San Juanico Bridge project of President Marcos linking Samar and Leyte islands.
Ernesto Octaviano, chief of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) regional office project development investment programming and budgeting division said that: " [feasibility study] The study will be done by Chinese experts through funding grants from the Chinese government. After the approval of technical assistance, the study will run for six months and hopefully construction will start early next year."
Wow! Amazing if it will come into fruition and the Duterte administration will be fondly remembered for this.
Toyota has opened a Sales Office and Service Center in Catarman. Toyota Catarman had a soft opening last March 7, 2017. Toyota Catarman is located at Brgy. Macagtas beside Yamaha Catarman.
The view of the Catarman Airport from the airplane's window upon arrival from Manila is a sorry and sad one. A portion of the roof and ceiling is about to fell off. The roof and its paint is a battered one. Getting your luggage takes a long time and is a total chaos, a free for all manual exercise that even shames a bus terminal. The airport is very cramped and passengers are often left with the choice to sit on the dirty benches that are not actually benches but a fence for the plants adorning the airport entrance. When I arrived, I sat on one of the seats in the Departure area, none in the Arrivals area, while waiting for my ride to come. The airport cleaning staff and personnel had to rudely do some other things to shoo me away but not directly just say to me that the airport will close, after just 15 minutes that the plane had landed so I will have to wait in the cement fence cum bench.
When I left for Manila, I noticed that the Pre-departure area section, always haS been cramp, is now also very hot. It used to have air-conditioning. Security is very lax, which is a bit disconcerting given that Northern Samar is still rebel infested. Before the 2010 elections, there was a billboard proclaiming that the Catarman airport will be renovated complete with a rendering of the proposed project but nothing came out of it. This is also the airport where it has been featured nationally on television as the only airport with an active to traffic road cutting through it. I could go on and on, but let the pictures do the talking.
Cafe Eusebio opens in Catarman. Cafe Eusebio is a chic new cafe that has all the bells and whistles of a modern coffee house ala Starbucks but is located in the rustic setting of Catarman. The interiors are modern and the varied food offerings are complemented by a wide array of coffee concoctions. The only deal breaker is the intermittent and slow wifi and internet connection. The establishment should look into this, after all, it should be the backbone of its business model.
Northern Samar is such a lovely place with its amazing sandy white beaches, emerald green rivers, balmy islands, quaint villages, and that Ayer Rock of the Philippines, the Biri Rock Formations. Trust me, there are so much more that Northern Samar can offer. An American friend recently visited and she said she loved it so much in here but too bad she had to leave to work all year round but she promised to be back after earning enough for a trip back to the Philippines next year. I was able to capture all the places we visited in Northern Samar in photographs.
Since I wanted to give her a copy of the photographs for her to remember her wonderful holiday in the Philippines, I thought it would be best that I not have the images printed in photographic paper but just have the photographs collated and presented in an elegant and stylish presentation in a computer software. After laboring for such a mighty long hour, I was able to do a fairly good job at it and the finished product is going to be burned into a CD so she can have it printed in the US where I guess they have a better printing facility and an array of innovations in such a field of new technology. I choose to burn it on a Verbatim CD-R. I choose this particular brand because before I did the burning part, I had to do some little research and stumbled upon a CD-R review blog, and they had a glowing review of how sturdy and reliable the brand is. Knowing that it will contain precious memories of us together, I did not take any chances and went for the quality brand. The CD that I made can be played not only in her PC but on her standalone DVD Player as well. So there. I hope to see her again next year and I hope she gets to enjoy her stay again here.
If you have family, relatives, a fiancee or close friends in the United States of America or the United Kingdom and those folks regularly call you in Northern Samar or any Philippine phone codes. You may tell them about this useful service called Rebtel. Rebtel is easy to use and does not require great technical skills to use. If you are already familiar with Skype, Rebtel is similar to Skype, but it is so much better.
Unlike Skype, it doesn’t require customers to download special software or use a separate device for making phone calls. You can use your existing mobile phone as it was intended for use, call and sms. You provide them an international number, they provide you a local number. Use your regular phone to call the local Rebtel number that they gave you. They will then connect the call over the Internet and pass the savings on to you. Allowing for cheap international, mobile-to-mobile communications. No more PINs. No more phone cards. You just tell Rebtel what you want by entering your friend's name and international number and Rebtel gives you a unique local number for each friend. Create it once, and it will be saved to your phone and kept as long as you want to.
As you can see, Rebtel is more than just a calling service. It is also about availing of cheap and honest international calls really. You can save up to 95% by calling their local numbers from your mobile phone. Free mobile calls between 50 countries or pay Rebtel’s low rates. And you can do so thru iPhone, Android and BlackBerry apps too. Rebtel is not all about calling Philippines. You can also do international SMS. They have a cheap pricing scheme for international SMS from the web or mobile. Their customer service staff are of topnotch quality too, that is, if you ever encounter any problem given the excellent service that they put out there.
Alodia Gosiengfiao is the host of ABS-CBN's LOL (Laugh out Loud) with Luis Manzano and she also stars in the Globe Tattoo SuperStick "No Limits" TV Commercial. Alodia Gosiengfiao traces her roots from Catarman, Northern Samar although she now lives in Quezon City. Alodia Gosiengfiao is from the wealthy Arraiza family in Catarman. Her full name is Alodia Almira Arraiza Gosiengfiao. She was born on March 9, 1988 and she became famous primarily from being a Cosplayer. In fact, she is dubbed as the Cosplay Goddess of the Philippines. Alodia Gosiengfiao was first noticed in 2003 when she won in an event called the C3 Convention in 2003 as Gun Mage Rikku of FFX-2. This led to her and her sister Ashley being featured on the cover of Culture Crash Magazine, a Manga Magazine in the Philippines.
Alodia Gosiengfiao was Animax Channel's first ever Levi's Kawaii girl winner in 2007. FHM Philippines ranked her number 87 in its 2009 poll for the 100 Sexiest Women in the World. Alodia Gosiengfiao has also been named by UNO Magazine as one of the most influential women in the Philippines by inspiring more women to also do Cosplay. She studied in Miriam College and the Ateneo de Manila University.
Ten soldiers were slain and a nine-year-old boy was the collateral damage in an ambush by the leftist New People's Army (NPA) in Las Navas, Northern Samar on Tuesday, December 14, 2010. The nine-year-old boy who was identified as Joven Cabe was killed after he was hit by a shrapnel from exploding landmines planted by the NPA while he was taking a bath in a nearby river. The ten soldiers killed were marching back to their barracks to observe the government-declared ceasefire with the NPA rebels when ambushed. Two soldiers were also wounded in the attack. The remains of the 10 soldiers are now at the St. Francis Chapel of the 63rd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Dalakit in Catarman.
Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte said the NPA cannot justify the killing of the soldiers and the nine-year-old boy. Valte said the attack was made hours before the ceasefire with communist rebels would have taken effect. Valte said the government strongly objects to the CPP’s claim that the ambush was a legitimate act of war.
“We certainly disagree because I don’t know where, in any part of the world, where you could go and say the death of a nine-year old child was part of a legitimate act of war. They should be the ones to explain to those who have lost their husband this Christmas that it was a legitimate act of war. They should also be the ones to explain to the parents who lost their child this Christmas because they say it was a legitimate act of war.”
In a statement, the Communist Party of the Philippines said the attack was in accordance with the international rules of war.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Sec. Ging Deles, Chief Peace Negotiator Alexander Padilla, Armed Forces chief Gen. Ricardo David and Army chief Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz went to Northern Samar today to pay their last respects to the victims of the ambush.
AirPhilExpress will start its Cebu - Catarman and vice versa route on October 21, 2010. AirPhilExpress will fly the Cebu-Catarman-Cebu route every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. AirPhilExpress is the budget airline of Philippine Airlines of the Lucio Tan Group. Currenty, AirPhilExpress also flies to Catarman to and from Manila four times a week, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Other airlines plying the Manila-Catarman-Manila route are Cebu Pacific Air: every Tuesday, Thurday, Saturday and Sunday; and Zest Air: every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
The investigative GMA TV show,"Imbestigador," hosted by veteran broadcaster Mike Enriquez featured the illegal drug trade involving cocaine being sold by fishermen from Mondragon, Northern Samar. The entrapment operation resulted in the apprehension of a certain "Ponio" infront of a bank in Catarman, Northern Samar. The cocaine was said to have come from the same foreign vessel reported earlier to have dumped a large haul of cocaine, when it was about to be apprehended by authorities, off the coast of Eastern Samar. The cocaine were then believed to have been found by fishermen all over Eastern Samar and Northern Samar, but failed to turn over the said drugs to the authorities. Watch the Imbestigador episode below, as soon as it gets available.
Donnady Coquila Lao, a high school senior of Lope de Vega High School in Lope de Vega, Northern Samar, was chosen to represent the Philippines at the 54th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York, USA. Donnady Coquila Lao had a full schedule at the side events leading to the UN gathering.
Her first activity upon arriving in New York was to be interviewed by journalists from Finland. The interview focused on her being on the same panel with a Finnish Minister at an event of the United Nations Education and Children’s Fund (Unicef). Lao then attended the Plan Philippines side event dubbed "Universal Day of the Girl" along with two other girls from Canada. The girl-led interactive event called for a universal day of girls so that their concerns will "permanently be on the agenda of duty bearers in every country."
Donnady Lao then spoke at the Unicef side event entitled "Making Women Remember Girls. In the event, Donnady Lao spoke about her experiences as a girl and as a young person actively engaged in promoting girls’ rights in Lope De Vega and the Philippines. She delivered this in a panel with such internationally renowned personalities as former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson.
Other prominent attendees at the Unicef side session were, Charlotte Bunch, founding director and senior scholar at the Women’s Global Leadership, Rutgers University and Audun Lysbakken, Minister of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion of Norway.
Donnady Coquila Lao then gave a two-minute speech at the UN reception after the 54th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Lao spoke on how additional resources being allocated by the UN Foundation for Adolescent Girls can impact on her and other adolescent girls in the Philippines and her thoughts on her participation as an adolescent to an important meeting such as the Commission on the Status of Women. Lao sat in the panel with UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon.
On her last event, Lao was at the Daily Beast (online magazine) Summit where she was interviewed by Queen Rania, wife of King Abdullah of Jordan. On the same event, a "Girlafesto" was read by a group of girls from New York and Lao read the last important line of the manifesto.
Two farmers turned vendors from Pambujan were featured in last Tuesday's Special Report in the national daily broadsheet, Philippine Daily Inquirer. Rodolfo Socorro and Leo Surio, both from Pambujan, told tales of despair in the city. You can read the PDI article entitled "How to get the poor out of Dante’s inferno" here.
Northern Samar Provincial Legal Officer, Atty. Eduardo Potot, was shot dead this afternoon in his rented residence in Brgy. Dalakit, Catarman, Northern Samar. Atty. Potot just arrived from his office at the provincial capitol, also located in Brgy. Dalakit. The victim’s neighbors said they saw Potot arriving in his car and heard him blowing the car horn, while waiting for his household staff to open the gate to the house. The neighbors said they later heard four to five gunshots after which they saw two unidentified men casually jogging away from the area. As of press time, it was not yet known what is the angle that the police are looking into with the assasination of Atty. Potot.
GMA-7's Biyaheng Totoo news feature story focused on malnutrition in Northern Samar, particularly the towns of Laoang and Pambujan. Watch the video below for Biyaheng Totoo: Northern Samar. It was shown on GMA-7's 24 Oras and on QTV-11's Balitanghali.
The Lapinig, Northern Samar to Jipapad, Eastern Samar Road was inaugurated on November 14,2009. The Lapinig to Jipapad Road is a 5.22 kilometer all-weather road connecting the hinterland and rebel infested towns of the provinces of Northern Samar and Eastern Samar. The road was realized after a promise by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, funded out of the President's Social Fund. The road project amounted to P20 Million and was constructed by the 53rd Engineer Brigade of the Philippine Army. The P20-million road project was started on August 11, 2005 and was reported to have been completed on November 5, 2009.
Present at the road inauguration were Presidential Assistant for Eastern Visayas, Cynthia Nierras; Brigadier General Arthur Tabaquero of the 8th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army; Congressman Paul Daza of the 1st District of Northern Samar; Lapinig Mayor Romualdo Menzon; Jipapad Mayor Joji Montillana and the officers and men of the 53rd Engineer Brigade of the Philippine Army.
The latest victim of the continuing violence in the province of Northern Samar is a lowly civilian, a government employee of the local government unit (LGU) of San Antonio. Chief Supt. Mario T. San Diego, PNP Region 8 Director, identified the victim as Crusada Serrano, 48 years old and a resident of Brgy.Burabod, San Antonio,Northern Samar.
Reports said Serrano was watching a DVD movie in the afternoon of October 25, 2009, inside his house, when the lone suspect barged into his house and shot him dead. The still unidentified killer according to reports has used a .45 caliber pistol to shoot Serrano.
The lone suspect immediately fled to the poblacion proper of San Antonio. The San Antonio police is now conducting an investigation into the shooting.
There is an on-going mayoralty row in the town of Lavezares. The political stand off came to a head when a division of the Commission on Elections unseated Mayor Quintin Saludaga and ordered his 2007 Mayoralty opponent, Antonio Balag to assume his post as the new mayor of Lavezares. The Comelec’s 2nd Division proclaimed him the winning mayoralty bet with 5,276 votes against Saludaga’s 5,149 votes. Balag then took his oath of office as mayor before N. Samar Governor Raul Daza.
Supporters of Saludaga had since been demonstrating outside the Lavezares town hall to protect it from being taken over by supporters of Balag. Saludaga claims that he won and was duly proclaimed winner in the May 2007 polls after garnering 5,913 votes against Balag who, he said, got only 5,168 votes.
Something horrible happened in Northern Samar over the weekend. Father Cecilio Lucero was murdered on Sunday. Father Cecilio Lucero is the parish priest of Catubig, Northern Samar. Police reports said that Father Cecilio Lucero was on board his Toyota van, when he was attacked in Barangay Layuhan, San Jose town, at around 8:30 a.m. of Sept. 6, by around 30 unidentified armed men. A jeepney full of passengers plying the Allen-Catarman route almost got caught in the ambush, they were just 50 meters from Father Cecilio Lucero's vehicle. Father Cecilio Lucero reportedly just came from a wedding. His two companions, identified as PO2 Eugene Canaler and Isidro Miras, a civilian, were hit by bullets in different parts of the body and are being treated at a hospital in the province.
The murder of Father Cecilio Lucero is said to be the first in the 400 year-old history of Catholicism in Northern Samar. Father Cecilio Lucero is active in human rights advocacy and is the chairman of the human rights and justice committee of the Catarman diocese.
Father Cecilio Lucero is also a brother of Northern Samar Vice Governor, Atty. Boy Lucero and former 2nd District Representative Wilmar Lucero. Father Cecilio Lucero is 48 years old. His body will be interred on Sept. 14, exactly 22 years since his ordination as a priest. As of press time, his body is lying in state in St. Roche Church in San Roque, Northern Samar.
There is now confusion amongst the residents of the entire province as it was plunged into darkness, a brownout started early morning of Monday, Sept. 7 and is still ongoing as of this time, 8 PM. The national TV evening news of the major networks failed to mention the murder in their newscasts.
