LGUs, DPWH ORDERED TO ENFORCE SAFETY MEASURES IN ALBAY ROADS

By Manly Ugalde – April 1, 2018
LEGAZPI—Malacañang has finally stepped in to ensure public safety in roads, warning local government executives with mandatory compliance 24/7.

In Memorandum Circular 208-30 dated March 7, 2018, Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año said President Duterte has emphasized during a recent Cabinet meeting about the recurring complaints of Filipinos regarding stalled and ongoing road projects and the dangers they pose to the public.

The massive road- and bridge- widening program recorded close to 8,000 road accidents in Albay alone from 2015 to 2016, the Philippine National Police said.

Año’s memorandum mandated local chief executives and local offices of the Department of the Interior and Local Government to see to it that contractors properly notify the public in advance through posters and tarpaulins, including lightings at night time prior to the implementation of the project until completion, or face sanctions. The circular also warned delay in the completion of projects.

Local officials, however, describe Año’s memorandum as a mere reiteration of past secretaries of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which unfortunately landed only on desks without actions from local officials concerned.

Citing the vanishing official billboards on projects that had long been embodied in the bidding process, most infrastructure projects in Bicol are simply started and completed without the billboard.

The official billboard, which has become an effective tool concerning the transparency program, forms part of the Commission on Audit circular, titled “Information and Publicity on Programs/Projects/Activities of Government Agencies.” It shall contain information, such as the source of funds, name of project, project cost, name of contractor, date started and completion date.

Then-Bicol Regional Party Committee Chairman and New People’s Army (NPA) commander Sotero Llamas strongly slammed the DPWH about the vanishing billboard on projects being done in collaboration with politicians.

Contractors have reportedly been complaining the billboards have become a leeway for the NPA rebels to impose revolutionary taxes on projects.

But, a month before his ambush and murder in Tabaco City in 2012, Llamas denied in an interview with journalists at the Legazpi airport site the allegations of the contractors, saying corrupt engineers, contractors and politicians simply hated the posting of billboards on project to avoid scrutiny from the public.

On March 8, 2017, then-newly installed Bicol DPWH regional director Danilo Versola was briefed and interviewed by journalists about the vanishing billboards on projects and the rampant obstructions in roads as a result of the massive roads and bridge widening. Versola promised to act on the complaint.

With a whooping P74-billion budget for Bicol, however, the issues about the vanishing billboards continued to haunt the DPWH, with Versola nearing retirement come August 2018.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/lgus-dpwh-ordered-to-enforce-safety-measures-in-albay-roads/

DENR stops four DPWH road projects within Mayon danger zone

By Manly Ugalde – March 26, 2018
LEGAZPI CITY—The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) failed to win back its four controversial road projects around Mayon Volcano ordered stopped by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in
October last year.

A cease-and-desist order was issued by the DENR Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) on the four road projects costing P120 million. They were reported to be inside the 6-kilometer Mayon permanent danger zone in the towns of Bacacay, Malilipot, and Tabaco City of Albay’s First District.

A DENR report said the projects, which had intruded into the Mayon Protected Area, did not have the environmental clearance certificate (ECC) and the permit to cut trees needed to continue the project. About 8,000 board feet of cut trees were also found in the project site.

Engr. Venus Anthony Vinas of the EMB regional office said, however, that of the four projects under implementation by the Albay First District Engineering Office, only the road-opening contracts in the village of Barangay Bonga, Bacacay town, was able to comply with the ECC.

Accomplishment of the four road projects was placed at 30 percent when the cease-and-desist order was issued by the DENR, said District Engr. Simon Arias of the Albay First District Engineering during an interview in November last year.

Albay provincial board member Howard Imperial said he received a report the DPWH failed to comply with the ECC requirements except for one project. Imperial added that Malacañang had also stripped the Albay First District Engineering of its budget under the 2018 General Appropriations Act. He said the DENR action and President Duterte’s order concurring Mayon’s permanent danger zone as a no man’s land during his Legazpi visit last February.

“The Mayon road projects reportedly formed part of the P7-billion Mayon circumferential road project, which Party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe of Ako Bicol described in radio interviews as ecotourism and infra-development.

The Mayon project, however, did not sit well with Albayanos when it was exposed by the Save Mayon Movement as anti-environment and could destroy the natural beauty of Mayon Volcano. DENR officials, as well as the Mayon-based Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvocs) admitted they were not aware of the Mayon projects until they were exposed by the Save Mayon group.

Arias and his construction section chief, Cesar Sanorjo, said they were not aware of the proposed P7-billion Mayon circumferential road project and that they were constructing are farm-to-market roads.

But former Albay Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Marcial Tuanqui criticized the DPWH engineers for feigning innocence about the Mayon circumferential road project. Tuanqui said Arias should have first studied whether or not the project is valid and meritorious for Albayanos and not simply bow to the dictate of political pressures. If not for the vigilance and exposé of the Save Mayon Movement in the social media, the DPWH would have wasted millions of pesos of of taxpayers’ money.

Gov. Al Francis Bichara said that, as chairman of the Regional Development Council, the Mayon project was never passed on to the RDC.

Arias could not be contacted for comment as he was reportedly working for his reassignment with a Camarines Sur district engineer.

In December last year the provincial board of Albay committee on Urban Housing and Land Use, chaired by board member Howard Imperial, had unanimously approved a resolution assailing the Mayon project in support of the DENR action. The Urban Housing resolution also banned any infrastructure projects around Mayon to prevent any human activities in support of Phivolcs’s bid declaring Mayon a “no man’s land.”

https://businessmirror.com.ph/denr-stops-four-dpwh-road-projects-within-mayon-danger-zone/

ALBAY DPWH 2018 BUDGET STRIPPED OF P2B

By Manly Ugalde – February 18, 2018
LEGAZPI CITY—The Albay First District Engineering Office used to enjoy operating with an enormous budget for infrastructure development which, a lawmaker claimed, catapulted the district to be the top district in the region during the early-1990s.

Today, the Albay First District Engineering—once dubbed by the Bureau of Maintenance as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) model district—would be operating at the mercy of its 2017 budget after Malacañang announced last December that Albay First District is among the 20 congressional districts stripped of allocations for infrastructure program in the 2018 General Appropriation Act.

Minus P2 billion in its 2018 budget, the Albay First District Engineering began the first working day of the year without its close to 200 casual employees that usually packed the district office at the Legazpi Airport Site here.

Rep. Edcel Lagman of the First District of Albay, was then-President Cory Aquino’s deputy budget secretary who resigned to become Albay congressman in 1987. With enormous infrastructure funds pouring into his district, Lagman, who was negotiating a bid for his third term, proclaimed he had made his district No. 1.

For many old DPWH officials in Bicol, Lagman was a leading Bicolano lawmaker in producing pork- barrel funds. His continuing close rapport with Presidents Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph E. Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno S. Aquino III made his district engineering virtually one of the busiest.

Early October last year, however, the Albay First District Engineering, accused of having delayed projects, was put in the limelight again after it was exposed in social media about having a “secret and mysterious road project” inside the Mayon Volcano danger zone. The controversial project was comprised of an initial four roads, which the Department of Environment and Natural Resources immediately ordered stopped without an Environmental Clearance Certificate and cutting permit. The project was also discovered to have intruded into the Mayon Protected Area.

The Save Mayon Movement alleged the Mayon road project—defended later by proponents as ecotourism and infra-development—formed part of the proposed P7-billion Mayon circumferential road that started in the villages of the towns of Bacacay, Malilipot and Tabaco City, all in Albay’s First District.

Following the DENR stoppage order, district engineer Simon Arias and his construction chief, Cesar Sanorjo, claimed they were only constructing farm-to-market roads and virtually denied any knowledge about the proposed P7-billion Mayon circumferential road project. They admitted the project was started as early as June 2017.

A separate probe from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Committee on Urban Housing and Land Use resulted to the issuance of a unanimously approved resolution in December 2017 banning any infrastructure projects around Mayon in support of the DENR action and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology bid to strictly enforce the law on Mayon as “a no man’s land” covering the declared 6-kilometer Permanent Danger Zone from the summit.

Board member Howard Sim Imperial, chairman of the committee on Housing and Land Use, said he had received information that the DPWH had lined up projects for the Mayon road construction.

Save Mayon founding member Cesar Banares assailed the DPWH for “bowing to pressures to implement non-priority projects.”

https://businessmirror.com.ph/albay-dpwh-2018-budget-stripped-of-p2b/

Bicol DPWH promotion scandal remains unrectified

By Manly Ugalde – February 8, 2018
LEGAZPI CITY—The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is taking much delay in rectifying the uncovered fiasco in promotions and appointments due to some resistance in Bicol.

This came about despite Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar’s marching order last September to institute correction on the scandalous promotion for the chief of the construction division in Bicol, currently occupied by an official not qualified for the position according to the credits, points, numerical figures under the Experience and Outstanding Accomplishments report reviewed and validated by the Central Selection Board (CSB).

The promotion and appointment of the chief of the construction division is just among the many alleged scams in Bicol during the previous administrations, according to documents obtained.

Bicol DPWH Regional Director Danilo Versola cannot be contacted for comment following report of his alleged support for his embattled construction division chief, which is causing the delay for the installation of a qualified replacement.

Versola is reportedly against replacing his construction division chief, Cornelio Relativo, whose records and performance ratings that appeared in the report of the CSB did not qualify him for promotion to Engineer V.

The CSB reviewed and validated the final report, which had to Assistant District Engineer Eleanor Areola on top of the list for promotion and appointment to the position Engineer V, chief of Bicol construction division.

The CSB said Areola was followed by the incumbent Assistant Construction Division chief Marilou Sariba, while Relativo came fourth among the four applicants for the position.

The CSB report had been discussed with Villar on September 11 last year, and Versola, who was present, did not pose any objection, according to the memorandum of lawyer Michael Villafranca, chief of the Human Resource Management Service.

But in his memorandum in September last year, Versola reportedly requested the CSB to postpone filling up the vacant position of Engineer V (Chief, Bicol Construction Division). This was followed by another Versola memorandum on October 23, 2017, requesting to remand the CSB evaluation report to the Regional Selection Committee (RSC).

DPWH Regional Legal Officer Oliver Rodulfo said the correction in the assailed promotion and appointment for the chief of the construction division may take some time since the vacancy would need to be republished and resolved again at the RSC level.

The documents said the position of the chief of the Bicol construction division, which requires the rank of Engineer V, had been given to Engr. Cornelio Relativo on February 9, 2017, as officer in charge by then- Regional Director Reynaldo Tagudando on the basis of a disputed RSC validation report.

The RSC has been hounded by scandals in promotions and appointments for decades. One district engineer who asked not to be named for lack of authority to talk said he coughed up much money to get the top rating from the RSC after he was sold a million-peso worth of life insurance.

A complaint filed before the Ombudsman against Tagudando dated October 14, 2016, disclosed that the regional director had earlier promoted Relativo to Engineer IV to become the assistant chief of the Quality Control Division, dislodging two other rivals, including the one who topped the DPWH-Civil Service Promotional Test. On February 9, 2017, Tagudando promoted Relativo to the position of chief of the construction division. The complaint was among those initiated by DPWH Bicol Legal Officer Oliver Rodulfo.

On March 8, 2017, Villar relieved Tagudando and appointed Versola who is from Davao. By August this year, Versola would be retiring from the service.

According to documents, Rodulfo also questioned Tagudando and the RSC on the promotion of one, Engr. Alejandro Arnedo whom Tagudando allegedly promoted to Engineer III against 56 other qualified engineers waiting for promotion. Rodulfo questioned why the records at the Human Resource Management office under Isabelo Alvarez showed only Arnedo’s name as the “lone” applicant for the promotion to the vacant Engineer III item.

The documents showed that on October 17, 2016, Rodulfo wrote to Villar expressing his desire to be a witness in these questionable promotions and appointments, and the rigging of bidding in the regional office.

The delay in the implementation of Villar’s correction order for the top position of the DPWH-Bicol construction division also sparked rumors of alleged strong connections of Relativo with the secretary, and Areola allegedly with the secretary’s wife. Both, Relativo and Areola refused to be interviewed.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/bicol-dpwh-promotion-scandal-remains-unrectified/

DPWH begins 2018 with no casual employees in Albay

By Manly Ugalde – February 6, 2018
LEGAZPI CITY—For taking a consistent stand as a leading opposition stalwart and member of the minority bloc in Congress, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Albay’s First District Engineering began 2018 with zero casual employees.

District Engr. Simon Arias could not be contacted for comment, but a visit to his district office here confirmed the absence of hired casual employees that packed the Albay First District engineering office here.

DPWH regional legal officer Oliver Rodulfo said the layoff of all job-order and emergency hired workers at the Albay First District engineering came after opposition leader Edcel Lagman’s district was stripped of close to P2-billion budget under the 2018 General Appropriation Act. Lagman was among the 20 lawmakers reportedly stripped of infrastructure allocations.

A source close to Lagman, said the Bicolano opposition congressman was unfazed of Malacañang’s move stripping his district of the budget. Lagman said the infrastructure allocations were to develop the district’s infrastructure. The source said Lagman would remain a strong human-rights advocate under the Duterte administration.

Rodulfo said the number of casual employees who lost their job as of January was close to 200. Many of them have more than 20 years of service in the DPWH. He said that as far as his office knew, only the Albay First District engineering out of the Bicol 15 district engineering offices got zero allocation for 2018.

Lagman started with his political career during the Cory administration. He was former President Cory C. Aquino’s deputy budget secretary and became a congressman following the 1987 election. His good graces with Cory began his dream to make his district “number one.” True to his dream, Lagman proclaimed his district number one after finishing his first term in Congress boasting his district road network was fully concreted; built bridges, ports, flood control, farm-to-market roads and school buildings erected in almost all barangays.

A retired high-ranking DPWH regional official confirmed Lagman had reigned among the lawmakers in the region in pork-barrel production that stretches during the administrations of Presidents Cory, Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III. His record in Congress included as chairman of the powerful Committee on Appropriation, and Committee on Justice. As chairman of the justice committee, he filed an impeachment case against then-President Arroyo that did not materialize after it was declared by the Lagman committee all right in form, but not in substance.

The source who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was during the time of Lagman as chairman of the Congress Committee on Justice during the Arroyo administration when pork-barrel funds allegedly through Lagman’s efforts spread regionwide.

Lagman’s political career is complimented by his daughter Krisel Lagman-Luistro and namesake son Edcel Lagman Jr. who succeeded him in Congress every time his three terms ended. He once ran for the Senate, but lost.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/dpwh-begins-2018-with-no-casual-employees-in-albay/

Phivolcs wants no houses in 6-km danger zone around Mayon

By Manly Ugalde – January 21, 2018
LEGAZPI CITY—With hunger, discomfort, food shortages and illness plaguing evacuation centers, the top official of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said he hopes no houses will be built along the 6-kilometer Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) bordering Mayon Volcano, even if farming activities continue. The area has long been declared a “no man’s land.”

Phivolcs Director Renato U. Solidum Jr. said he hopes when Mayon again erupts, there would no longer be any houses inside the 6-km PDZ. He did not mention which agency should clear Mayon of any houses.

Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara said that with the province under a state of calamity, the funds are never sufficient to cope with the needs of the evacuees. He added he would ask the national government for support.

Latest figures showed there are now 40,565 individuals, or 10,405 families from 39 barangays in seven municipalities staying in evacuation centers, Bichara said. The evacuees were mostly from the towns of Camalig, Guinobatan, Maliipot, as well as in the cities of Tabaco and Ligao.

Cedric Daep, head of the Province Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said 13,100 evacuees were already sent home. Those evacuees live outside the expanded 7-km PDZ.

Then-President Fidel V. Ramos ordered that no residents could construct houses in Mayon’s PDZ after the 1993 eruption and relocated them with government housing assistance in the identified resettlement sites, such as Barangay Banquerohan, Legazpi City, and in Barangay Anislag in Daraga town. The 1993 eruption resulted in the creation of the multibillion-peso resettlement areas for Mayon residents affected by the PDZ.

A retired public works official said among those included in the Mayon resettlement program was the construction of permanent evacuation centers not only for Mayon residents, but for all evacuees affected by floods or typhoons. So far, no single permanent evacuation center was ever built, while the already-started resettlement housing project for Mayon residents remained in the planning stage. The retired public works official asked why Mayon PDZ remains inhabited 25 years after. He said the government needs to publish the lists of the Mayon housing proponents.

Following the February 1993 eruption, Mayon also erupted in Septembrr 2006, in August 2008 and in July 2009. In January 2010 Mayon erupted again and was followed in 2014 with the usual flow of evacuees from the 6-km PDZ.

During the 2014 Mayon eruption, then-Gov. Joey S. Salceda and the Phivolcs were castigated for sustaining and holding evacuees under Alert Level 3.

Salceda had always aimed for zero casualty, declaring Mayon as the most unpredictable volcano in the world.

The Mayon eruption in 1993 killed more than 80 farmers and students who skipped classes to help in their families’ harvest activities.

With more than 80 casualties at Barangay Mabinit in Legazpi during that February 1993 eruption, then- Gov. Romeo Salalima threatened to file class-action lawsuit against then-Phivolcs Director Reynaldo Punongbayan and Mayon resident volcanologist Ed Laguerta. Salalima claimed the casualties were not forewarned of the impending eruption.

The governor’s proposed class-suit against the Phivolcs, however, did not push through after President Ramos sided with Phivolcs officials by tossing the blame on the LGUs themselves. Ramos said the LGUs should not have allowed inhabitants inside the PDZ. It was the responsibility of the LGUs to enforce the law, Ramos was quoted by the media as saying.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/phivolcs-wants-no-houses-in-6-km-danger-zone-around-mayon/

DPWH secretary corrects anomalous promotions in Bicol

By Manly Ugalde – January 10, 2018
LEGAZPI CITY—Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar has begun correcting the scandals surrounding the promotions that hounded the Bicol regional office under previous administrations.

According to documents obtained late last week, the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) found highly questionable the appointment of the chief of the region’s construction division. The documents showed that the delay in its review and evaluation by the Central Selection Board was allegedly a cause of strong connection of the incumbent occupant as officer in charge (OIC).

The documents showed Cornelio Relativo was appointed OIC division chief of the construction division on February 9, 2017, by then-Regional Director Reynaldo Tagudando.

Villar assumed his active duty in September 2016, replacing Secretary Rogelio Singson.

The promotion issue in Bicol was among the scandals that hounded the DPWH regional office, dubbed as a haven of “filthy-rich officials and employees and the so-called
insider-contractors.”

A source said Villar’s corrective action at the Bicol regional office was an offshoot of the personal infighting between then regional director Reynaldo Tagudando and DPWH Bicol Legal Officer Oliver Rodulfo.

The documents showed that on October 17, 2016, Rodulfo wrote to Villar expressing his desire to serve as witness against the rampant corruption at the regional office, such as the rigging of public bidding and promotions scam.

A few months after assuming his post, in February 2017, Villar sacked Tagudando, then-Assistant Regional Director Armando Estrella and Rodulfo. Rodulfo’s relief order was, however, put on hold.

The documents said Relativo’s appointment to Engineer V catapulted him to the much-sought position as chief of the construction division. However, according to the evaluation by the Central Selection Board (CSB), the credits and points for Engineer V should have been given to Eleanor Areola, the assistant district engineer of the Albay Second District
Engineering.

The CSB evaluation report considered Areola on top of the lists for the Engineer V vacancy with assistant construction division chief Marilou Sariba as the next in rank, citing numerical figures and points under the Experience and Outstanding Accomplishments report.

The documents, however, showed that, despite the CSB resolution submitted to Villar as early as September, Bicol Regional Director Danilo Versola still sent Villar a memorandum dated September 11, 2017, requesting for the deferment in filling up the vacant position of Engineer V (Chief, Bicol Construction Division) and to remand the evaluation to the Regional Placement Committee. This was followed by a second memorandum from Versola dated October 23, requesting to withdraw the Evaluation Documents for Engineer V (Chief, Bicol Construction Division). Versola was appointed regional director on March 8, 2017, and is scheduled to reach his mandatory retirement age in August 2018.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/dpwh-secretary-corrects-anomalous-promotions-in-bicol/

Mayon’s lava threat worsens in Albay

By Manly Ugalde – February 5, 2018

In this Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, file photo, lava cascades down the slopes of Mayon volcano as seen from Legazpi city, Albay province, around 340 kilometers (210 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines. More than 9,000 people have evacuated the area around the Philippines’ most active volcano as lava flowed down its crater Monday in a gentle eruption that scientists warned could turn explosive. (AP Photo/Earl Recamunda, File)
LEGAZPI CITY—The threat of hot lava flowing down the slopes of the restive Mayon Volcano continues unabated even as the volcano showed a lull in activity during the past week.

Lahar flow was earlier reported with a concentration of up to 3 kilometers (km) since the past week until it breached to a higher distance by an estimated 300 meters more.

Reduced Mayon activity gave clearance to the thousands evacuees to return home. There were more than 80,000 evacuees languishing in 72 evacuation centers in Albay.

Cedric Daep, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council head, clarified that only those within the 9-km extended danger zone were given the clearance to go home.

He added that while many evacuees are sneaking to return home, Mayon guards are posted 24 hours to ensure none of the evacuees are returning to the 8-km extended danger zone.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvocs) said Mayon has been ejecting an average of 1,583 metric tons of sulphur dioxide daily since its January 13 eruption, and about 2 millions cubic meters of lava. Last week the 3-km lava flow concentration was raised to 4 km, then to 4.3 km last Friday on the Buyuan-Bonga gulley of Legazpi, while the lava flow via the Miisi gulley in Daraga town had reached the 3-km parameter.

With substantial lava deposits, uninterrupted rainfalls worsen the situation with the lava flow going beyond 4.3 km to include other channels and gullies, the Phivolcs official said. Last Saturday and Sunday rainfalls hit Albay again.

Records at the Phivolcs Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction showed that during the December 29, 2009, Mayon eruption, lava flow reached beyond the 6-km permanent danger zone, a declared no man’s land.

Despite the lull in eruptions, the possibility of frequent hazardous eruptions remains and the possibility of raising to Alert Level 5 continues.

“We maintain our stand that the extended 8-km danger zone should be free from humans,” the Mayon resident volcanologist said.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/mayons-lava-threat-worsens-in-albay/

Albay LGUs ‘wasted’ opportunity for Japan grant to build permanent evacuation centers 20 years ago

By Manly Ugalde – January 28, 2018
LEGAZPI CITY—Permanent evacuation centers should have been built 20 years ago to house evacuees in Albay whenever Mayon Volcano erupted, but local government units (LGUs) in the province did not use grant money given by the Japanese government for the purpose.

The plan then was to build permanent and lifetime evacuation centers in the key cities and towns of Albay for evacuees fleeing the devastating fury of an erupting Mayon Volcano.

Today, more than 80,000 evacuees have fled the fury of Mayon barely four years after its eruptions rocked the province of 16 municipalities and three cities for months in 2014.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvocs) said the volcano erupted 50 times since its eruption was first recorded on July 20, 1766.

Its recent recorded eruptions included those in 1984, 1993, 1999, 2009, 2010 and on May 7, 2013. Barely a year later on August 12, 2014, Mayon erupted again. This was followed on January 1, 2018, its most recent.

The 1993 Mayon eruption occurred at high noon under an excellent weather condition. The Phivolcs said 75 farmers at Barangay Mabinit in Legazpi were killed while they were in the midst of the harvest season. The 1993 eruption occurred suddenly, with no indication of Mayon abnormality. The Phivolcs was not able to issue any warning to Albay residents, Mayon resident volcanologist Ed Laguerta said.

Party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe of Ako Bicol said it is necessary to build permanent evacuation centers in Albay’s key cities and towns as schools have served as evacuation centers during all kinds of disasters. During the 2014 Mayon eruption, schools served as evacuation centers for close to three months, with students and teachers doubly suffering from interrupted schools activities.

Evacuees have come from the 6-kilometer (km) permanent danger Zone (PDZ) around Mayon, often extended to 9 km when the alert level is raised to 4. The 6-km PDZ has long been declared a “no man’s land,” which LGUs are mandated to enforce. This means no houses must be constructed within the 6-km area.

Batocabe said schools should not be used for prolonged periods of time as evacuation centers. Students should not be dislodged from their studies in favor of evacuees who could be provided tents and other temporary shelters during Mayon eruptions.

Batocabe said the issue of permanent evacuation centers in Albay was raised in Congress 10 years ago, but the basic requirements of at least 3,000 square meters of land for the evacuation failed to materialize.

An official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office said the issue of permanent evacuation centers could have been solved more than 25 years ago. Former Assistant Regional Director Oscar Cristobal said the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) proposed then to build permanent evacuation centers in Albay in the form of a grant.

Cristobal added Jica’s proposed evacuation centers came along with the P2-billion grant that built dozens of Sabo Dams around Mayon during the early-1980s. The Mayon Sabo structures were designed to block and confine sand and boulders rolling down the lowlands that destroyed agricultural lands, infrastructures and properties. Sabo is a coined Japanese word, which means sand for “sa” and protection for “bo.”

Cristobal said the Japanese government was simply asking for a lot as counterpart from the LGU proponents where to house the evacuation centers.

“The LGUs failed to provide the required lot. Consequently, Jica withdrew its proposal, Cristobal said, adding he had the opportunity to discuss the matter with then-Gov. Fernando Gonzalez (2004–2007) who was surprised to learn of the proposed withdrawal.

He said the cities of Legazpi, Tabaco, Ligao and the towns of Camalig, Guinobatan, Daraga, Santo Domingo, Malilipot and Malinao were initially considered as the key locations for the evacuation centers.

Cristobal said the Jica proposal came following the February 1993 Mayon eruption that killed 75 farmers.

After the 1993 eruption, then-President Fidel V. Ramos ordered the relocation of Mayon residents inside the 6-km PDZ in several designated resettlement sites. With funding made available, thousands of housing projects were initially built at the Banquerohan resettlement site in Legazpi and the resettlement site at Barangay Anislag in Daraga town.

Ramos’s Mayon relocation program was also pushed through with funding under former President Joseph E. Estrada’s administration.

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said more than 20,000 families, or close to 83,000 persons, have been housed in 49 crowded evacuation centers since the Mayon Alert Level 4 was declared on January 22.

Last October a public outcry ensued after a “secret” DPWH project was uncovered. The plan was to build a multibillion-peso circumferential road initially started in the First District of the province.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/albay-lgus-wasted-opportunity-for-japan-grant-to-build-permanent-evacuation-centers-20-years-ago/

‘Endo’ mall workers seek cash-bond refund in spirit of Christmas

By Manly Ugalde – December 14, 2017
LEGAZPI CITY—Endo workers of one of the biggest malls in Legazpi City are pleading for the refund of their much- awaited cash bond their employers have been ignoring for so long at least in the spirit of the Christmas season.

Endo is a popular abbreviation of the term “end of contract,” which means temporarily hired workers need to leave their employer when their contracts end.

“We’re appealing that the cash bond regularly deducted in our payroll be refunded to us before December 24,” some contractual workers detailed at the Gaisano Metro Mall here said.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) officials in Bicol said cash bonds have long been banned. At least four employees and a former employee who was a sales clerk assigned at the Gaisano Metro Legazpi wrote to the DOLE regional director here to air their concern about the cash bond.

The employees said their employer, Avail A Work Manpower Services, has been collecting a cash bond of P500 every payroll period or P1,000 monthly. But, even if their employment contract has already expired after six months of work, they remain at the mercy of their employer desperately waiting for months or a year for the refund. The employees claimed many of their fellow workers had already left their job without receiving their cash bond.

The letter sender also furnished copy of their letter to President Duterte and Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III.

In a letter dated December 11, the workers expressed fear they may eventually lose their job if their identities are revealed. They asked that the letter be treated confidentially.

Two employees interviewed claimed they had been out of employment since December 2016, and were already issued clearances, but their cash bond remains unrefunded.

https://businessmirror.com.ph/endo-mall-workers-seek-cash-bond-refund-in-spirit-of-christmas/