OUR APPEAL FROM CALUBIAN. . .

Being one of the members of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (MDRRMC) of the Municipality of Calubian, we are very much thankful to all the donors of the different food packs and other relief goods that had reached in our end, be it either coming from the government or private sector and either from the local or foreign sources. However, we are warning all international organizations whose members are composed of friends and relatives of Calubianons to be cautious of giving donations to the badly devastated areas directly hit by Mega Typhoon Yolanda like Calubian. There are other probably foundations or NGOs who are taking advantage of the situations, asking donations especially cold cash or fresh funds. Beware, some of them are using their NGOs to enriched their different organizations through your donations. For help to Calubianons, we are urging donors to get in touch with the members of MDRRMC especially the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer (MDRRMO) Mr. Rogelio Q Batac or to the MSWD Officer Mrs Corazon Lerios or just relay information to the author. Much of Calubianons lost their houses, so we are asking help for some construction materials and other goods which can provide immediate help to Calubianons.

DEVASTATING YOLANDA, NOT JUST A SUPER-TYPHOON....BUT THE FIRST MEGA TYPHOON EVER . . .

My family was busy preparing the incoming church wedding of my son Brian which was actually scheduled on November 8, the day a super-typhoon Yolanda was forcasted to hit Eastern Visayas. Being one of the Department Heads of the Municipality of Calubian, most of the primary sponsors of the wedding were also Department Heads including not less than the Local Chief Executive of the Municipality. That week starting November 4, the different heads had a series of meetings in preperation not for the wedding but for the incoming typhoon. Our mayor who is so knowledgeable in disaster preparation has taken the PAG-ASA forcast so seriously. We trace the probable path of the typhoon through the internet which is forcasted to directly hit the Municipality of Calubian. Our continued monitoring has made us decide to conduct a force evacuation especially to all households within the coastal areas. Even the incoming wedding of my son was postponed a week after since our caterer , the Lemon Grass Catering who is living in Palompon was so afraid to the probable effect of the typhoon.

A day before Yolanda struck Calubian, the disaster management team of Calubian had already made its final preparation. A composite team riding in a patrol car has made its final appeal to all coastal inhabitants to make a force evacuation since the typhoon was expected to hit Calubian in the morning of November 8. At Thursday night, the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (MDRRMC) of the municipality of Calubian was on red alert making the ABC Hall as its Operation Center. Evacuaees in the different school buildings were monitored to identify the total number of evacuees.

At 6:00 AM of November 8, the wind had started blowing which I expected it was already the typhoon. I texted by bother Romy who is an employee of DOST Biliran if it was already Yolanda. But he warned me to be ready since the typhoon was so devastating that according to him the City of Tacloban was already turned into bits of pieces. Unfortunately, the typhoon had really hit Calubian that according to PAG-ASA forcaster, the typhoon was so behaved that it really followed its forcasted route. At 8 in the morning, we received an initial blow of the strongest wind I ever experienced in my entire life. The initial damages in our surroundings were the tumbling down of all the trees surrounding my house; mango, jackfruit, santol and many others. This happened that all the people inside the house became the living witness of how Yolanda devastated the environment. Below are some of the pictorials taken during and after the super typhoon hit Calubian;

The following photos showed evidence of the relief effort conducted by the Calubian LGU personnel who had been delivering relief goods to all the 53 barangays of the Municipality of Calubian. The goods were pouring in coming from different donors through the Department of Social Welfare and Devoelopment (DSWD). Among the private donors were the ABS-CBN through its Sagip Kapamilya food packs, the Heifer International, Phil who had given food packs to its Heifer Partner families and other various organizations.

JOINT CULMINATION PROGRAM FOR CORN AND MANGO TECHNO-DEMO CONDUCTED

Last August 23, 2013 a joint culmination program for two technical demonstration on corn and mango production (starting from fruit setting to harvesting) was conducted. For corn production, the techno-demo was conducted at Brgy Padoga where 18 participants successfully finished the four-months season long training while the other techno-demo on mango production was conducted at Kalunasan Techno-demo site of Brgy Tagharigue where 15 participants successfully graduated the course. The official distribution of certificates was conducted at Calubian Gym where the Honorable Mayor Doroteo N. Palconit served as the Guest Speaker. Special acknowledgements were given to Mrs Elvira V. Roldan who served as the trainor for mango production while Mr. Fanny Pedida and Mrs. Daylinda V. Labata served as the trainor for corn assisted by the entire training staff of the Office of the Municipal Agriculturist.

1ST CALUBIAN REGATTA- Another first in Calubian History

Last August 11, 2013, Sunday was the start of the week-long annual fiesta celebration for the Municipality of Calubian. The activity was started with a Holy Mass starting at 7:00 AM to 8:00AM. It was followed with the Grand Parade around Metro Calubian and culminated at Calubian wharf- the venue of the first Regatta which is another activity first conducted during the reign of the development-oriented municipal mayor Honorable Doroteo N. Palconit. Calubian regatta was conceptualized to give importance to the fishery sector and to show to Calubianons the solid support given by Municipal Mayor to the Office of the Municipal Agriculturist especially in the implementation of the Municipal Ordinance in regulating illegal fishing activities in the municipal waters of Calubian. In fact, the effect of the campaign has already given positive result to the fishermen. The following photos showed the highlights of the parade;

The main activities during the Regatta include, a) fishing festival for the biggest catch as the winners, b) the main regatta- boat sailing contest, c) the subiran race-single category and, d) subiran race- double category. The following were the winners for the different categories; A- Fishing festival, First-Allan Casas of Brgy Padoga (3,000), 2nd -Eleonor Inocillas of Brgy Abanilla (2,000), and 3rd -Dominador Espocia of Brgy Obispo (1,000). B. For the Subiran-single category; 1st Prize- Renato Morales of Brgy Obispo (5,000), 2nd Prize- Albino Aniel of Brgy Ul-og (3,000) and 3rd Prize- Esmeraldo Aniel of Brgy Ul-og (2,000). C. For the subiran-double category; 1st Prize- Floro Jalober of Brgy Cristina (5,000), 2nd Prize- Albino Aniel of Brgy Ul-og (3,000) and 3rd Prize- Esmeraldo Aniel of Brgy Ul-og (2,000). D. For the main event which is the sailing, Mr Alejandro Inocillas of Brgy Abanilla emerged the champion with the Prize of 7,000 pesos. He was followed by Ronnito Saludar of Brgy Padoga (5,000) and Johny Corpin of Brgy Mahait (3,000). There were ten other participants of the sailing who received 1,000 pesos each as consolation prizes which were coming from Caruyucan, the participants down to Brgy Nipa. The Regatta Committee headed by Mr Agustin Dignos who is the Municipal Agriculturist of Calubian had expressed his heartfelt gratitude to all those in one way or another had helped made the activity a very successful one. Additional photo-documentation portrayed what had happened during the said affair, such as;

TECHNO-DEMO FOR DIFFERENT CROPS CONDUCTED IN CALUBIAN...

The Office of the Municipal Agriculturist of the Municipality of Calubian has continued its effort to extent the services to the marginal farmers to augment their income. This year 2013, simultaneous season long production trainings were conducted in the different locations in the municipality. These include vegetable productions with two sites such as Brgy Kawayan Bugtong and Brgy Hda Enage, Corn production with location at Brgy Padoga, Mango Production conducted at Sitio Kalunasan of Brgy Tagharigue and Rice Production at Brgy Kawayanan. The two vegetable production trainings had culminated last July 10 for Brgy Kawayan Bugtong site and July 12 for Brgy Hda Enage site. The following pictorials were taken from the Kawayan Bugtong Techno-demo site;

Additional photos were taken from Brgy Hda Enage techno-demo site;

Other trainings will soon culminate either in the month of August or September of this year.