DOH gives equip’t to Ormoc City Hospital

Health Secretary Janette Garin turns over an equipment package

worth P560,615 to the Ormoc City Hospital. OIC-Chief of Hospital 

Ma. Regina Omega- Alfafara receives the items. (Photo by
Joseph Levi Sausa)

THE Department of Health (DOH) under its Health Facility Enhancement Program turned over hospital equipment worth P560,615 Ormoc City Hospital. The most expensive items are a portable anesthesia machine worth P448,000 and laryngoscope which costs P45,000.

Other items are an infant weighing scale, three units desk type blood pressure apparatus with adult and pediatric cuff, and three sets oxygen therapy. Health Secretary Janette Garin personally handed over the equipment to OIC-Chief of Hospital Ma. Regina Omega-Alfafara at the DOH regional office in Tacloban City.

Ormoc plants over 1,000 trees on Arbor Day

Mayor Codilla during the ceremonial tree-planting activity.
(Photo by Dante Raden)

MORE than a thousand trees were planted during the Arbor Day, in reference to the Latin word “arbor” which means “tree.” Mayor Edward C. Codilla issued Executive Order No. 24 declaring Aug. 20, 2015 as a public working holiday here in observance of Arbor Day for tree planting.

Explaining the occasion’s importance, Councilor Pedro Godiardo P. Ebcas, vice chairman of the Arbor Day committee cited data from the Environment Department indicating that the Philippines had 17 million hectares forest cover in 1934. This was reduced to only 7 million hectares in a span of 70 years or a reduction rate of 142,000 hectares annually.

While the reduction rate was minimized to 74,000 hectares annually during the period 2003-10, Ebcas still considers this a considerable amount. Vice Mayor Leo Carmelo L. Locsin Jr. also cited his own research stating that every person on earth needs to plant 60 trees to recover lost forest cover.

The occasion kicked off with a ceremonial tree-planting at the plaza stage. Fifteen plots were prepared around the stage, one for each participating government agency and civic organization. The tree species planted consisted of Yakal, Bagtikan and White Lauan.

Mayor Codilla represented the local government unit (LGU). Other agencies represented are Philippine National Police (PNP), 19^th Infantry Battalion (IB), Department of Education (DepEd), Association of Barangay Chairmen, Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs, Kilusan ng mga Broadcasters sa Pilipinas, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), Environment and Natural Resources Division, Energy Development Corp. and 4^th Leyte Engineering District (Led).

After the ceremony, the participants proceeded to their designated places of planting. Most of them went to Lake Danao Natural Park to plant 100 fruit trees consisting of kamansi, jackfruit and rambutan as well as 350 good lumber species like Lauan and Bitungol.

Employees of the LGU, PNP as well as members of Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs planted 2,005 propagules consisting of miape, bongalon and bachaw species at the Naungan mangrove farm. Members of the Naungan-San Juan Mangrove Planters Association joined them.

PCA employees planted coconut trees (Baybay Tall variety) – 200 each in Brgys. RM Tan and Curva. The PNP, 19^th IB and local farmers also participated in those areas. Sixty personnel of DepEd joined by 12 Boy Scouts planted 50 trees inside the campus of New Ormoc National High School.

 
The staff of 4^th Led planted 100 fruit trees (kamansi and jackfruit) on the stretch of the national road in Brgy. Simangan near San Lorenzo Ruiz College. Members of the PNP and 19^th IB joined them.

Mayor Ondo mulls septage treatment plant for Ormoc

MAYOR Edward “Ondo” Codilla, upon the recommendation of the City Health Office’s (CHO) Environmental Health Section, is looking at developing a septage treatment plant for proper disposal of human waste. In her project presentation to Mayor Edward C. Codilla, sanitation inspector Emilyn R. Icalina cited the unsafe waste disposal being practiced by siphoning firms.

Icalina explained that an average household of five members has a septic tank measuring 1.5 cu.m. which will have to be desludged when it is filled up within four to five years. Most of the complaints of foul odor in neighborhoods that they respond to are caused either by the existence of pigpens or by leaking septic tanks that have been filled to capacity.

Such a problem has become common especially that Ormoc’s population now stands at 208,493 and the number of households has reached 47,858. This doesn’t include the large establishments that have faster and larger accumulation in their septic tanks especially hotels and the 617 food outlets in the city.

While there are siphoning firms that conduct desludging services, the problem lies in the disposal of sludge drawn from the septic tanks. Icalina admits they are unaware where the siphoning firms dump their wastes considering they usually operate at night.

Worse, these firms come from other places like Tacloban City; Hilongos, Leyte, and even as far as Davao and Surigao Cities in Mindanao. This means that the siphoning services don’t have permits to operate in Ormoc and their activities are unregulated by the LGU.

“We tried contacting these people to persuade them to inform us if they have an operation and to show us where they dispose their wastes,” Icalina said. One time they were able to communicate with a siphoning firm when it was hired by a prominent fastfood restaurant.

The firm informed they will dump the waste in Isabel town, 47 kms. away. But this was dismissed later on as untrue when CHO learned that the desludger truck went back and forth 17 times to the restaurant overnight. It would be impossible to transport the waste to Isabel considering the distance. The establishment paid P56,000 for the service.

Without any information where the disludgers dispose the wastes, CHO could only surmise that these are dumped into the city’s rivers and open areas. This assumption could be true based on the deteriorating quality of Ormoc Bay and the city’s surface waters.

The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) monitors Ormoc Bay’s water quality on a monthly basis. The samplings from EMB’s tests last June revealed a fecal coliform concentration of 23,000 most probable number per 100 milliliters from the beach water of Brgy. Bantigue and 13,000MPN/100mL from the water of Li-loan beach in Brgy. Danhug. The readings are way above the 200MPN/100mL standard set by the Environment Department.

Last April, 181 residents of Milagro, Dayhagan and Juaton fell ill of amoebiasis and diarrhea. Sanitary inspectors of Ormoc Waterworks and Sewerage Administration conducted bacteriological tests on four water sources in the aforementioned barangays. All sources tested positive of coliform and one with E-coli.

CHO fears the indiscriminate disposal of sludge may have contaminated Ormoc’s groundwater and cited the urgency of putting up a septage treatment plant. City Architect Maribeth Ebcas said they have identified a site for the proposed facility at the ecological waste center in Brgy. Green Valley where the sanitary landfill is located.

Mayor Codilla ordered the creation of a technical working group consisting of members from the CHO, Environment and Natural Resources Division, City Planning and Development Office, and City Engineering Office to implement the project.

Robbery group's capture boosts Mayor Ondo's anti-crime drive

MAYOR Edward C. Codilla congratulated the local police for the capture of a robbery group that was responsible for a string of heists in the city. The perpetrators were arrested after a botched robbery of a pawnshop on Tuesday and were promptly presented to the mayor the next day.

Two of the five caught suspects are natives of Ormoc identified as Serato, 44 of Zone 3, Dist. 28; and Mark Alvin Rosal, 30 of Alta Vista. The rest are from Mindanao namely Wesler Sepulveda, 37 of Ginabut, Tangub City; Trifon Camasura, 31 of San Pablo, Pagadian City; and Jun Carlo Mandegro, 28 of Molave, Zamboanga del Sur. All of them are family men except for Sepulveda.

The suspects attempted to strike at Anjes Pawnshop located on Aviles St. in the afternoon of Aug. 18 but was foiled when proprietor King Aviles engaged them to a shootout. The robbers ran away but left behind a motorcycle owned by Rosal. The police tracked his address through the motorcycle and nabbed him and his companions one by one. Another member, Joseph Magdadaro, eluded arrest and is believed to have fled to Cebu.

City Police Director SSupt. Ferdinand M. Garay said they are the same group involved in a holdup incident in Brgy. Valencia last month. They are also responsible for the midday robbery of an establishment (tailoring shop and travel booking agency) on Bonifacio St. on Aug. 3 wherein they were able to cart off with P200,000 cash.

Codilla directed Garay to subject the captives to a drug test as he suspects they may have been motivated by substance use in committing crimes especially Serato who works as heavy equipment operator for Energy Development Corp. where he earns P29,000 a month.

The mayor also lauded Garay and SInsp. Rio Tan, chief of Police Station 1 for their latest feat. “Hinaut nga ang atong mga kapulisan ila gyud i-maintain ang atong kalinaw sa Ormoc kay mao nay importante para ang mga investors mudaghan diri ug dilli sila magpanagana’g bubo sa ilang puhunan diri kay way kuyaw sa krimen,” he said.

PCG chief lauds Ormoc’s crisis response capabilities

Smoke billows from the M/V Wonderful Stars vessel where firefighters train their hoses. (Photo by Dante Raden)

THE head of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) here cited the Ormoc’s capability in handling emergency situations following another sea mishap that happened over the weekend. Capt. Jose William Isaga, acting commander of the PCG Eastern Visayas district is referring to the burning of a passenger boat.

M/V Wonderful Stars caught fire early morning of Aug. 15 shortly after arriving from Cebu. Based on the ship captain’s incident report, the vessel arrived 3:30 am and was fully docked at Ormoc port 15 minutes later. After the passengers have disembarked at 4:05, the hatch man reported to the captain about a fire at the cargo deck.

The chief officer confirmed the report at 4:06 am and the captain immediately activated the vessel’s emergency response team. By 4:20, the captain ordered the crew to abandon ship. No casualties were reported but three crew members suffered minor injuries and suffocation while trying to put out the fire.

But according to some passengers, the boat’s airconditioning system died and the lights began to flicker when they reached Ormoc Bay, particularly off the coast of Merida town adjacent to this city. The vessel then picked up speed towards its destination.

The flames raged on throughout the day until a fire out was declared at 11:10 pm or after 19 hours. Isaga attributed the fierce flames to the vehicles that burned at the cargo deck. The boat carried 23 rolling cargoes but only six cars were safely unloaded. As of press time, 11 charred vehicles were retrieved while the rest remained on the boat.

Owned by Roble Shipping, Inc., the 1,200 gross ton M/V Wonderful Stars had a passenger capacity of 855 but it carried only 544 based on the manifest. Cause of the fire is still being determined.

Isaga lauds the quick response of the Bureau of Fire Protection, and Ormoc Search and Rescue Team. “Kusog, paspas gyud ang kooperasyon ug prompt response sa atong LGU (local government unit) ug mga government agencies diri,” he said.

“Kay kung imong tan-awon, 4:20 am  nadawat (sa BFP) ang alarma; 4:25 o five minutes lang ang coast guard ug bombero naa na dayon,” he went on. “Samtang nag-combating fire, nag-abot-abot ang Red Cross ug Ormoc Rescue. Ang pulis nag-cordon dayon. Ang army niabot dayon. Wala pay 30 minutos kumpleto na.

PCG rescuers circled the vessel with the use of a rubber boat to look out for trapped passengers. They rescued a crew member who jumped off the boat. The oil spill contingency team is on standby considering the boat still has 12,000 liters of fuel.

“Unya gi-activate dayon ni mayor ang Incident Command Center. Mayor (Edward) Codilla took over as the responsible person or chairman. Unya naa mi dayon designated spokesman – the only one who can talk to the media. So plantsado kaayo,” Isaga continued.