Issue2

Photo by Ronnie C. Roa

The Weekly

Eufrocino “Dodong” Codilla’s wife Maria says goodbye to hubby as children and grandchildren look on.

Vanguard

Vol. 1, No. 2

The truth is rarely pure and never simple. - Oscar Wilde

October 24 - 29, 2016

Goma wants Jovie killed

By Jun Tarroza

If words alone can kill, the Albuera Police Chief Jovie Espenido would have been dead a week ago, no thanks to the death wish written

by Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez in his Facebook account. In no uncertain terms, Gomez wrote: “These police crooks should be killed! They should be killed! Let’s begin from our neighboring town!”

He said “in our fight against illegal drugs, what do we do when the police themselves are the ones making up stories and implicating the people not involved in the trade to muddle the whole

situation?”

Gomez was obviously referring to Espenido as the cop in the “neighboring town.” The police chief has been recently making headlines after the police raid of the residence of Albuera drug kingpin newly elected Mayor Rolando Espinosa, which netted millions worth of shabu, arms, explosives and ammunition.

Other documents found in the raid were encashed checks and a ‘bluebook’ containing a list of people allegedly receiving money from the durg lord Kerwin Espinosa.

The other week, six individuals, including three media personalities, were charged by Espenido as protectors and coddlers of the drug lord Kerwin. But several other political per-

A screen shot of the FB post of Mayor Richard Gomez

Hot stuff this week

Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez: “Kill! Kill!”

Albuera Police Chief Jovie Espenido: “Nonsense.”

sonalities have yet to be named.

Espenido for his part commented on the post of Gomez, saying “Malinis ang konsensya ko, Richard. Hindi ako papatol sa mga nonsense na hamon na yan (My conscience is clear, Richard. I will not take on your nonsensical challenge.”

The antagonism between the two appears to be mutual due to their political affiliations. Espenido was a protégé of the Codillas, the political enemies of the Gomezes. Thus, Gomez has reportedly opposed the assignment of Espenido in Albuera, according to Espenido himself, and he was not too happy when the latter conducted anti-drug raids in Ormoc, far from his assigned

jurisdiction.

The recent tagging of police officer Jongjong Oliva by Espenido as a drug protector seems to show his political leanings. Oliva has been the bodyguard of Congresswoman Lucy Torres-Gomez for eight years. He has strongly denied the allegations of Espenido.

Mayor Gomez suspects that he, too, will be tagged

by Espenido in the near future. #

More cases will be filed against top govenrment officials with the arrest of Kerwin Espinosa...p. 3 What’s wrong with Ormoc’s water system? Are the shortages created to justify privatization?...p. 4 Albuera vice-mayor says there is peace in her town after the mayor was arrested...p.5 A member of Albuera’s council gets tagged as a coddler after having received P3 million from Kerwin, but he claims it was for the payment of his land...p.5 No Entry signs are everywhere in Ormoc as the LGU does a traffic experiment. ...p. 11 Leyte Gov. Domic Petilla is profuse with gratitude before three country representatives who came for the Leyte Landing rites last week...p2

Vanguard

2

Leyte Landing

Peace messages, gratitude

Leyte Gov. Dominic Petilla

By Miriam Desacada The presence of representatives of three countries during the 72nd Leyte Landing commemoration gave the Leyte Governor Dominic Petilla occasion to thank them for their help in the Yolanda relief operations here.

Present were Colonel Kevin Wolfla, attache of the US Army of the US Embassy in Manila, Captain Brad White, defense attache fo the Embassy of Australia in the Philippines, and Minister Atsushi Ueno, deputy chief of mission and consul of the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines. Representing the Philippines was Lt. Gen. Raul del Rosario, commander of the AFP’s Central Command, paid Petilla, who also represented the country, said that since it is now the time of peace, the celebration was also an opportunity “to recognize the goodwill we now extend to those who were once our enemies. Yolanda

Three police generals came for the Leyte Landing rites attended by representatives of Japan, Australia and the US, along with surviving World War II veterans. saw countries, characters in a great war, united as friends now in their desire to help the Filipino people.” To recall, Japan was allied to the Axis forces while America, Australia and the Philippines belonged to the Allied forces.

He lauded the international community for their big help and support during

the Yolanda tragedy in Nov. 2013. The typhoon claimed more than 7,000 lives, and billions worth of damage to infrastructure, business and agriculture.

Japanese Minister Ueno for his part reiterated his country’s apology for the atrocities of committed by the Japanese soldiers more

Filipinos bare the life they want Pasig City (PIA) - Filipinos, for the life they want to have, would want to be educated in college and employed with a decent job, have a modest house, enough money and a car, and be able to travel with family and friends while owning some kind of a business.

This was the gist of revelations made during 42 focused group discussions conducted throughout the country involving some 10,000 Filipinos aged 15 to 50 years old, according to the National Economic and Development Authority’s Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Dr. Rosemarie Edillon.

Edillon made the revelation during a recent roundtable discussion at the Development Academy of the Philippines, during which the Council of Fellows of the

government training and research institution initiated, in partnership with the International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence in Governance (INCITEGov), discussions on how to localize the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda defined by the United Nations.

Edillon said that the focused group discussions started in mid-2015 after the NEDA chanced upon a study made by the Asian Development Bank entitled “Asia 2050,” which said that for the next 20 to 30 years, it would be time for Asia to become the dominant world economy.

The same study, however, saw the Philippines being lumped with Afghanistan and Myanmar near the bottom of the standings of the region’s economies.

Edillon said that the NEDA has formulated a vision for the country that “by 2040, the Philippines shall be a prosperous, predominantly middle-class society where no one is poor,” with the people enjoying long and healthy lives, are smart and innovative, and living in a high-trust society.

“With the right policies, the Philippines can be nearly a high-income country by 2040,” Edillon declared.

“This, of course, would require good fiscal policy, sound macro fundamentals, and a strategic fiscal spending program, including a tax and non-tax investment incentive program to address capacity constraints, increase competitiveness, encourage innovation, reduce inequality, and build up resiliency.”

October 10 - 15, 2016

Northwest Leyte gets 96% rating for infra projects PROJECTS implemented by Leyte 4th District Engineering Office worth P50 million below are 96% completed as of Sept. 30. These include 10 of 11 farm-to-market roads (FMR) funded by the Department of Agriculture (DA), District Engineer Lino Francisco Gonzalez informed.

Only the San DionesioMasaba FMR in neighboring Matag-ob town is on-going but already considered substantially complete considering that only 100 meters of the 1.1-km. road remains for concreting. The completed DA FMRs are in Libertad, Bantigue, RM Tan, San Jose, Magaswe, Alta Vista, Esperanza, Can-untog and Patag, all in Ormoc as well as in Cantuhaon in Palompon town.

Another on-going FMR project is the Boroc-Ipil road in Ormoc funded by the Sug-

ar Regulatory Administration for P17.2 million. Gonzalez said the 1.4-km. long, 6.1-meter wide road is 60% complete, 30.64% ahead of target.

Gonzalez also bared that Batch 12 of DepEd School Building projects implemented by DPWH is nearing completion, while four buildings under Batch 11 worth P82 million for the municipality of Kananga might be delayed due to the on-going negotiations of the school site.

The Health Department has also released P32 million for the rehabilitation and improvement of 17 rural health units (RHU). These include seven RHUs in Ormoc located in Ormoc District Hospital, Valencia, Doña Feliza Mejia and Dolores for P4 million each as well as Linao, Patag and Alta Vista for P1 million each. By Felix Codilla

than 72 years ago, extending his eternal condolences to the Filipinos who died during WWII. “We must not repeat this war again because of great devastation,” he said in his speech.

Colonel Wolfla, attache of the US Army of the US Embassy in Manila, assured that what McArthur did for the Philippines during WWII will continue, despite Duterte’s earlier statement that ties between US and the Philippines will be cut off.

Captain Brad White, defense attache fo the Embassy of Australia in the Philippines, reassured the Filipinos of his country’s rebuilding efforts. “Through these friendships, we saw, just

last year, vessels bearing the proud names of those that had fought at Leyte Gulf, once more journeying to the Philippines,” he said.

The annual event, held at the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park in Palo, Leyte, marked the year when US General Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines to free the country from its Japanese invaders. This year’s anniversary theme was, “Leyte Gulf Landing: A World-Historic Turn to Peace and Progress.”

Leyte officials led by the governor and the dignitaries from the US, Japan and Australia paid tribute to the soldiers who fought and died during the Leyte Gulf landing on October 20, 1944,#

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Vanguard

October 17 - 22, 2016

3

After Kerwin’s arrest

Top gov’t officials in new cases

By Miriam Desacada and Jun Tarroza

Police Regional Director Chief Superintendent Elmer Beltejar Police officials in the region are elated because the probable revelations of the recently captured Kerwin Es-

pinosa can further strengthen the cases against top government officials earlier implicated by Mayor Rolando Espi-

nosa in the drug trade.

Police Regional Director Chief Superintendent Elmer Beltejar said through Kerwin “we can deliver stronger evidence against other drug personalities whose cases were filed in the court earlier.” Kerwin’s arrest should help pin down some 80 government officials listed in Espinosa’s ‘bluebook’ and returned checks, he said.

Police Provincial Director Senior Superintendent Franc Simborio on the other hand said Kerwin’s arrest is a victory for the provincial police as it means they were able to topple down the Espinosa drug trade, which has been operating for many years.

Four police generals have been implicated in the cases, along with two police senior superintendents, police superintendents, eight police senior inspectors and three police chief inspectors, besides 15 police non-commissioned officers.

Also included was a PDEA Director.

The said police generals

have been earlier publicly disclosed by president Duterte.

Last week, the names of six civilians, including three from the media, have surfaced after Police Chief Inspector Espenido released copies of his affidavit to the public. But the names of one senator, a governor, a vice-governor, four mayors, two vice-mayors and six board members have not been released pending the filing of formal charges against them.

Espenido: No torture Albuera police Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido said that with the arrest of Kerwin, many things will be cleared in court.

“I am happy because, we are have been rewarded after all our efforts in the investigation. Now we already have the main link in the drug trade in Leyte, connecting him to the protectors, cohorts and payola recipients, who we already sued in court. We are expecting some important information from Kerwin,” he said.

After Kerwin’s tactical interrogation at the national

Cucina de Aleia

Dealer & merchandiser of imported kitchenwares

police headquarters in Camp Crame, he is expected to be turned over to the Albuera police as it is the origin of the crimes committed. The suspected number one drug lord in the region was arrested at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates the other week.

Espenido promised that he will not threaten or torture Kerwin during interrogation because he believes the suspect will be cooperative. Espenido had said weeks ago that he will protect the suspect as he can provide more information on the rogue generals and top government officials who had accordingly served as protectors and coddlers of criminal syndicates. He said the drug operations in the region will not stop until the big coddlers are in prison.

Kerwin and his father Albuera Mayor Rolando Espenosa were charged for of illegal possession of dangerous drugs, illegal possession of firearms, ammunitions and explosives at the regional trial court in Baybay, Leyte.

No bail was recommended for these cases.# .

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October 10 - 15, 2016

Ormoc water system

Dripping faucets amid fears of privatization

By Jun Tarroza If the water in your faucet drips to a standstill, blame it on the closure of a water source that supplies muddy water. In an interview by The Weekly Vanguard with Engr. Fulton Manawatao of the Ormoc Water and Sewerage Administration (ORWASA), he said such shortages could ironically happen at this time of the year when rain water is abundant.

An inlet in Ahag that supplies the water treatment facility, site of Ormoc’s water source in Brgy. Donghol, will have to be closed because of muddy water from surface of a river that supplies most of the households in the city, said Manawatao.

Whether or not there are defe1ctive structures in said facility, he declined to comment as he has just replaced the former head of ORWASA,

Engr. Fulton Manawatao of the Ormoc Water and Sewerage Administration (ORWASA): mum on privatization.

Engr. Gervacio Germano, who has left for Canada.

But the agency is planning to erect three deep production wells to fill up the shortages. Two of these will be located in Ahag and one in Brgy. District 28, this city. These will be operated by electric-driven pumps siphoning water from underground water sources.

Manawatao said they need over 200 liters per second to fill a 1,200-metric ton water reservoir in Ahag.

But this source cannot supply everything especially during dry months when the river flow could only supply some 100 liters per second. During rainy days, on the other hand, water is abundant but turns muddy, he said.

Other than water supply issues, the agency is also concerned with payment delinquencies. Of the 20,000 listed consumers, more than half are delinquent in their water bills, he said. Since the agency is supposed to be a self-liquidating office, the delinquencies severely affects their operations. He said

they have to earn P30 million in a year to pay their electric bills, purchase chlorine, and for other maintenance and operating expenses. Because of this, ORWASA is presently conducting disconnection operatons.

Manawatao also debunked speculations that the water shortages issue is being used to give way for the privatization of the ORWASA. He said the issue is very premature. The real score behind it is that it was the business interest of the Manila Water District to conduct a feasibility study at no cost to the local government.

Likewise, it is not the vested interest of Mayor Richard Gomez administration to privatize the serviceoriented water office, he said. But Mamawatao could not say if the said study was approved by the city council.

However, another reliable source, a barangay official of one of the mountain barangays here, said the mayor himself announced in a public gathering that the water system will be privatized.#

EasternSamar

Reaping bounties from new techniques

By Michael Somono

K

AINGIN farming (slash and burn) is one of the oldest farming practices among old farmers that was passed on from generation to generation. As climate change became destructive, there were fewer farmers who practiced it, noted Narciso “Asing” Contado, a farmer from Brgy. Tagaslian, Maydolong, Eastern Samar.

Although modern farming technology was introduced to him years ago, other farmers are still practicing the traditional slash and burn way of farming.

Mano “Asing” had been practicing traditional farming for more than 40 years when he met People In Need (PIN), an NGO which introduced modern farm-

ing techniques. Convincing the local farmers like Mano Asing was not easy, but one technique that encouraged them was the establishment of demonstration plots. Here they learned skills in land preparation, nursery, crop growing, pest management, harvesting and post-harvest handling, and marketing.

While learning from the demo plots, farmers also managed to cultivate their own farms. According to Mano Asing, it was his first time to plant cabbage. He started planting 1,500 seedlings of cabbage, 220 hills of bitter gourd (Ampalaya) and 150 hills of watermelon last June 2016, simultaneously.

He said because of the absence of rain and the distance of his water source, he found it hard to grow

cabbage. It was on August 2016 when the dry spell was experienced. It was really a big challenge, but he still managed to water his plants early in the morning at 6:00 until 9:00 o clock. But there were days when he could not do it due to muscle pains.

Still with perseverance and hard work, his plants grew, he said.

Comparing his earnings from his previous ways of planting crops, he said “Mas dako an akon income yana kontra han una (My income now is higher than before).

Moreover, he has no problem with the marketing since it was the market who came for his products. Mano Asing that with his new knowledge about farming, he can even grow high-value crops during off season.

(The author is PIN field facilitator)

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Vanguard

October 17 - 22, 2016

Peace reigns in Albuera

By Jun Tarroza Will peace prevail in Albuera? As far as acting Mayor Dr. Rosa Meneses is concerned, the town has regained its peace after Mayor Rolando Espinosa was arrested.

She said there is a big difference between the time when the mayor was still around and today, she told The Weekly Vanguard.

The “element of fear” is gone, and people are no longer afraid to venture out of their homes at night. Before the arrest, business had slackened, resulting in the decrease of business taxes, she said.

Apparently the political killings allegedly perpetrated by Espinosa has caused the fears among the population. Meneses said among the politicians killed was the late town councilor-elect Vicente Jabon. There were three other election-related killings, including that of retired policeman Alfredo Bucabuca, a staunch supporter of former mayor Ramon de la Cerna Jr., and Sebastian de la Torre, a trusted aide.

The oplan “Tokhang,” the curfew for minors, the information drive against illegal drugs, and strict implementation of the helmet law have likewise helped to restore the peace and order here, said Meneses.

Meneses said she has maintained good relations with Espinosa. She expressed readiness to vacate her chair as acting mayor if Espinosa will be absolved of his administrative and criminal charges. This may hap-

From Vintage View, p. 7 spirits.

With his occult powers, Punyong ventured into the spirit other-world. His spirit finally saw Menay’s lost spirit during the mission to instigate evil acts and deaths among the protagonists during critical days before the historical Balangiga Massacre event in Samar in September 1901. But Menay did not recognize him anymore during their conversation.

Then their contact came to the knowledge of Menay’s horse-faced spiritual possessor, who appeared and kicked Punyong out from the scene.

In the place he landed after the blow, Punyong’s spirit met a goddess of Samar and sought her help in taking back Menay. She told him that Menay’s spirit has been detained as a wife of an evil spirit more powerful than her. The only help she could extend was to restore Menay’s past memory that had been erased by her possessor-husband.

Punyong’s spirit next

Albuera Vice-Mayor now acting as Mayor Dr. Rosa Meneses pen if his son Kerwin will admit that Espinosa has no knowledge of the former’s drug operations in Eastern Visayas.

She said there is no official order yet from the DILG proclaiming her as acting mayor. But by the Constitutional mandate, she has to assume the post of the mayor in his absence. Her function now is to continue the basic services of the local government here as she cannot fire,

hire, and appoint an employee, she said.

Meanwhile, acting Vice Mayor Sixto dela Victoria said the chair of the late Jabon is still vacant until today. He said the town council is awaiting an endorsement from the “Aksyon Demokratiko”, the political party of the late councilor. He said they are waiting for the party endorsement so that the council can pass a resolution to the Leyte province to fill in the vacant seat.# •

saw Menay’s spirit during the mission to promote evil acts and deaths related to the oncoming Supertyphoon Yolanda in November 2013.

Although Menay could now recognize Punyong, he signaled to hush her and pretended that they did not know each other. But he followed her around Tacloban City almost incognito.

The opportunity to take away Menay’s spirit came during the confusion at the height of the typhoon, when Punyong’s spirit grabbed her and brought her back home and to their own timeline in 1993.

A realization that came to Punyong during the Yolanda episode was that while their group of minions were trying to inflict evil and disaster on people, he likewise witnessed competing legions of spirits who also tried to protect and keep more people away from harm. And while their own evil-causing powers were associated with stern conditions, slavish loyalty, and blind obedience to their superiors, the powers of their apparently more powerful counterparts were simply attributed to the knowledge

and acceptance of a Divine Savior, without prior conditions.

After Punyong’s and Menay’s escaped spirits had returned to their respective asleep bodies in their farm, their evil superiors tried one last chance to take them back. But Punyong and Menay simply uttered their prayers to repel and drive away the serpents that were sent out to destroy both of them.

In this semi-fantasy novel, the author has extensively fictionalized the anthropology and folklore of the barang sorcery and the initiation processes to the tambalan profession and practice in Samar. The book is worth reading if only for these.

In contrast, the fictional rock concert atmosphere depicting the huge gatherings in the fabled Biringan City seems a bit ultra-modern and overboard.

Still, this novel is a monumental success at writing in a language whose label I prefer to be returned to its original and centuriesold name: Binisaya.#

5

Kagawad denies charge Three-time councilor Nelson D. Pepito Sr. last week denied accusations that he is a drug protector, and received payolas from drug lord Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr. He also cleared his son Nelson Jr. of a similar involvement, probably unaware that the latter has been tagged in at least two murder incidents involving Kerwin Espinosa.

Pepito was included in a complaint filed by Albuera Police Station Chief PCInsp.

Jovie Espinido against six government officials, saying he received P3 million from Kerwin. But Pepito explained the amount was the payment of the 2.1 hectare lot he sold to Espinosa. Pepito said Espinosa was planning some time ago to establish a crusher plant for sand and gravel in Brgy. Benolho, this town, and because of this he sold the lot which is located along Binolho River.

The payment started on August 2014 after he opened a bank account. He said Kerwin paid him on staggered basis, including a P1 million bank cheque. He was fully paid sometime on 2015.

“Dili kini illegal ang pagpaligya og property. (The sale of this property was not illegal),” Pepito said.

“Naglisod man gani ko pagpalit og bugas, protector na ba hinoon (I am even having a hard time just to buy rice, how much more being a protector),” he said. He used the payment to build a house in Baybay City, Leyte, the place of origin of his wife.

Like others implicated in the drug complaint of Espinido, Pepito has not received any formal complaint yet. He said he read about the complaint circulating in Facebook.

As for his son Nelson Jr., he said his junior was a former driver of Kerwin’s Elf mini-truck used for delivery of legal goods, but he was not Kerwin’s personal driver.

Pepito probably did not know that his son was implicated in at least three murder cases involving Kerwin. Nelson Jr. admitted to being the

From Samar Breeze, p. 7 couple the program objectives into ensuring food access and increasing income, then to separate the short-gestating and long-gestating commodities. Municipal governments should have only been allowed to choose and to propose shortgestating commodities that will directly contribute to food security. The provincial government because it has huge resources and a view of the big picture, should have been tasked to select long-gestating commodities with potential for industry development. Markets should have been a pri-

Albuera Kag. Nelson Pepito spotterin the killing of Alfredo Bucabuca when the latter was ambushed at the Panilahan bridge in Macabuig, Ormoc City.

In another sworn statement signed by one of Kerwin’s men who had turned state witnesses, Nelson Jr. accordingly figured in the killing and disposal of two farmers suspected by Kerwin of stealing his carabao. The bodies of the two were accordingly chopped to pieces, placed inside two drums and then poured with cement, before they were thrown to the sea on the orders of Nelson Jr. Nelson Sr. said in the interview that his junior is now selling bananas to make ends meet.

He said he and Kerwin are neighbors in that village.

The only thing he knew about Espinosa was that Kerwin would stay one to two weeks in the area and would come back after that. He said Kerwin and his father did good things in their village, like giving rice, money, coffins, among others, for the poor villagers, he said.

The town councilor was among the six government officials charged at Ombudman by the complaint-affidavit of Espinedo. He was together with Ormoc City Fiscal Marcelo Onate, Sherwood Brgy. Capt. Andres Cruz, this town, Talisayan Brgy. Captain Norman Sta. Eglesia, this town also, Mabini Brgy. Capt. Marjorie Dumaguit, of Ormoc City, and BJMP8 Gilbert Fernandez.# - By JunTarroza mary consideration.

As it happened, commodities were chosen as priority without anybody bothering to take a hard look at the market potential of each one. Some raised broad ideas about the market, but no one mentioned a specific market player who might buy the priority commodities. Without a market ready to absorb the commodities, incentives for investment would be low and sustaining initiatives around the commodities until they increase the income of the poor would not be possible. SAAD would not achieve its goal. It would remain what it is--a promise. #

Vanguard

6

October 17 - 22, 2016

OPINION The Power of Far Vista

By Phillip Ting

I Editorial

Not a walking shadow

S

hakespeare must have already felt that some people’s lives were not worth a halfpenny when he made Macbeth exclaim, “Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.”

These days in our country, it’s not even worth the price of an assassin’s bullet.

The confessed killer Matobato made his revelations so casually, and that makes it so worrisome. Human life has lost its worth. The 3,000 or more dead in the wake of Operation Tokhang is a clear statistical proof of the worthlessness of one’s life.

And we barely hear a whimper of protest.

As if the impact of one’s death stops with one person. As if one’s life is not interconnected with other lives. When one dies, others suffer. The parents, the source of one’s bloodline.

The siblings who share that

same blood. The sons and daughters who must continue living. The impact increases with the number of kins, with whom one shared years of warmth, joys and pains. With one person gone, that link is severed. And other lives seem incomplete.

Could this be the reason why the commandment, thou shalt not kill, came to be? Killing is an immoral act precisely because it triggers the death of others as well.

It causes others a lot of pain and sorrow, that they begin to lose their grip on living.

They begin to die slowly too.

Assassins like Matobato and other rogues in uniform do not realize this. To them killing is like other mechanical acts that must be done because such were the orders of superiors who keep them alive with measly salaries. It is an act that is devoid of any emotion or empathy and therefore can be told casually.

One does not talk about re-

gret or remorse with these people because probably they don’t understand it.

What is really worrisome is when that same attitude creeps to other segments of the population who begin to accept that assassinating hoodlums is the new norm. In pre-war Germany, Hitler’s propagandists had slowly conditioned people to accept that the killing of Jews was necessary in the preservation of the Aryan race. Here in our country, we are witnessing the same mental conditioning, telling us that killing hoodlums and drug addicts is necessary in the cleansing of our communities.

As we remember those who went before us on kalagkalag, let us also remember how their lives were worth to us because it is this connectivity that will make us appreciate life better. Much was we desire quick solutions, killing can never be the shortcut in the clean-up of our communities.#

The Weekly Vanguard

is the Eastern Visayas weekly newspaper published by The Vanguard Communications and Publishing Corporation, with its main office at Brgy. 95, Dioversion Road, Caibaan, Tacloban City.

Publisher: Melvin “Bong” Contapay

Business Manager: Rey Enales Editor: Emil B. Justimbaste

Associate Editor: Elmer V. Recuerdo

Columnists: Prof. Rolando Borrinaga, Phillip Ting, Fr. Virgilio Cañete, Eric Aseo

Writers/Correspondents: Miriam Desacada (Tacloban), Gina Dean (Samar), Jun Tarroza (Ormoc), Jose Victor Navarro (Photojournalist) Email Address: rey_enales@yahoo.com Telephones: (053) 888-0947

Remembering my grandpa

n the spirit of the All Saints and All soul’s day, and in memory of our ancestors, I felt that the following story will be relevant to meditating on the value of history, of how we understand and shape the stories of our ancestral past and how transmitting the stories will shape our children’s futures.

Two weeks ago, a couple of friends and I were on our way to Batangas port, enroute to Mindoro, where we were to meet a mayor and assist his municipality in their strategic development planning, and we got to talking about our frustrations with nation-building and development work.

Benedict, the attorney and urban planner, expounded on his belief that there is something definitively wrong with our educational system that we tend to produce youngsters with no sense of nationalism, and with a warped sense of values so detached from the kind of ethics we avow to. He said the whole day influence of teachers and the educational system on kids provide the kind of environment from which the kids learn not only their ABCs, but also their values, their discipline and perspectives that will dictate the directions and flows of their life decisions.

I thought about my own experiences, and realized that while the educational system’s influence indeed looms large over a child’s growth (and this is not just on the instructional side, but also on how the child is socialized among his own peers – who are usually unthinkingly brutal about who belongs and who is not), it is still the family that must bear the responsibility for keeping the values and shape how the child will grow up in the world.

My mom has shared stories of my grandfather that has become for me a sort of code to live by. Starting at a young age, I looked at my stern, imposing grandfather, and see the man my mom wanted me to believe in: a man with brave exploits, a man with an uncompromising set of principles and an embodying an independence with loyalty and a gratitude to this country that adopted him as a naturalized citizen.

I remember the story about his back wound, which I was told he got from fighting with the Japanese sol-

diers during WW2, about how the minions of the Philippine president that time, coming by to borrow his car (at the time he had one of the only two cars in the city), and his refusal to bow to pressure from these same politicians for contributions from the Chinese community, which he led at the time as president of the then nascent Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce. I was told about how he came to the country with his adopted father who died when he was still young, leaving him to support himself, working through a number of professions, until he amassed the wealth and prestige he had in his later years.

These stories gave me a backbone, and instilled in me the idea of pride in my bloodline, and yet with the deep sense of gratitude to this country that have given us the means to thrive. This is why, till now, I am committed to paying this gift forward, working in social development, advocating for what I feel is good for this country.

I watch the new generation of Chinese youngsters who have grown up without these stories, who grew in an environment of wealth so much so that they feel that sense of entitlement, that they feel that they can do what they want in this country because they are rich.

And I feel a sharp disappointment because I have always believed that even though I do not consider myself a second class citizen (I have too much pride in myself to consider myself a second class anything), I still believe that I have a responsibility to contribute back to this country, because it has given me and mine so much in return.

I believe this is needed: that we go back into our past, get the stories that inspire our kids about their own bloodlines, and let them feel their historical responsibility to act within and in accordance to the principles and ethics that these ancestors have lived for.

And had I children, I would have kept their imaginations alive with stories of my grandfather’s exploits, whether true or not. Because in the end, history is important not in the truth it conveys, but in the relevance it has towards understanding today’s problems and tomorrow’s solutions. #

OPINION Vanguard

October 17 - 22, 2016

Vintage View

By Prof. Rolly Borrinaga

of Biringan in Samar, where she saw many other beings at a huge gathering. She also saw there the old woman she had brushed with at the town market.

The search for another tambalan who can exorcise Menay of her demons led to Punyong’s own “pact with the Devil.” He became heir of the occult powers of old male tambalan, who died soon

Splashes of the Powerful: A Book Review

(Pagliawan, Doms. Tabsik hin Kagamhanan. Tacloban City: By the Author, 2015.)

T

absik hin Kagamhanan (Splashes of the Powerful) by Doms Pagliawan touts itself as the “first original novel in Waray.” Indeed, it is the first published full-length novel (267 pages) written in the Binisaya (Waray) language of Leyte and Samar that I am aware of.

The main characters in the novel are the young couple Punyong and Menay, peasant types in their 20’s who live in a farm in the hinterland of Samar.

An unfortunate brush with an elderly vendor at a tabu (market day) in town led to a barang (sorcery) spell inflicted on Menay.

The search by referral of a curer of her malady led to

the house of the woman that Menay offended at the tabu, who was a tambalan (shaman) herself and the apparent source of the spell.

After this incident, and with her vulnerability thus established, Menay was next possessed by demons.

Punyong returned to the woman tambalan, who told him after a performed ritual that while the first spell was human-inflicted and had been treated, the second incident was now caused by evil spirits.

During her violent fits at the act of demon possession, when Menay’s body harbored another talking spirit, her own spirit was brought by a team of takers to the mythical city

Samar breeze

By Eric Aseo

SAAD and the promise of poverty reduction

T

he people of Samar Island should thank the Department of Agriculture for launching the Special Areas for Agriculture Development (SAAD) Program. SAAD promises to alleviate poverty in Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar, and seven other provinces that comprise the country’s poorest. Overdue, but at least it has been started.

Secretary Manny Pinol wants DA Regional Director Wilson Cerbito to reduce by 25% the poverty incidence of the Samar provinces in three years. Tall order. The good director, who’s from Northern Samar, no doubt is committed to the task. But the DA needs the support of everyone to achieve that goal. The department can also make use of feedbacks to implement the program properly.

SAAD promises to reduce poverty by increasing production, improving food security and by raising the income of the poor. How exactly the DA will proceed is not crystal clear. The SAAD orientation cites illustrative projects that might be done under the program.

But it doesn’t provide details how such projects will be realized. This lack of clarity manifested in the SAAD planning workshop in Eastern Samar.

The workshop gathered municipal agriculture officers, planning coordinators, provincial government functionaries, and a few mayors. Representatives of civil society organizations came.

But neither farmers nor 4Ps beneficiaries, the purported target groups, were equitably represented. This raises questions on the sincerity of the program if it doesn’t

after passing his wisdom to Punyong.

Punyong went through the entire four cycles of initiation to become a tambalan. After succeeding in the different tests and trials, he thus formally acquired some deep knowledge and occult powers, which were enhanced and ceremonially confirmed by the evil powers during his own visit to Biringan City.

Despite his new tambalan powers, Punyong still could not find a complete cure for the various senselosses (hearing and speech, after sight was restored) suffered by Menay while still possessed by evil

Go to p. 5 involve beneficiaries in the planning process. How can the DA even know if farmers want to raise pigs under SAAD if they were not asked?

The targeting process looks nebulous. Who are the poor the program targets?

What poor—the poorest, the middle poor, the enterprising poor? OK, the 4Ps beneficiaries. Are they all farmers?

Where are they— in town centers, in upland communities, in coastal barangays? What does the program want to do with whom-- increase their production, improve their food access, raise their income or all? Is it possible? How poor are they now? How better off should they be three years from now to reduce poverty incidence by 25%?

In the same workshop the participants, who were mostly representatives of local governments, were asked to choose their preferred crops and livestock. Each local government put forward priorities for inclusion in their clusters.

Of course everyone wanted to bring something home.

The result was a long list of commodities and resistance was vehement when the DA suggested that participants choose a set of commodities for the whole province, presumably to achieve economies of scale along the priorities.

A possible win-win solution would have been to de-

Go to p. 5

7

Swiss

By Fr. Virgilio Cañete

T

Death, bitter reminder

he soldiers and the priests face death everyday”.

I was thinking of writing on taxation, but our editor assigned me to write on death, anticipating All Soul’s Day. “Taxes are like death; necessary evil” goes a quote. So here’s opening two tombstones in one a swoop.

How to define the definitive or the infinitesimal and this would make Death like the definition of man’s life.

Continuing to define itself and escape its definition. But not quite, or there is no escaping death. Death biologically has been defined as the cessation of drain activity, and no longer the stoppage of the pulse. Even in death, some functions continue like the headless chicken running from the kill. Being brain dead then is the fullest expression of dying, which makes the medieval scholastics partly right in centering life in the intellect. It also wonderfully fits the mystic’s ecstasy of dying a thousand deaths in this life.

Relevant perhaps, is the transformation of energy; that it is not destroyed , only made different. We are not reducing death to the technical. As Fr. Ben Villote (who died recently) warned pastors: be wary of being technicians during funeral services. Death is not a problem dying for a solution, and we surmise even with the best health care and gains against terminal disease, Thanatos will knock, and the Footman will have his way. It is a mystery and mysteries brook no solutions. It wants to be embraced, for its intimacy the very personal experience which no one else can share but the subject.

The recent acceptance, even advocacy of assisted suicide, and chosen death as response to the harshness and meaninglessness of life (Belgium and recently Canada) reveals the alienation of our contemporary culture to the timelessly-held rever-

ence for the mystic of death.

Today, death is also commodified.

Economic pressures and secularism leads to that trivialization of the living’s last gasp on earth.

That moment ritualized even in pagan culture, where the notion of immortality seemed to be a mimicry of the earthly mortal life.

Before, Church law banned cremation because of the teaching of the resurrection of the body. The dogmatic bows to the pragmatic. Add the lack of space, where “Campo Santo” downgrades to “Holy Lot”, and so we might re-think what we just said of death not being a problem. The most sacrilegious of all, terrorists using death as a propaganda weapon. We can live with death’s commercialization, pre-Halloween sales of ghoulish toys and Dracula capes which have no bearing even to the mystery. But politicizing what most of humanity hold as, to say the least mystifying, is to be mourned.

• Post Mortem: What the NDRRMC failed, Super Typhoon Yolanda achieved in a single day: make hardheaded citizens, especially in high risk areas aware of the need to prepare for “the new normal storms.”

• We mourn deaths and tragedies. We celebrate triumphs and stories of survival. So November 8, we pray for the dead victims, and celebrate our “resurrection” from the tombs of despair and helplessness. For Catholics, this is symbolized in the image of our Lady of Hope, memento of the Pope’s visit to symbolize in the image of our Lady of Hope, memento of the Pope’s visit to the Yolanda victims. “A man’s dying is more the survivor’s affair than his own,” said Thomas Mann. Indeed, as John Done that 17th century preacher penned a haunting meditation on death as he lay dying in bed - a true survivor “each man’s death is my own.”

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ― Mark Twain

Vanguard

8

Noy Dodong, 83

October 17 - 22, 2016

Ram Guardians Alakdan Region 8 Activities • Oct 28 RGI Alakdan Leyte 4th District Assembly, Merida Gym, Merida, Leyte • Oct 29 RGI Alakdan Sta. Rita Samar Chapter Assembly and Oathtaking, Sta Rita Gym, • Oct 30-31 Medical Mission Carigara Gym, Carigara, Leyte Guest: Gen. Danny Lim (Ret) National Chairman, RGI Alakdan and Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa (RAM)

H

e was known by that name to many Ormocanons, and even when he became a congressman, people still called him that, an appellation that spells familiarity as well as respect.

That it never became ‘Sir Dodong’ is a tribute to his truly humble character, the poor man with better clothes but still a poor man inside.

Eufrocino Codilla Sr. was born on the first day of 1933, about nine years before the Japanese invaders arrived on our shores. His father was a carpenter, while his mother a homemaker. To have witnessed the atrocities of war would have him telling stories about it, but strangely people have not heard him talking about war. He would prefer talking about cockfighting, a habit that never left him even in his advanced years. The soltadas of the past were etched in his memory, that he could tell lessons from past mistakes.

His foray into politics was almost accidental. The challenge came after the incumbent mayor had lapses in attending to the needs of Ormoc’s residents devastated by a flash flood which claimed some 7,000 lives.

Electricity was down. So was the water system. The major thoroughfares were filled with mud, with hundreds of dead bodies in their grotesque shapes scattered all over. Communication with relatives outside Ormoc was nil. Moreover, the relief distribution under the city government was being sabotaged with the original goods being replaced by inferior items.

The involvement of the Codillas especially in establishing linkages with relatives outside endeared them

to a lot of flood victims. During the 1992 elections, the post-flood lapses of the administration was used to great advantage by the unlikely challenger. That, plus his homegrown natural appeal to the masa, led to his overwhelming victory. The erstwhile poor man who barely finished high school trashed the daughter of one of Ormoc’s ‘don’, a product of a buena familia that never understood what it meant to be poor.

That started the so-called Codilla dynasty which lasted some 19 year, ending with Edward Codilla’s one-year term as mayor of Ormoc.

In his nine years of office, he was instrumental in building the Ormoc Superdome, a two--storey separate New Ormoc Public Market Building A and B, various covered courts, farm to market roads, upgraded irrigation system, school buildings, among others.

After Dodong’s three terms, his son Eric was elected mayor for three terms, while he ran for Congress, defeating the incumbent representative, the second time the lady was beaten. In the meantime, hanotherson Elmer got elected mayor Kananga from 2007 to 2016.

In his nine years of office, he was instrumental in building the Ormoc Superdome, a two--storey separate New Ormoc Public Market Building A and B, various covered courts, farm to market roads, upgraded irrigation system, school buildings, among others.

Dodong Codilla is survived by his wife Maria, children Eufrocino Jr., Edward, Eddie, Elizabeth, Eric, Maria Isabel, Elmer, Edwin and Evelyn.

- By Jun Tarroza

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Vanguard

October 17 - 22, 2016

In Ormoc

Traffic scheme draws flak

By Jun Tarroza “It’s a waste of gasoline.

We have to make several turns to be able to bring passengers to their destination.”

“It has become difficult for us commuters because we have to go to the corner where the tricycle passes by.

And we find it hard to find tricycles who will take us to our destination, especially if they have to pass through one-way streets.”

These are comments one normally hears from tricycle drivers and commuters in Ormoc these days. The Weekly Vanguard found out that the traffic experiment recently implemented by the local government was a failure, as far as commuters and tricycle drivers are concerned. This paper also found out that the LGU has not consulted with with commuters prior to the experiment, only with a segment of the tricycle drivers and the business sector.

Whether the experiment was worth it seems to be debatable. From the traffic data released by Supervising Transportation Officer 1 (STRO1) Emmanuel Sevilla of the Land Transportation Office here, the volume of vehicles plying in Ormoc streets has increased by only six percent this month.

Sevilla attributed the

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“No entry” signs seen in many street corners increase to over 3,000 total registered vehicles recorded in the LTO last August. Compared to the figures on the same month last year, the LTO has recorded 2,184 registered vehicles, representing a 41 percent increase.

Of this figure, they listed 73 light private vehicles as registered, 7 medium private vehicles, 93 service utility vehicles (SUV), 597 UVs, 217 trucks, 1,540 single motorcyles, 77 tricyles, 1 non-conventional motorcycle, and 19 trailers.

Evidently, the increase in the number of tricycles, numbering 77, should not cause traffic jams in the city because of their small size, but the city experiment has made no exceptions to these

smaller public transport utilities. Tricycles must follow one-way traffic rules even if it means causing inconvenience to the riding public.

Still public officials are optimistic that the experiment is good for the city.

Sevilla said the flow of vehicles is now moving, though slow during rush hours.

But months ago, traffic was heady, he said.

Likewise, PCInsp. Manuelito Wenceslao, traffic division chief of the Ormoc City Police Office, said in a separate interview that the flow of the vehicles on the city streets is now “manageable” compared to months ago some roads were clogged - this after they adopted the new traffic scheme.#

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