Boholanos seek more help to

rebuild storm-damaged houses

Twenty years of hard work, patience and slaving themselves to provide for their growing family and building a house was what preoccupied Christopher and Nimfa Arcala of Calape Bohol, all of the half of their lives.

Prior to a debilitating bout of arthritis, Christopher, now 56, earned a meager income as a construction worker, working odd jobs being a helper to becoming a rough carpenter when times demand for it. Now, with an illness that keeps him from working, he has become another dependent, even as his kids are now slowly becoming independent.

His wife Naomi, doubles up as a housewife and a neighbourhood errand, doing odd jobs from cleaning yards, to laundry.

What is left of their daily wages, they pool to buy sack after sack of cement, or tin cans of river sand, a few hollow blocks every now and then and some lumber. To build a house for their kids was what Christopher dreamt of..

It was hard, slaving yourself in hard work, often leaving the kids at home to older siblings, if only we can provide for the food and whatever the growing kids need, Naomi candidly shared.

For her husband Christopher, if only there were better options for getting their needs supplied, he would have gone to that, but then he has to do whatever he can. Which is not much.

The family bore kids, nurtured them through childhood, even as they also witnessed how their house grew from a flimsy quilt of light materials, to one with hollow block walls and poured concrete floor.

Like a classic Boholano house, the Arcala house, a few square meters fitting a small lot in Barangay Santa Cruz, grew with yearly mini renovations.

This year, it may be a wall finishing, or a few tin sheets, a hollow block division to separate a room from another, or a kitchen expansion. Small changes funded by the little savings the family spares.

These throughout the years, or when elder siblings have to leave home to start their own families.

And then they were slowly able to put up the beginnings of the second floor, block after block, nail after painstaking nail years, and the house slowly took shape.

Until December 2021, when the family became united again for Christmas, that fate would hand the family another rotten card.

My elder sister just had given birth, and everyone was excited.

Another sister came home from Manila to celebrate Christmas with us. It was supposed to be a fun week. Until Odette came to ruin all that, said Lee Christopher, 17 years and the family’s youngest.

Since then, the Arcalas have stretched a blue insulated sack as aroof to what was their home.

That day, the local officials told us to go seek safe shelter, and we went to a neigbor’s house to wait it out for the storm to pass. It was a sturdy house and we were with other families there, Nimfas said.

The said house was a few meters from their house, and at 10 PM, she saw that their house has lost its roof.

By midnight, the whole second floor was blown off, the hollow block walls only hinting the presence of a house there.

The Arcalas were among the nearly 900 families that would totally lose their houses that night.

As to the Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council, some 7,559 houses in Calape alone were also partially damaged that night.

What my parents saved for 20 years, was gone in three hours, Lee Christopher said.

Now, the kitchen is what has become the family’s living, dining and bedroom in one, the family stepping off a dripping tarpaulin when the rains would come.

Losing their house and the savings their parents invested in the last two decades, Lee Christopher, now a junior high school student in town, has wished he could help.

As with other families, the Arcalas received some form of financial assistance from the government, but with some few thousand pesos, the help is barely enough to but for their food needs now that the typhoon has also affected their parent’s livelihood.

I wish I could help, but then, how can I, a student still struggling to get through online class?, he asked,

In Bohol, over 200,000 houses have suffered the same fate as the Arcalas house.

According to the National Housing Authority, they have released some P55 million in assistance to those families which have lost their homes during the storm.

The sum was based on the reports submitted by LGU sources, who were supposed to validate the number of houses which were either totally or partially damaged by the typhoon.

Even then, that the government can afford to give to victims would just be barely enough for a small hut which can keep families safe.

For Lee Christopher and the thousands of Boholanos who have totally lost their hoes, December 16, they may have already sought ways to rebuild their lives, but then, for families like the Arcalas who have also lost their capacities to earn, they could only hope that the government can put up a better system of assistance to the victims of disasters, knowing that the Philippines lies in the belt where these calamities pass. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

NOT MUCH ESCAPED. Houses in Santa Cruz Calape Bohol barely survived the onslaught of typhoon Odette. With just a few thousand pesos for relief assistance, some homeowners who may not anymore have the chance to work, may not be able to rebuild their total;ly damaged houses.

For Lee Christopher Arcala whose parents took 20 years of savings and hardwork to build their house, building a new one is impossible now that his parents are all aged and sick.

SSS swoops down on Bohol establishments

failing to pay for members’ contributions

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, March 25 (PIA) – In a bid to extend protection to workers in the private sector especially in these times of tribulations, a team from the Social Security System swooped upon the establishments which have been found to be remiss in their contributions obligations based on the Social Security Law.

No less than Atty Alberto Montalbo, SSS Visayas Acting Vice President along with a team of from the agency’s legal department swept Tagbilaran City’s main business district to hand out Orders to explain to the SSS why they have been remiss in paying for their workers contributions, as mandated by law.

The team implemented the Run After Contribution Evaders (RACE) here visiting six establishments and handing out the orders, forcing the companies to manifest to the SSS within 15 days, why they shall not be held legally accountable for non payment of their workers’ contributions even if they have collected the same from them.

In Tagbilaran, within a span of two hours, the SSS RACE team visited an outsourcing company, a water refilling station, a beauty and wellness center, a cellphone repair shop, a food shack and a car pimping company which have been found to be remiss of their obligations to the SSS, even before the pandemic.

About the race, SSS Bohol’s Dioscoro Madanguit said the program used to be the SSS Shame campaign, and even mandates the posting of the notice of violations and padlocking establishments which have been found to have outstanding payables for their workers’ benefits.

With a newly appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, Michael G. Regino, the same campaign took on a more humane form, by visiting the erring establishmentsand citing them for their delinquencies, and then informing them of the government’s remedies which are made available to them.

RACE Team visited six employers who failed to remit the SSS contributions of their employees for purposes of encouraging them to avail of the ongoing condonation program under the Pandemic Relief and Restructuring Program (PRRP) of SSS, Atty Montalbo said.

“We would like to remind our employers to be mindful of their legal obligations under the Social Security Law such as remittance of contributions. It should be remitted as they fall due so that their employees will qualify to avail of the SSS benefits and loan privileges.

SSS Bohol Fielf Office chief Engr Alieta Basubas explained that the six have been found to be remiss of their duties, even before the pandemic and that they have been informed of their deficiencies.

Some of them promised to update their records, but then stopped paying again.

“We would also like to apprise our employers that they can request for a seminar with their account officers to keep them abreast of their legal obligations.” SSS Vice President for Visayas Central 1 Division Atty. Alberto L. Montalbo said.

SSS is currently offering condonation programs for delinquent employers.

These are the PRRP 2: Condonation of Penalties on SS contributions which will run until May 19, 2022; and PPRP 3: Enhanced Installment Payment Program which is open for applicants until November 21, 2022.

Delinquent employers are advised to coordinate with their respective Account Officers to avail of these programs.

Employers who were subjected to RACE were given a reminder to settle within 15 days from receipt thereof; otherwise, SSS will be constrained to take legal actions against the responsible officers of the company for violation of the SS Law upon lapse of the offered Pandemic Relief and Restructuring Programs.

These are for the employees benefits, and the non payment of such can disqualify the members for their benefits, SSS officials said.

“We encourage our media partners and stakeholders here in Bohol to disseminate the information on the ongoing condonation programs of SSS, Engr Basubas said.

On the other hand, delinquent employers are welcome to avail of the ongoing condonation programs offered by SSS,” Atty. Montalbo concluded. (rahc/PIA_7/Bohol)

RACE AGAINST TIME. Establishments which have been remiss in paying for their members’ contributions at SSS have only 15 days to explain to SSS their side or pay for their deficiencies or legal actions await them. (PIABohol)

RACE TEAM AT THE CITY SQUARE. SSS Team walked from Ramvil, to AltaCitta, and then to the Coity Quare where tenants there have been found to be delinquent contribution payers. (PIAbohol)

Acting SSS VIsayas Vice President Atty. Alberto Montalbo (L) personally handed out notices of violations and issued orders to establishment owners who were found to be remiss of their duties to their workers contributions as the SSS implemented Run After Contribution Evaders while offering condonation programs. (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)

Bohol signs MOU with DOST

on GeoRiskPH for DRRM use

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, March 22 (PIA)—Bohol leads provinces in the country in disaster risk reduction and mitigation when it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the use of the government’s central source of information for accurate and efficient hazards and risk assessment.

During the recent Bohol Resiliency Summit last March 15, 2022, at the Pavilion of the Bellevue Hotel in Panglao, Bohol governor Arthur Yap signed for Bohol on a MOU with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on the use the GeoRiskPH which is both a governance and information communication technology geospatial platform which can be very crucial in increasing the province’s resilience against natural disasters.

Prone to natural and manmade disasters, Bohol has faced earthquakes, landslides, tidal surges, flooding, droughts and recently the super-typhoon, which has pushed local leaders to get communities involved in the efforts to mitigate various risks, ensure effective and efficient disaster response and implement a timely and efficient recovery, build better by learning from the experience and considering these risks in the future.

In response to that, the Provincial Government with the World Bank, the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council and the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation and a local Holy Name University put up the Bohol Resiliency Summit adopting Disaster Resiliency for Sustainable Economic Growth.

Bringing together national government agencies, local government units, the academe, private sector, development planners, civil society organizations and community representatives to share experiences, learning and knowledge to gain better understanding in development planning, capital utilization and helping each other to insulate communities from future disasters.

With GeoRiskPH MOU, Bohol can now share protocols and platforms to understand and mitigate hazards, exposure and other risk information to help its people, communities, local governments, and national agencies prepare and plan how to reduce the risks from natural hazards.

With use of the GeoRiskPH’s Platform as stipulated in the MOU, Bohol LGUS may now have access to HazardHunterPH, an online user-friendly application designed to generate natural and manmade hazard assessment tool to serve individuals, communities and institutions, thus allowing people to predetermine risks when building on a site, and pre-plan for the eventuality of the disaster, by approximating the risk and over-engineering.

And more importantly, GeoRiskPH platform also affords LGUs hazard visualization and analytics With GeoAnalytics, which would generate disaster information and could be a crucial guide for disaster relief operations and development of resettlement areas.

Moreover, the GeoRiskPH access also allows LGUs to tap necessary data while on the field with a web and phone based application in the GeoMapperPH, and generate figures crucuoal inpolicy reforms. .

GeoMapperPH allows communities with access to populate the national exposure database with this exposure data mapper, situation data mapper, by collecting, reporting and updating data for improved accuracy.

While both HazardHunterPH and GeoAnalytics are easily accessible by the public, GeoMapping however allows only access to members with credentials.

This is where the LGUS in Bohol can play, with the MOU.

Provincial Planning and Development Officer Atty John Titus Vistal pointed out that Bohol’s MOA is the first among provincial governments while the PhiVolcs have already offered access to these resources for highly urbanized cities in the country. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

DOST Secretary Renato Solidum and Gov Arthur Yap show their signed documents stipulating the understanding that BOHOL LGUs can access the data and need not compromising another document as the Bohol signing technically opens the resource also to its LGUS. (PIABohol)

Bohol Disaster Summit reps

Sign risk-aware commitments

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, March 19 (PIA) – Inter-agency and multi sector representatives here signed the Statement of Commitment to a better integrated approach to disaster risk mitigation by “risk-aware” development planning, capital resource prioritization and inter-agency and muti-sectoral collaboration for a more resilient Bohol and rationalized rehabilitation and recovery.

Bohol Governor Arthur Yap, who led the signing of the Statement of Commitment, wrote “Resilience and Growth Begins with Action Now,” said the day-long summit should provide stakeholders a better understanding of hazards and risks, allow them to build back better, access other stakeholders and partners for fiscal and technical help and tap more donors for financing and leveraging towards disaster recovery.

The signing of Statement of Commitment highlights the Bohol Resiliency Summit, which was a collaborative project by the Provincial Government of Bohol, World Bank, the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC), Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) and the Holy Name University.

In the statement of commitment, Boholanos said they recognize that the most effective way to reduce the impact of disaster is investing in boosting communities’ resilience by enhancing the collective ability to prepare and plan to absorb and recover as well as adapt to adverse events.

On this, they said they would commit to adopt actions from reactive to more proactive approaches to disasters where communities can join-in, in enhancing resilience to reduce massive burdens and losses.

Boholanos also committed to use science-based public and private partnerships, hone LGU capacities with evidence-informed risk governance and launch more joint resiliency programs.

The Summit also came at a time when Bohol as well as Region 7 staggered to rise again at the wake of massive destruction brought by typhoon Odette.

Sitting on a high vulnerability perch with multiple natural hazards like earthquakes, storm surges, tsunamis, flooding, tropical cyclones, landslides and drought owing to its being an island, Bohol has been sprawled and crippled by major disasters, even counting only the last decade.

While getting hit by disasters one after another, Boholanos have also toughened their resiliency and guided by the government’s Build Back Better, still some things need to be integrated in the development planning.

The Summit, with a bank of experts in Hazards and risks like Department of Science and Technology Undersecretary Renato Solidum, geohazard mapping in Armando Malicse, Extreme Weather events and its future as delivered by the Office of the Civil Defense and mainstreaming climate science into development planning with Dr ma. Laurice Jamero, presented to Boholano stakeholders the hazards and risks as well as assessment and implementation planning.

The Summit also brought Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery Framework best practices with Dolores Molintas of the National Economic Development Authority, as well as Bohol’s Post Odette Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan, stakeholders see how communities can insulate themselves from the risks of disasters.

There was also an overview on the role of stakeholders in disaster recovery and strengthening private sector engagement by PDRF’s Rene Melly.

Atty Leslie Cordero, who used to be a presidential adviser and a bureaucrat, also talked about leveraging on Development Partner’s initiatives, while an NGO doing community level relief effort talked about opportunities for communities to seek help. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

THE NDRRMC, INTERNATIONAL DONORS CONVERGE in Bohol for the Bohol Resiliency Summit, which explained to stakeholders what are the risks they are taking by living in a place tagged for disaster. Now, with this awareness, the Summit would suggest better planning and eover engineering to mitigate the effects. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

IATF urges Bohol to vaccinate

80% senior citizens population

BELLEVUE Hotel Panglao, Bohol, March 18 (PIA) –The dream for Bohol to step into the new normal still hinges on its vaccine accomplishment, most especially in reaching out to its senior citizens.

National Task Force vice chief implementer Secretary Vivencio Dizon and the Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque emphasized this during the recent BIDA Tungo sa New Normal Roadshow March 18 at the Pavilion of the Bellevue, here.

Set as an official visit of the Coordinate Operations to Defeat the Epidemic (CODE) Team, the Roadshow also affords local officials, municipal leaders as well as industry representatives the chance to meet the National Task Force and be briefed on the steps needed for Bohol to transition into Alert Level 1 and ultimately to Alert Level Zero.

Bohol is still under COVID Alert level 2 and may linger there until the vaccination accomplishment improves and the active cases continue to plummet to very manageable levels.

According to Governor Arthur Yap, in his report to the NTF and the local industry stakeholders including business, tourism and the academe, Bohol has reached 60.75 % vaccination accomplishment as of March 15, 2022.

By this, some 871,970 Boholanos have received the full doses of the vaccines against COVID, while some 670,680 Boholanos received the first dose and could be getting their second doses anytime.

However, the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force on the management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said that some 1,106,082 of the 1,394,329 Boholanos have to get their full vaccination for Bohol to attain the target vaccinating at least 70% of the total population.

Still short of 102,278 Boholanos who must have been fully protected against the fatal coronavirus disease with the vaccines by now, the national Inter-Agency Task Force impressed upon local officials and health authorities to strive to ramp up on the vaccination.

The NIATF particularly asked local leaders and municipal stakeholders to get to the A2 priority group.

A2, of the senior citizens have been the most vulnerable to death once they get COVID, according to data gathered by the DOH from hospitals all over the country.

If we fail to get to them, they will fill our emergency rooms and bring our hospitals to critical capacity again and believe me, many will die, Sec Dizon elaborated.

Boholanos who have been hit not just by the pandemic, but also with the super-typhoon that wrought Bohol’s dream of stepping into anew normal faster.

With the numbers of active new cases already down to manageable levels, tourism and business industry leaders want the government to already lower the local Alert Level, so they can already operate on full steam.

But the DOH and the NIATF said the decision to deescalate Bohol’s alert level would come from many recommendations, and not just from the DOH and the NIATF. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

GETTING PEOPLE VACCINATED is much better and easier than taking care of people who get sick and use up all available beds in the province’s already overburdened capacities. Offer incentive, NTF Vice Chair Vivencio Dizon, at the Bellevue.