology of computer systems, it would only take a keyword or two of the ordinance being searched -typed on search, and then the searched ordinance would come out from the database. This is a very fast way of locating any ordinance from the data base compared to the manual wherein “we have to go over bulky piles of pages,” Bagulaya said.

Unopposed in 2010

While other members of the provincial legislative body will be trying their luck in the coming May polls, Vice Governor Bagulaya is thankful that she is running unopposed (just like Gov. Jericho Petilla), saying this may be God’s reward for her dedication to work wherein she almost lost her life when she met a vehicular accident years back from an out-of-town session.

Bagulaya started leading the Leyte Provincial Board in 2004, who, through thick and thin, pushed for the legislative agenda of the province. For her last term she will continue what she has started to include a continued human resource management training among employees, team building for the betterment of service to the people, she said. (FRED PADERNOS)

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Comelec-8 now ready for voter’s education and info campaign

TACLOBAN CITY- The Commission on Elections in the region is now ready to conduct a voters’ education campaign as the May 10 general elections is drawing near.

Lawyer Jose Nick Mendros, acting regional director of the Comelec, said that their information campaign will kick off in Biliran starting this Monday.

From there, the information caravan will be held in the remaining provinces in the region, Mendros said during the weekly media forum “Express It At The Park” held at the Leyte Park Hotel.

Mendros underscored that the main purpose of the voters’ education that the Comelec will be undertaking is the “value of the vote” one cast and not really on the automation process.

“The purpose of the voters’ education is to inculcate on the value of the votes and not on the automation,” he said.

The forthcoming May 10 election will see the country staging its first ever fully automated elections.

And during the information caravan to be conducted by the commission, how the counting machine, dubbed as precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine, works will be demonstrated, the Comelec-8 director said.

Teachers who will be serving as members of the board of election inspectors will also be undergoing training, Mendros said.

Over 15,000 teachers are projected to serve as BEI during the May 10 elections.

It was learned from him that their office has already conducted an initial information drive before the members of the diocese of Borongan led by Monsignor Crispin Varquez last Jan.13.

For the region, there will be 5,323 PCOS machines that will be distributed to all polling precincts during the May 10 elections with each of the six provinces to be given a spare counting machine.

“And the number of ballot will be one is to one (voter). There will be no extra ballot,” Mendros said.

This early, Mendros assured the public that electoral fraud is far from happening considering that there will be less human intervention under the automated election system.

The Comelec regional director also said that to ensure that there will be a fair conduct of the elections, elections officers who have a relative up to fourth degree either by affinity or consanguinity will be reassigned to other areas.

An elections officer who also served for four years in the same locality will also be transferred to other area of assignment, Mendros said.

He, however, said that only “very few” will be affected by this impending movement of elections officers in the region. The region has about 143 elections officers.

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City gov’t allocates P8M for 2 road repairs

TACLOBAN CITY- The city government here has set aside P8 million for two road repair projects, one in V&G and one in San Jose District, set to be undertaken this coming March.

This was revealed by Executive Assistant Eduardo Manadong.

The city official disclosed that P4 million was earmarked for the repair of the road within the V&G Subdivision, while another P 4 million was set aside for the rehabilitation of the coastal road in Brgy. 89 (San Jose).

Manadong said that the city government decided to allocate a big amount for the two projects because of the extent of damage and disrepair of the two important city roads.

“The road within V&G is in bad condition because of many potholes, while the road in San Jose needs to be repaired because of the damage wrought on it by recent typhoons,” he pointed out.

According to him, the rehabilitation work on the V&G road would involve road reblocking and repair of damaged road sections.

“The aim is to repair the damage which has worsened through the years,” he stressed.

On the other hand, he disclosed that the rehab of the San Jose road would mainly involve the repair of typhoon-damaged portions.

“The purpose is to make the road safe for vehicle traffic,” he said.

According to Manadong, the two proposed road rehab projects, which are priorities of City Mayor Alfred Romualdez, will be implemented soon.

He said that they have calendared the two projects for bidding in the first week of February.

“Our target is to start implementing them in the first week of March,” he disclosed.

Meanwhile, Manadong revealed that the second phase implementation of the Women’s Shelter, an undertaking strongly pushed by City Councilor Cristina Gonzalez-Romualdez, is set to begin next month.

“The phase 1 implementation was already finished, and we are now on the second or completion phase,” he said.

According to him, the second phase, which has a budget allocation of P5 million, would involve finishing works, painting, and landscaping of the area around the building.

A priority of the city government, the Women’s Shelter is meant as a temporary shelter of abused and battered women from this city.

Based on the Project Plan, the to-be-completed Women’s Shelter would be a two-storey structure that would be big enough to accommodate 10 occupants. (CIO- JOSE RODRIGUEZ T. SEÑASE)

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21 arrested, 15 firearms confiscated in regionwide gun ban implementation

CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, PALO, Leyte – Since the gun ban enforcement started last Jan. 10, the police authorities in the region has already arrested 21 persons with 15 firearms confiscated in random checkpoints.

Chief Supt. Drusillo Bolodo, police regional office 8 deputy regional director for administration, said three members of the military, one policeman and one who has already retired from the military service were among those who were caught violating the Comelec gun ban.

Bolodo said Samar province has the highest number with 8 persons arrested violating the gun ban including a military personnel with two firearms while in the province of Leyte three persons were arrested and one unlicensed firearm was confiscatd.

Four security guards were also arrested in random checkpoints in different areas in Eastern Samar, their firearms confiscated.

In Northern Samar, two persons including a PNP personnel were arrested and one bladed weapon was seized.

In Southern Leyte, one civilian including a retired AFP serviceman and two guns were confiscated by the PNP while in Biliran one person was arrested and one unlicensed firearm. In Tacloban City, two civilians were arrested to include an Army Corporal and two firearms.

Bolodo reiterated their sincere gun ban implementation all over the region simultaneous with checkpoints being installed in different areas.

“We are now on a full-swing gun ban enforcement in random checkpoints. We are happy with the public support in the gun ban, as we are looking toward achieving peaceful, credible 2010 elections and to control and stop the proliferation of unlicensed firearms, “ Bolodo explained.

The national government earlier announced that more than 10,000 policemen and soldiers were deployed across the country starting this Sunday in search of all types of firearms in municipalities and cities with the gun ban implementation in preparation for the May 2010 elections.

Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Verzosa said most of the security forces continued manning at least 3,500 checkpoints nationwide while others will conduct regular patrols, especially in the 558 towns and cities that have been identified as election hot spots.

“Most of the election-related violence in the previous elections were perpetrated through the use of firearms. We will try to make this year’s elections as peaceful and credible as possible through the strict implementation of the total gun ban that has been approved by the Commission on Elections,” Verzosa said .

Based on the guidelines approved by the Comelec, at least one checkpoint will be set up in each of the cities and municipalities across the country to be manned by policemen and soldiers under the supervision of poll officials.

Based on intelligence reports of the police and military, there are a total of 68 private armed groups (PAGs) all over the country, 25 of them in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Police officials in this region, however, has yet to reveal how many PAGs there are in Region 8 presently being monitored by the PNP.

Only members of law enforcement agencies and PNP-accredited private security agencies that will be tapped as escorts of candidates are allowed to carry guns but with a condition that they should be in uniform.

Bolodo also confirmed to this paper that PRO-8 regional headquarters continues to receive more request for security details of candidates but standard process and validation are still being done. (MIRIAM GARCIA DESACADA)

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