MikeLigalig.com

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Millions of the country's tribal peoples, including the "lumads" (native inhabitants) of Bukidnon and Northern Mindanao, will be at the losing end once the P1,000 budget approved by the House of Representatives for the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for 2018 sees the light of day, said Governor Jose Maria Zubiri Jr.

 One of the essential services that would be adversely affected is the processing of titles for certificate of ancestral domain claims (CADC), Zubiri said, pointing out that review of such applications require hefty budget for NCIP due to the technical work.

 Bukidnon is home to seven tribal groups namely, the Bukidnon, Higaonon, Talaandig, Manobo, Matigsalug, Tigwahanon and Umayamnon. These tribes have pending CADC applications, the governor disclosed.

 "It saddens me," the governor said, "because 36 to 37 percent of the 1.4 million people in Bukidnon are lumads and they are the poorest."

 As the chair of the Regional Development Council for Region 10, Zubiri said he will push Congress to "reconsider its decision."

 "I would like to appeal for compassion from the members of Congress. The budget should be appropriated for whatever agency that will receive it," he added.

 The Lower House was supposed to approve the proposed P1.13 billion proposed budget for the NCIP.

 To complement the national budget for the province's Indigenous Peoples, Zubiri said his administration has green-lighted the release of about P10 million to help Bukidnon's indigenous peoples in processing their ancestral domain claims.

 "That (P10 million) is not even enough, he said, pointing to the costs such as payment for surveyors, processing of pertinent documents, among others.

 Zubiri considered the move of the House of Representatives as inappropriate since he knew how Congress works, having served as congressman for 11 years.

 Zubiri said if the NCIP cannot fulfill its mandate due to budgetary constraints, it may lead to more discontent among the IP groups not just in Mindanao but in other parts of the country.

 In Bukidnon, for instance, most of the members of the New People's Army (NPA) belong to the lumad communities, and if the budget of the NCIP will be slashed, it might lead to more lumads joining the Communist guerrilla movement.

 He said the last thing that the government needs now is the further escalation of hostilities between the insurgents and government forces.

 But in spite of this, Zubiri said he is hopeful that President Rodrigo Duterte will put his foot forward to ensure the P1,000 budget for the NCIP will not be enacted.

 "I am sure that President Duterte will never allow it. I am sure he will veto it," he said.

 Meanwhile, lawyer Pinky Grace Pabelic, NCIP-10 regional director, refused to comment on the controversial budgetary allocation, but said she will leave it to NCIP chair Leonor Quintayo to make the necessary moves to ensure the P1.13 billion budget for the agency to be realized. (PNA/Jigger J. Jerusalem)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

URBIZTONDO -- The elusive No. 1 Most Wanted Person in San Carlos City was killed while his companion was wounded in an armed encounter with policemen at about 3:50 p.m. on September 14 in Barangay Camambugan, Urbiztondo.

Danilo dela Vega Fernandez alias "Papsie" was on board a green Hyundai Getz car with plate no. ZCR 412 on the way home from Basista town to Urbiztondo when intercepted by lawmen to serve him a warrant of arrest for murder and frustrated murder.

Fernandez was immediately brought to the Blessed Family Hospital in Barangay Ylang, Urbiztondo where he was declared dead on arrival by an attending physician.

His companion identified as Jefferson Bulatao, 28, a suspected drug pusher from Poblacion, Basista, who was rushed to the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital in Bolingit, San Carlos City. 

Fernandez was wanted for the killing of SPO1 Jimbo Agtarap, of the San Carlos City Police Station, a few months ago along the road in Barangay Agdao, San Carlos City while the latter was on board his motorcycle.

Motive of the killing is still unknown but may be related to drugs since Agtarap was a member of the Drug Enforcement Team of the San Carlos City police. 

Suspects in Agtarap slay escaped on board a white van that was chased by another policeman on his own motorcycle. The latter was wounded when the suspects opened fire at him.

Investigation showed that when Fernandez saw policemen along the road, he stopped their vehicle and alighted with a pistol on hand.

Instead of surrendering, he shot it out with joint elements of the San Carlos City and Basista police, Provincial Public Safety Company, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, Provincial Intelligence Branch, Pangasinan Police Provincial Office and Urbiztondo police

Lawmen retaliated and hit Fernandez and his lone companion. (PNA)





* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ILOILO CITY-- Iloilo City Acting Mayor Jose Espinosa III on Friday ordered the conduct of special meetings for budget processing after learning that the local disaster reduction management (LDRRM) fund was underspent.

In a post-assessment following the flooding that hit this city three days ago, Espinosa found out that some members of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Council (CDRRMC) have no knowledge about budgeting processes. This resulted in their failure to propose projects as pre-emptive measure in cases of disasters and calamities.

"Supposed to be it has to be zeroed by the end of the year. If unspent, meaning to say we are remiss in responding to our people," he said in an interview Friday.

The 2017 local disaster risk reduction management fund (LDRRMF) quick response fund (QRF) has PHP31.349 million appropriation. As of September 14, 2017 only PHP500,000 was utilized.

Big appropriation such as PHP1.5 million fund for the committee on response; PHP3 million for disaster preparedness under training expenses; PHP1 million each for the committee on prevention and mitigation and CDRRM office; PHP1.7 million for committee on disaster preparedness under the printing and publication expenses and another PHP1 million for committee on prevention and mitigation under the printing and publication expenses were not utilized.

Espinosa has directed City Administrator lawyer Hernando Galvez and Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) chair of Social Services and Disaster Relief Committee Julie Grace L. Barona to have a "special meeting on budget."

"Everybody should prepare their budget before our meeting next week. It should be presented in one paper during our meeting," he said.

In addition to the conduct of special meetings, the council also approved that member of committees of the council meet on a regular basis. The once in a quarter meeting "is too long," he said.

The council also eyed an agreement with the Iloilo 4x4 Club for availability of their resources during emergencies; operationalization of an emergency broadcast telecommunication in partnership with the Iloilo City Hall Press Corps; partnership with the Panay Amateur Radio Club (PARC), a radio communications group; to equip the CDRRMO operation center with communications to get in touch with communication system of villages; utilize closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras of barangays; establish a permanent operations center and establish a district disaster cluster.

Heavy rains and flooding brought by tropical "Maring" and enhanced by habagat affected 24 villages of Iloilo City on Tuesday.

The weather condition also resulted to the evacuation of 169 families composed of 719 individuals and suspension of classes. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ILOILO CITY -- Iloilo City acting City Mayor Jose Espinosa III on Friday called on the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) and the Department of Education (DepEd) in Iloilo to step up their security measures amid reports of attempted abductions in several schools in this city.

Espinosa on Friday said that he met with Senior Superintendent Henry Biñas, acting ICPO director, on Thursday and informed him about an incident where a student of a private school here was held inside a van and interviewed by alleged doctors.

"I told him to be vigilant and increase (police) visibility in schools," he said.

He also called on the Superintendent Claire Zamora of DepEd Iloilo City Division to ensure that there are guards in schools.

Espinosa said he was made to know of two similar cases so far.

The Central Philippine University also warned their students about the modus, he said.

For whatever purpose, parents are urged to brief their children to report to authorities if there are unidentified individuals who approach them and invite them to board their vehicles, he added.

Meantime, Espinosa will have a closed door meeting with the ICPO, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the City Legal Office next week.

He said that they will tackle among others the "mobile drug den," as a new modus of drug users to evade authorities.

On Wednesday, 12 persons were arrested while having a pot session inside a van parked along a circumferential road in Barangay San Jose in Arevalo district. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ILOILO CITY -- City government offices are urged to fully participate in the ongoing revision of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) of this highly-urbanized city particularly in identifying projects for the next 10 years.

During Friday's post-assessment meeting of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC), Iloilo City Planning and Development Office coordinator Jose Roni Peñalosa announced that small group discussions already started last week and large group discussions in a few days.

He said that concerned offices should cooperate because their participation is "very critical" in the formulation of proposals and identification of projects in the next 10 years.

Peñalosa explained that the ongoing revision of the CLUP is an opportune time for city government officers to propose programs and engineer solutions to disaster prone areas of the city.

The CLUP will serve as basis for budgeting and the annual investment program of the city, he said.
Peñalosa lamented that there was a low turnout of member-representatives during their initial meetings.

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) that provides technical assistance in the crafting of the plan in its website said that the CLUP "is a planning document prepared by LGUs (local government units) to rationalize the allocation and proper use of land resources."

The Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991 and other related laws mandate LGUs to "continue to prepare/revise/update their CLUP, which shall be enacted through a zoning ordinance." (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ILOILO CITY -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 6 has recognized the winners of the 2017 regional search for the "Exemplary Pantawid Children" Thursday afternoon.

Fourteen-year-old Jopay Pelayo from Roxas City, Capiz was declared regional champion and brought home PHP8,000 and a trophy.

Pantawid Information Officer II Montesa Caoyonan said the search encouraged children participants to be responsible not only in complying with the conditions set by the program, which is 85 percent school attendance, but also in becoming outstanding citizens who will be emulated by children and even adults.

"It encourages children to nurture habits and values that would mold them to be good citizens by being responsible at home, school and their communities," she said in an interview on Friday.

The competition is open to all the "Pantawid Pamilya" children beneficiaries whose age ranges from 10 to 14 years old.

Other winners included Karla Czarina Sulit, 14 years old (Iloilo), 1st runner up; Ma.Gabrielle Angeli Nadate, 14 (Aklan) 2nd runner-up; Chynna Pajares, 13 (Antique), 3rd runner-up; Ma.Lyn Mae Balidiong, 13 (Guimaras), 4th runner-up; and French Marie Chin Cayot, 12 (Bacolod City), 5th runner-up. The first to fifth runners-up also received cash and trophies.

The winners were judged by their behavior and practice, talent, intelligence and wit, community and school participation and "Kaya ko ang Pagbabago" presence and appearance.

Caoyonan said that this year's grand winner will vie for the National Search for Exemplary "Pantawid Children", which is expected to be conducted on November this year in time for the celebration of Children's Month.

Last year, Anedaine Geamal from Antique garnered 4th runner-up in the national search.

The "Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program" or 4Ps is a human development program of the national government that provides cash grants to the poorest of the poor, to improve the health, nutrition, and the education of children aged 0-18. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan -- President Rodrigo Roa Duterte thanked Bulakenyos and asked their continued support in the fight against illegal drugs, corruption and criminality.

During the commemoration of the 119th anniversary of the Malolos Congress at the historic Barasoain Church on Friday, Duterte relayed his message through Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Assistant Secretary Ricojudge Janvier Echiverri.

In a message read by Echiverri, Duterte expressed gratitude to the people of Bulacan for voting for him in last year's elections and for their trust and continued support.

"Isang karangalan ang maanyayahan sa pag-gunita ng kauna-unahang kongreso ng Pilipinas. Kagaya noon, marami pa ring hamon ngunit naipakita na ng ating mga ninuno na kaya nating tumayo sa sarili nating mga paa at kakakayanin pa din natin ito basta magkaka-isa at sama-sama tayo bilang isang lahi at isang bansa (It's an honor to be invited to the occasion remembering the first Congress of the Philippines. Just like before, there are still many challenges today but our ancestors had showed that we can stand on our own feet and we can still hurdle the challenges if we stay united as one race and one country)," the President's message read.

With regard to the fight against hard drugs, Duterte said, "death and killing" is not a state policy.

The President message said he will exert all means to rid the country of the dope menace but he did not want to waste lives, especially the youth, who are mostly the victims of this scourge of society.

Duterte, likewise, spoke on the proposed postponement of the barangay elections.

Echiverri said that based on the President's list, there are at least 40,000 village officials who are directly involved in the proliferation of illegal drugs.

He urged them to resign immediately, stressing that good village officials should lead community-based war against drugs and not act as protectors or drug lords themselves.

Senator Aquino, who is also a guest speaker, said the sacrifices of Filipino revolutionaries should not be forgotten because they resulted in the freedom that modern-day Filipinos are now enjoying.

He said he is proud that his great grandfather, Sevillano Aquino, was a member of the Malolos Congress.

Meanwhile, Gov. Alvarado said Bulakenyos will always go back to Barasoain Church because of their love for freedom and independence and their reverence for their heroes.

He said this sacred ground, the great propagandist and Bulakenyo hero Gat Marcelo H. Del Pilar planted the love for freedom that is why up to now, people are preserving that legacy.

He said September 15 is the culmination of the month-long celebration that began August 15, the foundation day of the province.

Vice Governor Daniel Fernando, on the other hand, said the significance of Malolos Congres shall forever be enshrined in the heart and soul of freedom-loving Filipinos.

Malolos City Mayor Christian D. Natividad, for his part, said the Malolos Congress has changed the views of the world on the people of the Philippines.

"From being referred to as the lowly 'Indio', the Filipino race has been recognized as citizens of the Republic of the Philippines," Natividad said.

The Malolos Congress , also known as the "National Assembly" of representatives, was the constituent assembly of the First Philippine Republic. It was convened at the Barasoain Church on September 15, 1698 where the Malolos Constitution was drafted. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BACOLOD CITY -- The Regional Development Council (RDC-6) in Western Visayas has instructed officials of Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City, to submit lists of their priority programs and projects that need national funding.

This was discussed during the meeting of officials here with Regional Director Ro-Ann Bacal of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-6), also vice chairperson of RDC-6; and Undersecretary Jesus Hinlo Jr. of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) at the Bacolod City Government Center Friday.

Bacal said she asked Provincial Planning and Development Officer Ma. Marlin Sanogal and Bacolod City Planning and Development Office head Mary Jane Ramos to provide the lists for inclusion in the Regional Development Investment Program.

Bacal said the NEDA-6 is crafting a regional development plan which now includes Negros Occidental.

The province reverted to Western Visayas following the abolition of the Negros Island Region (NIR).

"We would like to have a smooth transition and include the priority programs of Negros Occidental," Bacal said.
On August 7, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order (EO) No. 38, revoking the creation of NIR, citing lack of funds.

Given this, the development plans and project proposals of both Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental under one region will be turned over to their former regions.
Sanogal earlier said both Negros provinces are working towards reverting back to their former regions given the 60-day transition period.

The process includes the conclusion of the operations of the regional offices under the NIR.
Last September 8, Negros Occidental rejoined the RDC-6 during its Third Quarter Meeting in Kalibo, Aklan.

The five private sector representatives of Negros Occidental also took their oath during the meeting. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The Archdiocese of Zamboanga has warned the public against the circulation and sale of "satanic rosary" that may bring bad luck to its owner.

The archdiocese issued the warning after it was discovered that the rosary has been circulating and sold to the public in different parts of the country.

"In buying rosary, they should look for the design of the cross and the beads should be complete," Fr. Marciano Villagracia, Archdiocese of Zamboanga spokesperson, on Friday said.

Villagracia said the "satanic rosary" contradicts the genuine one, which has proven effective in seeking divine intervention.

"The rosary is being prayed by Catholics to get closer to God through the blessed Virgin Mary," he said.

He said the "satanic rosary," which is being distributed by satanist, is often made of plastic and with a snake wrapped around the cross, a pentagram, and a sun with rays which is an insignia of the illuminati.

He advised the public to properly dispose it should they happen to receive "satanic rosary." (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY – Bureau of Customs (BoC) Davao District Collector Erastus Austria is unperturbed on the brewing issue about the so-called "Davao Group" allegedly involved in smuggling and bribery at the BoC, saying, Davao Group can even be all the stakeholders – importers, exporters – in Davao who are all legitimate businessmen.

This, as Austria shrugged off the impact of the Davao Group issue or the P6.4 million drug smuggling investigation to the BoC-Davao's work.

"To be fair there are good soldiers at the BOC," he said in an interview with reporters Friday after a meeting at the Eastern Mindanao Command.

He said he has also set direction and parameters to ensure efficiency and faster pace of documentation and reporting.

"The employees can work with this framework," he added.

Austria revealed he issued an order for employees to comply within two days to submit reports.

The measures undertaken by his office, he said even resulted in higher revenue collection. He said the Port of Davao collection is up by P1.6 billion for the month.

"The Port of Davao is one with the top revenue collections," Austria said.

Last August, BoC central office reported that it has collected more than P212.16 billion in duties and taxes for the first six months of the year, up 11.3 percent from the P190 billion reported during the same period last year. Of the 17 collection districts, 10 ports have exceeded their collection targets from January to June.

The Port of Davao collected P7.912 billion, up 20.8 percent from P6.548 billion target the report said.

Among others, Austria said there are several measures they must implement to deliver the mandate of the BoC which are collect revenues, facilitate trade, and protect borders.

He said the BoC has enhanced enforcement to ensure no illegal drugs will enter the city and other illegal contrabands.

Austria said new Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña has already issued Customs Memorandum Order No. 14-2017, which has reverted to the deputy commissioners of the Intelligence Group, Enforcement Group, and all district collectors nationwide the authority to issue alert orders.

Austria said the commissioner has also abolished the command center. BoC has also suspended the "green lane".

Austria said all containers must now passed the yellow lane for thorough document scrutiny and the red lane for x-ray.

Under the BoC selectivity system, import products have to pass through four lanes: the super green lane products only undergo minimal inspection; those in the green lane no longer go through inspection and document verification; products in the yellow lane undergo document verification and those in the red lane go through two levels of inspection. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

COTABATO CITY -- The issue of government forces setting foot on the grand mosque recovered by government forces from terrorists in Marawi City is not an issue for Muslim religious leaders.

Sheik Abu Huraira Udasan, the grand mufti of the central Mindanao Darul Iftah (House of Opinions), said the visit of President Duterte and government forces in the recaptured Grand Mosque was "excusable" given the situation.

He said the netizens should not make it an issue because Islam understands the situation and there was no desecration of the House of Allah.

The Muslim religious leader who is equivalent to a cardinal for Catholic faithful said the President has repeatedly said that the place of worship must not be destroyed. His visit there was to assess the situation of the Mosque and not to desecrate it, he added.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Local police authorities have arrested 10 drug personalities and seized packs of illegal drugs as the anti-drug campaign has continued without letup in this city, an official said Friday.

Chief Insp. Helen Galvez, Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) information officer, said the suspects were arrested on Thursday in different parts of this city.

Galvez identified the suspects as: Hasim Silan, 29; Alhamid Mohammad, 46; Phillip Jayson Jayari, 30; Leo Hurryfil Villarin, 22; Dulmin Awod, 27; Jemar Lindit, 27; Isa Undin, 40; Roostone Mark Nealega, 29; Julkipli Jammang, 27; and, Eutiquio Tanglao, 35.

She said confiscated from the suspects were packs of shabu with an estimated market value of PhP26,100, marked money and illegal drug paraphernalia.

She said that appropriate charges are set to be filed against the arrested drug personalities, who are now detained.

She said the intensified anti-drug campaign is in line with the declaration of war against illegall drugs of President Rodrigo Duterte.

So far, the Barangay Anti Drug Abuse Council (Badac) announced that one barangay in this city has been cleared of illegal drugs as of Monday, September 11. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

TAGAYTAY CITY, Cavite -- Feasibility studies for 15 infrastructure projects for air, land, and water to promote the interconnectivity among regions in the country got the support of Regional Development Council (RDC)-Calabarzon.
 
During the RDC 3rdquarter full council meeting at Summit Ridge Hotel, here Thursday, RDC-Calabarzon chair Hermilando Mandanas, who is also Batangas Governor, steered the council meeting that discussed strategic actions and outcomes of the development policies and projects implemented by the council members.
 
According to National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Region IV-A Director and concurrent RDC Vice-Chair Luis G. Banua the projects are expected to enhance transportation, trading, boost the localities' economy and tourism offerings.

"The projects will also give way to increased investments, productivity and employment, improve resilience and enhance peace and order in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon provinces," Banua said.
 
He said the projects will result in higher gross regional domestic product.
Banua cited top-listed projects and the sole "air" project on the development of Sangley Point as a domestic airport.
 
A former US military facility, Sangley Point is groomed to be a domestic airport to decongest the busy Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) by transferring domestic flights to Cavite.

 Road projects getting the RDC's green light include: Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay-Nasugbu Road, Bay-Antipolo Road; Mauban-Atimonan Road, General Nakar-Umiray-Dingalan Road (Aurora); Quezon-Bicol Expressway; Cavitex-C5 San Jose del Monte Road; Pangasinan-Nueva Ecija-Aurora Expressway; and BRT System 2 EDSA-Binangonan.
 
RDC also supported the Cavite (Ternate/Naic)-Corregidor Island-Bataan (Mariveles) Mega Bridge, Real-Polillo Island-Larap, Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte Port System,  Calamba-NCR-Rizal Ferry System, Batangas-Tingloy Island-Puerto Galera Bridge, Batangas-Calapan (Oriental Mindoro) Mega Bridge and San Andres (Quezon) – Masbate – Bogo (Cebu) Port System under its "water" projects.
 
With the RDC IV-A's endorsement, monitoring of the conduct of the feasibility studies will come next, Banua said.

 The studies will be endorsed for funding prior to implementation.
 
RDC is the primary institution that coordinates and sets the directions of all economic and social development efforts in the regions and serves as the counterpart of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) at the sub-national level.
 
The council members, composed of officials from the provincial and local government units, regional government line agencies, state universities and colleges and private sector, hold a quarterly forum to discuss concerns affecting the development of the region.
 
Cavite province, through its Governor Jesus Crispin Remulla played host for two consecutive RDC meetings. (PNA)

* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY – The Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) and 15 government agencies in Davao Region have sealed an agreement to orchestrate intelligence information sharing to strengthen security in the maritime borders, ports, and airports against terrorists and other criminal groups.

The agreement for intelligence information sharing and synchronized security of the region was signed Friday at the Eastmincom headquarters, NSFA, Panacan wherein the Border Security Coordinating Council and committees were formed for faster and organized security response based on functional areas.

Eastmincom chief Lt. Gen Rey Leonardo Guerrero said the coordinating council will help enhance surveillance and security not only in major ports, airports, maritime border but also in other landing areas and port facilities.

Guerrero, who was elected to head the council, said the coordination would be more seamless.

All efforts will also be coordinated with Indonesia through the Philippines naval forces, which hold coordinated patrol with Indonesian Navy.

The Eastmincom, which initiates the creation of the coordinating council, sees the importance of border security to national security as it plays an important role in securing the country against the threats of terrorism, transnational crimes, and to protect its interest and sovereignty.

This will also address different security issues in the region, such as illegal drugs, human trafficking, smuggling, sea piracy, and robbery.

Guerrero said collaboration between agencies, police and security forces is the most effective way to maximize use of resources, build a more comprehensive intelligence picture and respond to the needs of securing borders.

Guerrero hopes to share this collaboration initiative with the Western Mindanao command since Davao region also shares borders with Region 10. He noted that the western command is also facing threats of terrorism.

He said the initiative will also be replicated at the national level for wider scope of border security. Bureau of Customs District Collector Erastus Sandino Austria and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director Adhzar Albani welcomed the initiative because this also helps their own effort of curbing smuggling.

BoC and PDEA are also members of the newly-created coordinating council. Austria said the BoC has three mandates which are to collect revenue, facilitate trade, and protect borders.

And, he said, the BOC needs the support of other agencies especially when targeted containers are already out of its jurisdiction area.

He said the BoC and other agencies can watch out and provide feedback of intelligence information.

On the other hand, Albani said the initiative is good because this coordination makes the PDEA's drug enforcement function faster.

Albani said it is also timely because PDEA is about to create a task force for port and airport interdiction against drug smugglers and their activities.

Guerrero said the coordinating council is expected to create beneficial conditions for social and economic development in the region, initiate measures to reduce threats and transnational crimes, and promote free and secure movement of persons, goods, services and investments across borders. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DUMAGUETE CITY – Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo on Friday expressed optimism that the new branding of the Sandurot Festival would reap benefits in a matter of time by promoting the socio-cultural tourism event.

Sandurot Festival is a three-part event composed of the Paghimamat, a get-together which tells the story of Dumaguete; the Pasigarbo, or street dance; and the Pasundayag or showdown which features at least 11 dance contingents from a number of schools and barangays.

Remollo, in a press conference a day before the main event of the 10-day festival, was reacting to observations by some quarters of a not-so-festive staging of Sandurot this year compared to previous years.

This year, the city government, through the City Tourism Council, had moved the Sandurot Festival from its usual celebration month in November to September, hoping to make it a separate activity from the city's charter day anniversary and fiesta of its patron saint, St. Catherine of Alexandria.

The city envisions that the Sandurot Festival held in September will become a regular tourism come-on, held also in line with the country's Tourism Month celebration, said the mayor.

Remollo pointed out the Sandurot Festival will also have its birthing pains and learning experiences just like the much older and grander festivals in the country, like the Ati-Atihan in Iloilo or the Masskara in Bacolod City, which took several years to grow and become popular as they are now.

The mayor is not worried that not too many people outside of Dumaguete are aware of this month's staging of the Sandurot Festival but believes that in the coming years, it will rake in more tourists to this capital city.

Dumaguete is slowly gaining popularity as a venue for a variety of national and local events, ranging from sports to cultural presentations, academic gatherings and even government and private activities such as conferences and the like, he pointed out.

Remollo disclosed that several activities are already lined up in the coming months until next year, an indication that, indeed, Dumaguete City continues to become a better venue for a variety of events.

The 2017 Sandurot Festival opened on September 8 and runs through September 17, with activities such as a bazaar featuring foods, arts and crafts and products made by local producers, live concerts featuring local artists, corporate partner nights, the Duma Comida food festival participated in by the MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) in the food service industry, DulangPinoy to revive traditional Filipino games, a national drone race (the first to be held here), a 21-km half marathon, a terra cotta exhibit and an electro night run, among others.

City Tourism Office Jacqueline Veloso Antonio assured that a number of pre-fabricated trash bins have been placed at the Duma Comida venue at the Rizal Boulevard as she assured that the garbage problem, especially at the height of the Sandurot Festival, is being addressed.

She said collection of garbage is assured as personnel and garbage trucks and compactors are under strict instructions to remove the trash from the Duma Comida venue every night.

Antonio appealed to the public to show their support and appreciation to the Sandurot Festival presentation of the "story of Dumaguete", with the YATTA headed by Dessa Quesada-Palm in the lead, with Foundation University, Holy Cross High School, the MEV Dance Company, Silliman University, the Negros Oriental State University, and Barangays Calindagan and Piapi participating in the Paghimamat.

For the Pasigarbo and Pasundayag, the 11 participating contingents are Asian College, Piapi High School, Junob High School, Dumaguete City High School, Silliman University, Barangay Cantil-e, Barangay Junod, Barangay Looc, Barangay Daro and Barangay Banilad.

The opening salvo will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Rizal Boulevard for the Paghimamat, which will be immediately followed by the street dancing and finally, the showdown.

The city also announced it will deploy its two Lupad Dumaguete buses to the barangays for a free ride, especially for residents living in the outskirts.

Two routes have been laid out, one for the southern exterior barangays and the other, for the north. Four trips have been scheduled to the venue, starting at 10 a.m., and another four return trips, the latest at 8 p.m.

Residents who want to avail of this free service are urged to proceed to their respective barangay halls designated as pick-up points and on their return, to converge at the Quezon Park. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija -- Aries Toledo, the Education student from Central Luzon State University (CLSU) who earned a gold and bronze medals in two sports events in the recent South East Asian (SEA) Games, on Friday thanked his provincemates for their warm welcome.

Toledo, who got gold in decathlon and bronze in the 4x400-meter men's relay in the SEA Games, said the support he received inspires him to further work for his fellow Filipinos and the country.

Governor Czarina Umali personally handed a PHP100,000 cash incentive to Toledo along with a plaque of recognition.

Umali also gave Toledo and his parents t-shirts which bear the athlete's heroic feat.

"I am very happy because of the warm welcome by our provincemates," he said.

Toledo, the eldest in a brood of three, enjoys a government sports scholarship. During his free time, he drives a passenger tricycle to augment the family income. His father is also a tricycle driver.

Umali said the province shares in the honors Toledo brought to the country.

She promised to give Toledo additional financial support from the provincial government everytime he fights for the country.

Meanwhile, Toledo encouraged the youth to also harness their potentials, especially in sports. (PNA)

 



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

TUGUEGARAO CITY -- The chief of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) in Region 2 was shot dead Friday (Sept. 15) afternoon by still unidentified suspects while driving his Toyota Altis in Barangay Gonzaga Extension, Centro 10 here, police said.

Tuguegarao City Police Station (TCPS) chief, Supt. Edward Guzman, identified the victim as Atty. Neil Agustin, regional director of CSC-2.

Agustin was shot by riding-in-tandem suspects in the body and died on the spot, Guzman said.

Police are now conducting follow-up operations to determine the motive and identity the suspects. (PNA)

 



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

TUGUEGARAO CITY -- The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Region 2 here has issued a warning to fish transporters and dealers that it will now impose a ban on the retail of imported fish and fishery products.

The move is a priority of the BFAR national leadership pursuant to Fisheries Administrative Order 195.

Atty. Arsenio Bañares, officer in charge of Fisheries Management Regulatory and Enforcement Division of BFAR-2, mentioned during a meeting with transporters Thursday that the fishery products covered are what are commonly known in the wet markets as "frozen".

These are imported mackerel, bonito, squid, sardines, salmon and salmon head and pangasius or cream dory.

"The importation of these fishery products is not prohibited, but the regulation states that these should go only to institutional buyers such as canneries, restaurant chains and fish processing plants, not to wet markets," Bañares said.

He said the regulation aims to protect local fish producers and at the same time ensure good quality of fish in the wet markets.

While the order was issued way back 1999, the OIC said BFAR lacks personnel to enforce the law back then.

Also discussed during the meeting is the implementation of Republic Act 9147 (Conservation and Protection of Wildlife Resources and their Habitats) and FAO 233 governing trade of aquatic wildlife. Aquatic wildlife covers all species that are not farmed.

Speakers of the agency discussed relevant provisions of RA 10654, RA 9147, as well as CITES, covering the list of endangered and threatened fishery species.

Bañares said that fish transporters must secure a Local Transport Permit (LTP) for the shipment of fish and fishery products outside each province. The LTP can be secured in BFAR Provincial Fishery Offices in Aparri, Cagayan; San Mateo, Isabela; Diffun, Quirino and Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya as well as in its Regional Office.

Pursuant to FAO 233 and FAO 196, Bañares said the Quarantine Unit of the agency will strengthen existing checkpoints to check the entry and exit of fish and fishery products within Region 2. 

BFAR-2 Regional Director Dr. Milagros Morales said that fishery law enforcers of the agency are ready to impose the new directives.

She added the ban can translate to business opportunity for local fishermen and fish growers.

"To date, we are only 42 percent fish sufficient in the region, thus there is ample demand that fish farmers and fishermen can try to satisfy," Morales said. (MPrudencio/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BAGUIO CITY — The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is urging researchers of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to pursue more intensively  studies on Kalinga coffee in order to further improve the product, which has started to make a name in the market.

DOST-Cordillera Regional Director Victor Mariano, in his talk during a lecture series in Tabuk City, Kalinga that ended on Friday, explained the effect of research applications on Kalinga coffee, which is now widely sold and has been properly packed for public consumption.

Kalinga coffee is abundant in the province originally just growing in the forests and even along the riverbanks and creeks due to Kalinga's varied elevations.

At present, the province is known to produce the four coffee varieties – Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, and Liberia. With the help of government agencies working together, Kalinga's coffee industry can achieve a wider market locally and internationally.

Daisy Dasayon, Community Environment and Natural Resources officer (CENRO) in Pinukpuk, said the lecture of the DOST-CAR in partnership with the National Academy of Science and Technology Philippines (NAST-PH) was attended by government agency officials and representatives from the academe and local government units.

The activity urged scientists, academicians, and other sectors to conduct researches to promote and improve the Kalinga coffee product.

Alcala, according to Dasayon, said that in monitoring the area being studied, he worked with the community aside from conducting information, education and communication campaigns.

Dasayon said various topics were discussed including on Rafflesia, known for producing the largest individual flower on earth, and found in southeastern Asia, in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Rafflesia also found at the Balbalasang–Balbalan National Park in Kalinga could also be a subject of study by continuously monitoring its stages of development.

Other speakers presented researches done in the conservation and production of resources and for climate change mitigation, to allow the participants to get an idea on what studies and researches can be done in the province. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ILOILO CITY -- About 6,000 different species of tree seedlings were planted early Saturday as Iloilo province celebrates its annual "Fiesta sa Kakahuyan" festival.

"Fiesta sa Kakahuyan" is a yearly festival where Ilonggos promote the importance of forest preservation through a massive tree-planting activity. The province is currently celebrating its 18th year anniversary.

The tree planting was held Saturday at the river bank in Barangay Bongol and Balanac in Janiuay town.

Leading the activity are Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. and officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 6.

Around 1,000 employees of the provincial capitol, volunteers from other government agencies, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), non-government organizations, business sectors and other stakeholders, joined the activity.

Defensor stressed a united effort to help protect the environment. Earlier, the governor said the activity also continuously supported the Action for Re-greening and Transformation for Climate Change Adaptation (ART for CCA) program of the provincial government.

The province aims to plant 1.5 million trees annually, including fruit trees, in the different areas in the province, under the ART for CCA program.

Defensor added the province is now also gearing to shift to the massive planting of cacao and coffee species.

The province has allotted PHP10-million supplemental budget for this planned program. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The city government is staging the first-ever lechon festival to showcase and promote the local roasted pig products.

The event, dubbed as the 1st Asao Lechon Festival, will be held on October 5 at the Paseo del Mar, this city.

Raquel Rosaline Galdo, administrative officer of the Office of the City Veterinarian (OCVet), on Saturday said that 11 "lechoneros" have confirmed to join the event.

Lechoneros locally refers to businessmen engaged in the sale of roasted pig and cow.

Galdo said two awards, namely "best lechon presentation" and "best lechon taste," will be given to the winning participant.

She said the audience at the event will be allowed to have a free taste of the participants' roasted pig during the festival.

She said the 1st Asao Lechon Festival will form part of the activities of the 2017 Zamboanga Hermosa Festival.

The Hermosa Festival reels off October 1 and its highlight is on October 12, the feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar, the most revered saint of this city. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -- While the campaign continues against terrorists in adjacent area, the military in Lanao del Sur also is also resolving clan wars that affect Mindanao's peace and order.

On Wednesday, the Army's 6th Infantry (Redskin) Battalion, brought to peace table Moro families locked in 11 years of sporadic skirmishes that already claimed two lives from both sides.

Lt. Colonel Ruben Aquino, 6th IB battalion commander, successfully gathered the families Asraf Montañer and Mamarinta Macapodi Masacal at the Army base in Matling, Malabang, Lanao del Sur, about an hour drive to Marawi City where government forces have been fighting ISIS-inspired terrorists.

Witnessing the peace covenant signing were local officials, led by Lanao del Sur Boardmember Taha "Tanjie" P Macapodi and military officers.

The historic gathering marked the end of more than 10 years of bloody fighting between the Montañer-Masacal families.

Macapodi lauded the military for the efforts to bring the warring clans together and the stakeholders for giving peace a change.

"I laud the Montañer and Masacal clans for submitting themselves to amicable settlement and total peace in Malabang," the official said.

Macapodi reminded the now reconciled families that anybody who breaks the agreement will suffer the brunt of military action.

Aquino also congratulated the warring families for listening and giving peace a chance.

He reechoed the message of Colonel Jesus Sarsagat, commander of the 603rd Infantry Brigade that the younger generation of both clans are the end losers of this conflict, more known in Muslim communities as "rido" or clan war/family feud.

"The effects of the conflict are not for those who lost their lives, but to their children deprived of being raised by a strong family of Allah," Sarsagat said.

"In rido, we don't protect our family members instead we are endangering their lives and their future," Aquino said.

"Long time ago, man was able to go the moon," he said, adding that "why is it that because of rido you cannot go even to your neighboring barangays?"

With the successful mediation, Aquino said his unit will continue to perform its mandate for peace, security and further development in its area of operation.

More families locked in clan war are expected to be sitting across peace table inside the 6th IB headquarters, Aquino said.

To really make the reconciliation efforts effective and solemn, leaders of warring clans swore before the Holy Quran they will no longer use violence in settling misunderstanding.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY – Davao City has continued to see a downtrend in crime statistics particularly crimes against persons and property almost cutting half of the volume from January to August, this year , as against the same period in 2016.

In a comparative crime statistics released by the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) Thursday, the crime volume is down by 36 percent from 7,653 during the first eight months of 2016 to 5,634 in the same period this year or a decrease of 2,019.

In index crimes (crime against persons/property), crime incidents reduced 41 per cent from 1,927 from January to August 2016 to 1,143 for the same period this year.

DCPO reported a decrease of 22 per cent in non-index crimes, which included violations of special Laws like the illegal gambling, women and child abuse.

DCPO records show non-index crimes decreased from 5,726 in 2016 to 4,491 in 2017.

Police City Director Sr. Superintendent Alexander Tagum attributed the downtrend in crime incidents to maximum deployment and police visibility under its Oplan Iron City in all strategic points and places of convergence.

Tagum also factored in the police relentless campaign and operations against all forms of criminality with the support of the police auxiliaries and other security forces.

On Tuesday, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio cited the police for its work.She said she does expect zero crime in the city.

She credited the decrease in crime incident to the synergy between the city police, other units under the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

She said the full implementation of Oplan Iron City, a teamwork between the police and police auxiliaries deployed in strategic places to provide security cover thru static post, foot, bike, mobile, combat patrol accompanied by relentless anti-criminality operations of Oplan Bulabog (anti-crime), Oplan Lambat Bitag (road clearing operations), Oplan Double Barrel among others.

The mayor also cited the anti-terrorism campaign of the Task Forces Davao, noting that no bombing incident was recorded from the period of September 3, 2016 to September 3, 2017.

Duterte-Carpio was hoping the good work of the police and security forces would continue as the city eyes for the hosting of the Davao Regional Athletic Association Meet in preparation for the Palarong Pambansa in 2018. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Mayor Oscar Moreno has been ordered by Malacañang to answer an administrative complaint filed by a former village leader.

This was disclosed by the complainant, former Taglimao barangay chair William Guialani, who accused Moreno and three other City Hall officials of impropriety in releasing checks totaling P79 million sometime in 2015.

Reached for comment, Moreno confirmed that he has recently received an order from Deputy Executive Secretary Ryan Alvin Acosta, directing him to answer Guillane's allegations.

Moreno dismissed the complaint as premature, noting that although the COA finding was unfavorable to him, his administration has yet to conduct an exit conference with the auditors to clarify matters.

Moreno said the COA has never issued a notice of suspension or a notice of disallowance in connection with the release of the checks.

Date August 18 but received only by Moreno sometime this month, Acosta cited a report from the Commission on Audit, saying City Hall's actions pertaining to the questioned financial transaction appears to violate Circulars 2012-005 and 2009-006.

Guillane also named City Treasurer Glenn Bañez, City Accountant Beda Joy Elot and City Budget Officer Percy Salazar as respondents, but the Office of the President junked the complaint against them for lack of jurisdiction.

Moreno said he has already instructed his lawyer, Dale Bryan Mordeno, to immediately answer Malacañang's directive.

"All government transactions from the lowest to the highest levels are always audited by COA. And in the course of their duties, certain findings will come out," the mayor said. But what's most important is the law provides the agencies concerned ample course to check those findings." (PNA/Mark D. Francisco)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BUTUAN CITY—A team of police, military and coastguard personnel is helping secure the annual surfing competition on Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte, later this month.

At least 163 policemen, 21 Philippine Army soldiers and eight Philippine Coast Guard personnel will man the dedicated security team throughout the duration of the international surfing tournament, slated on the third week of the month, said Police Chief Supt. Rolando B. Felix, Police Regional Office-13 (PRO-13) director.

Felix said the team will complement local security forces under the Task Force Siargao headed by local and provincial officials.

Known as the country's surfing mecca, Siargao's annual surfing tournament attracts thousands of foreign and domestic tourists, including competitors from Australia, Indonesia, Japan and the United States of America.

Local security preparations will be headed by Mayor Jaime P. Rosillon of General Luna, where the famous Cloud Nine surfing break is located, and the Surigao del Norte Provincial Tourism office, officials said.

Felix said the security preparation is meant to "ensure the safety and well-being of the competitors and tourists as well."

"We are doubling all security efforts. In fact reserved forces are on standby and are ready to be mobilized to ensure a zero crime incident during the event," the police official said. (PNA/Noel B. Nalzaro)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BULUAN, Maguindanao -- The Maguindanao provincial government has extended livelihood assistance to two families whose breadwinners are awaiting execution in Saudi Arabia.

Gov. Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu told parents of Guiara Abdullah and Warda Mintang, both overseas Filipino workers, that the government is not abandoning them.

"This is the government's assistance to you so that you will earn a living," Mangudadatu told the beleaguered parents Wednesday after he handed over to them a pair of cattle for breeding and fattening projects.

Abdullah's mother said her daughter was wrongly accused of killing another Filipino worker in Saudi Arabia while the parents of Mintang said she was convicted for killing her Saudi employer who tried to rape her.

Mangudadatu said his administration has a comprehensive anti-human trafficking initiative by providing alternate livelihood assistance to Maguindanaons who were victims of illegal recruitment.

Other victims and parents of "Trafficking in Person" (TIP) have been earning a decent living out of the livelihood assistance provided by the provincial government, Mangudadatu said.

Some of them are now producing the iconic "Inaul" cloth ready for sale not only in Maguindanao but in other areas, especially in Manila.
Mangudadatu said orders for the famous Maguindanao cloth (Inaul) are pouring in to the benefit of Maguindanao women engaged in cloth production.
During the program that included "Inaul" exhibit, Mangudadatu also handed over PHP50,000 worth of food cart for rescued TIP victims.

"This is your government working for you, you can put up a variety store so you have fixed income," Mangudadatu told the beneficiaries.

The assistance program was in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DSWD-ARMM).(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao –- Police and military authorities have been hunting down two men on board a luxury vehicle who tried, but failed, to kill off-duty soldiers in an ambush in Maguindanao Wednesday, police said.

Capt. Arvin John Encinas, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said Thursday the Army and police personnel have joined forces to look for the suspects and the Toyota Innova they used in trying to execute the two soldiers.

The two, who were not identified by Encinas, were on board a motorbike in civilian clothes from Isulan, Sultan Kudarat to Cotabato City when the suspects on board a grey Toyota Innova opened fire upon reaching Guidulungan, Maguindanao at around 3 p.m.

Although they escaped alive, Encinas said one of the two soldiers sustained minor injury on his left leg.

Encinas said the soldiers who were armed with hand guns traded shots with the suspects. He said the suspects also chased the soldiers until they reach a police outpost.

The gunmen, Encinas said, backed off when they saw police officers from Guindulungan municipality were about to respond.

The Toyota Innova, without license plate, was seen speeding toward Datu Odin Sinsuat, also in Maguindanao.

"We are following up a lead, in due time the long arm of the law will catch up with the suspects," he said in a radio interview.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DATU PIANG, Maguindanao -- Police here said members of illegal drug syndicates operating in Maguindanao could be behind the murder of a village official who has been relentlessly campaigning against illegal drugs.

Senior Inspector Cesar Ibal, municipal police chief of Datu Piang, said investigation showed that those engaged in illegal drug trade in Datu Piang and nearby towns could be behind the death of Barangay Montay chair Kadatuan Masukat.

Masukat, who was on board his motorbike with his son, was shot dead by two gunmen riding in tandem on a motorbike using .45 caliber pistol Wednesday afternoon in Barangay Buayan, Datu Piang.

"He is an active supporter of police in the campaign against illegal drugs," Ibal told reporters. "He wanted to get rid of illegal drugs in his village because he wanted to ensure the future of young generation," Ibal said of the slain village official.

Masukat's son who was driving the motorbike escaped unharmed.

Quoting witnesses and relatives, Ibal said the village chair had been receiving threats to his life because of his no nonsense campaign against illegal drugs in the village.

"He really hates illegal drugs and vowed to stop peddlers from infiltrating his village," a witness told police investigators.

Ibal said other angle of the crime is also being looked into by police probers.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY – The Army's 10th Infantry Division on Thursday debunked accusations of the leftist groups that members of the CAFGU Active Auxiliary (CAA) or a paramilitary group were behind the killing of a lumad student last September 5 in Barangay Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao del Norte.

In a press statement released by the Army's 10th Infantry Division spokesperson Capt. Rhyan Batchar Thursday, the Army division based in Tuburan, Mawab, Compostela Valley Province reiterated its stand that the perpetrators were not members of the CAA or any paramilitary group sanctioned by the military.

Batchar said the 10th ID emphasized it only recognizes the police, CAA and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as the legitimate security forces while all others are considered illegal armed groups, if there are any.

"We shall wait for the investigations being undertaken by the police force which will eventually unmask and place in the bars of justice the real perpetrators of the killing of Bay-ao," Batchar said.

Batchar assured that the 60th Infantry Battalion who takes operational control of CAAs deployed within its area is fully cooperating with the Talaingod PNP and Davao del Norte Police Provincial Office (DNPPO) who are conducting investigations on the said case.

As this developed, the 10th ID leadership urged the alleged victims to substantiate their accusations that military personnel, whether CAA or active military members were involved to allow them to answer in the courts of justice.

The 10th ID emphasized it does not condone any violation of Human Rights by any of the soldiers.

Likewise, if any case soldiers are found to have committed violations thereto, the victims are assured and the people they serve that the leadership shall take serious actions against violators of HR, administratively or criminally.

According to Karapatan human rights group, 19-year-old Bay-ao, a student of the lumad-run Salugpongan Ta' Tanu Igkanugon Community Learning Center (STTICLC), was killed by alleged members of a paramilitary group in Talaingod.

Brig. Gen. Bienvenido Datuin, 10th ID assistant division commander, earlier debunked reports the killing of Bay-ao was perpetrated by the CAA.

Karapatan said the paramilitary groups and military troops continue to harass lumad communities in the hinterlands. Batchar said the 10th ID seriously took note of the allegations made by NDF-SMR (National Democratic Front – Southern Mindanao Region) allied organizations that a member of the CAA was involved in the death of Bay-ao.

Based on police reports, Batchar said five civilians who were onboard two motorcycles from Central Baugan, Brgy Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao del Norte were ambushed by 10 New People's Army (NPA) members belonging to Guerilla Front 55 at the vicinity of Sitio Mambandulan, Brgy Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao del Norte at around 7:50 a.m., September 5.

A victim identified as Tikoy Manampao suffered gunshot wounds but was immediately brought to the nearest hospital for medication. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY – Housing developers in Mindanao were awarded by the Pag-IBIG Fund for their accomplishments and support to the housing program of the agency.

A total of 15 housing developers were cited based on take-outs for the year 2017 during the Mindanao leg of the Home Lending Accomplishment Report (HOLAR) held at the Apo View Hotel Thursday.

Among those awarded were the 8990 Housing Development Corporation with projects in Davao and General Santos (Gensan) City; VCDU Realty Corporation in Butuan and Cagayan de Oro; Agan Land Corporation in Gensan; Jukens Builders and Trade - Cagayan de Oro; Gensan VSM Realty Corporation –Gensan; Moderno Citihomes Dev't. Corporation – Davao; Davao Joyful Homes Realty Corp. - Davao; AZ Developers Corporation – Tagum City; Prosperidad Real Estate Dev't., Inc – Butuan; Mediatrix Homes, Inc. - Zamboanga and Pagadian; Argusland, Inc. – Cagayan de Oro; HLC Construction & Dev't. Corporation – Gensan and Tagum; Sarangani Resources Corporation - Gensan; A Brown Company, Inc. – Cagayan de Oro; and Johndorf Ventures Corporation – Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Butuan.

Pag-IBIG Fund CEO Acmad Rizaldy Moti said the Mindanao leg of the HOLAR forum series has been convened since the appointment of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairperson Eduardo D. del Rosario in July.

"We conducted activities such as these in line with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's directive to provide our stakeholders with transparency in our operations and to support his call to address the country's housing backlog. This is also an opportunity for us to encourage our developers to share in Secretary del Rosario's thrust of upholding the mandate and mission of HUDCC to provide adequate and affordable housing to low-income families," Moti said.

Moti said the next HOLAR forums will be held in South Luzon, Visayas, and North Luzon.

Aside from the 15 housing developers, the Fund also gave special recognition to the local government unit of Dangcagan in Bukidnon and Telow Brothers Inc. for collaborating with the Pag-IBIG fund to initiate the realization of the Sto. Nino Heights project in Poblacion, Dangcagan.

A Brown Company Inc. branch in Cagayan de Oro was awarded best in performing loans ratio; 8990 Housing Development Corporation in Davao for best in Conversion Performance Ratio; and, VCDU Realty Corporation in Butuan and Cagayan de Oro for best in performing accounts ratio. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A total of 240 of the 1,750 drug-affected barangays had been cleared of illegal drugs brought about by the government's relentless campaign in Region 9, a top police official announced Thursday.

Chief Supt. Billy Beltran, Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) director, said the 240 villages were declared by the Barangay Anti-Drug Council (Badac) as cleared of illegal drugs as of Monday, September 11.

Beltran said the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Police Office (ZDSPPO) has the highest number of illegal drugs cleared barangays at 111.

It is followed by Zamboanga del Norte Provincial Police Office (ZDNPPO) with 103 cleared barangays; Zamboanga Sibugay Provincial Police Office (ZSPPO) with 25; Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO), one; and, Isabela City Police Office (ICPO), zero.

Beltran disclosed that 618 of the 1,750 drug affected barangays are in Zamboanga del Norte.

He said the other drug affected barangays are in the following areas: Zamboanga del Sur, 613; Zamboanga Sibugay, 377; Zamboanga City, 97; and, Isabela City, 45.

There are 1,904 barangays in the region and these are: Zamboanga del Norte, 691; Zamboanga del Sur, 681; Zamboanga Sibugay, 389; Zamboanga City, 98; and, Iabela City, 45.

Beltran said 154 of the 1,904 barangays are listed by the BADAC as drug unaffected barangays, namely: Zamboanga del Norte, 73; Zamboanga del Sur, 68; Zamboanga Sibugay, 12; Zamboanga City, one; and, Isabela City, zero. (TPGJR/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAGUPAN CITY -- The City Council here passed a resolution on Wednesday recommending to Mayor Belen Fernandez that drug surrenderers who will soon graduate from drug rehabilitation program be given the highest preference for job placement in the city government's various infrastructure projects.

Councilor Dennis Canto, who proposed the resolution, said there are some 1,300 drug surrenderers in Dagupan and most of them are now undergoing drug rehabilitation either as in-patients of the Dagupan Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (DTRC), out-patients or on community-based rehabilitation.

He said upon completion of their rehabilitation, these people need jobs in order to support themselves and their families. 

Canto said Dagupan City has launched many infrastructure projects for the past three years, like construction and elevation of roads, school buildings, health centers, covered courts, evacuation centers and the like that need manpower.

Erjohn Pangilinan, designated  focal person on the Masa Masid (Mamamayan Ayaw sa Anomalya, Mamamayan Ayaw sa Droga) program, said rehabilitation therapy for confessed drug users started in July in Barangay Lucao.

Pangilinan said the program is already being implemented in several barangays and hopefully all over Dagupan by December this year. 

He assured that once the drug surrenderers complete their rehabilitation and proven they are no longer using illegal substances, their names will be finally removed from the watchlist of the Philippine Drug Enforcement  Agency (PDEA).

He added that they will also be recommended to undergo training under the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA) so that they can be employed locally and overseas or be able to have their own income-generating involvements.  (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

LEGAZPI CITY --  The Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) in Albay fully supports the bill passed recently by the House of Representatives postponing the October 2017 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan election next year.

Albay ABC president Joseph Philip Lee believes that postponement of the barangay elections is an opportunity for all incumbent barangay officials to render more efficient and productive services to their constituents.

Lee, in an interview on Thursday, said the postponement of the election will give incumbent barangay officials the opportunity to pursue development projects and services needed by their respective constituents.

 "This is time and a chance to make it up with their constituents," he said.

The extension of service will help the people to gauge and decide whether these village officials indeed deserve to be re-elected or not, he added.

"We need to work better for the benefit of the people. Let's make this extension a worthy and meaningful time for public service," he said.

He believes many of these barangay officials are serving with sincerity and dedication.

"Let's just wait for the law postponing the election set on Oct. 23 this year. Meanwhile, let's just do our job --- to serve our people," Lee added.

So far, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Bicol is still preparing for the upcoming barangay and SK elections pending the passage of a law for its postponement. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Second District Rep. Celso Lobregat on Thursday explained his decision why he supported the position of the House of Representatives' leadership to just allocate PhP1,000 budget to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for the year 2018.

Lobregat said the CHR has to prove its worth and impartiality in the conduct of investigation on alleged human rights violations by the enemies of the state and "not to pin down the law enforcers, like policemen and soldiers who maintain peace and order and defending the country."

Lobregat noted the CHR did not take actions on human rights violations committed by the terrorists and rebels such as in the case of the 2013 Zamboanga siege, the 2015 Mamasapano incident and the Marawi siege.

He also cited that the beheading of soldiers and kidnappings in Mindanao are among the human rights violations committed by terrorists and rebels that were not acted upon by the CHR.

He added that "the issue here is not about the agency itself, but about the position and functions of the head of CHR and its personnel who are reportedly getting bias with the judgment on the present intensified campaign against drugs by the Duterte administration." (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Media workers here and other parts of Region 12 may still access police blotters and other related reports, but with some restrictions on sensitive matters and cases that are still under investigation.ief Supt. Cedrick Train, Region 12 police director, made the clarification on Friday in the wake of protests from media groups over a directive issued by Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald dela Rosa withholding police spot reports from the media.

Police units were ordered instead to issue press releases as alternative to the sport reports and blotters.

The police official explained that reporters are not barred from getting "general information" regarding police operations and cases handled by their units.

Train said what the PNP chief meant with his order was to delay the releasing of information on cases that are still pending investigation and those subject to ongoing follow-up operations.

"There had been cases wherein investigations were compromised and some suspects were able to elude arrest due to the premature release of the reports, and we want to avoid that," he said.

The police official countered criticisms that the directive was meant to "sanitize" reports and other information that would be released to the public by the media.

He said their personnel are mandated to make accurate and credible reports, especially on crime statistics.

Train said the PNP chief's order mainly complements with such mandate and meant to enhance the credibility of the PNP.

"It's not also proper to us to hastily release an information and take them back later on because they're incorrect," he said.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has urged Dela Rosa to "immediately rescind what is clearly an illegal order to withhold spot reports from media."

It urged police commanders not to obey the order, noting that a police spot report is a "public document that should be available to everyone, not just media, in the principle of transparency and accountability."

Linda Netnet Ortiz, chair of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas chapter here, said they are strongly opposing the PNP chief's order as it curtails the public's access to information on police operations.

"We, the media, are the voice, eyes, and ears of the public so those information should not be barred from us," she said in an interview over TV Patrol Socsksargen.

Emir Bariquit, chief reporter of the Radio Mindanao Network's station dxMD, said "hiding" police blotters from the media will not do any good for police units.

He said there were cases in the past wherein some police personnel were angered by media reports that were supposedly inaccurate and did not favor them.

"This is the chance for the police to make their reports better so we can also make the right reports to the public," he added.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The city government temporarily stopped on Friday the operations of all legal numbers game products of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in the city due to the lack of official concurrence from the city council.

City Mayor Ronnel Rivera said he issued a cease and desist order against all PCSO-authorized outlets within the city's 26 barangays in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 9649, which amended the city charter.

He said the order specifically covers the operation of all outlets for Lotto, Sweepstakes, Keno and the Small Town Lottery (STL).

Section 2 of RA 9649 added a new section, 101-A, to RA 5412 or the city charter, requiring the prior concurrence of the city government for the "establishment and/or operation of any form of gambling authorized under existing laws."

It specifically covered the operation of legal numbers game products of the PCSO and gaming establishments or outlets authorized by the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR).

The mayor said the formal concurrence for the operations of PCSO games will come from the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) or the city council.

He said the PCSO, through its chairman Jose Jorge Corpuz, sent a letter to his office on Aug. 17 requesting the local government's concurrence for the continuing operations of its numbers game products in the area.

Rivera said his office forwarded to the city council last Aug. 29 an endorsement of the request.

He expects the council to formally deliberate and decide on the matter during its regular session on Tuesday next week.

"As of the moment, our decision is to have them cease and desist with their operations for formality with the SP," he said in an interview aired over a local television station.

The mayor said he directed the City Permits and Licensing Division to ensure that the cease and desist order is properly implemented and complied with by the outlets and operators.

Outlets and operators who will not comply with the order would be subjected to police operations, he said.

Last month, the SP called for the stoppage of STL operations in the city due to the lack of official concurrence from the local government.

In a resolution, it declared the operations of PCSO's authorized local franchise, Trento Gaming Corporation, as illegal and directed the city police to stop its operations.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Police and military authorities have readied security plan to ensure the peaceful and orderly celebration of the 2017 Zamboanga Hermosa Festival.

This, as the city government has lined up activities to mark this year's festival, the highlight of which is the feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar on October 12, the most revered saint of this city.

Policemen and soldiers will be deployed in strategic areas to thwart any attempt by lawless elements to disrupt the celebration.

On Friday, Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar issued Executive Order No. 294-2017, which specifies measures that are prohibited to be used and bring in the venues of the different activities as part of the security measures.

Salazar's EO prohibits the use of hooded jacket, baseball, backpacks and parking of all types of vehicles in all venues of the activities.

The Zamboanga Hermosa Festival will kick-off with the Smoke Out Zamboanga, a grilled food fiesta, and the Grand Midnight Sale on September 30.

It will be followed by the inter-barangay bandoreal competition and pink parade on the following day.

There will be also daily novena mass from October 3 to 11 at the Fort Pilar shrine.

The other activities will include Regatta, parade of lights, street dance competition and fiesta main program and the grand procession.

On the other hand, the City Council has passed a resolution seeking to "relax" the implementation of the National Helmet Law within the eight-kilometer radius of this city.

The resolution takes effect Friday, September 15, until October 31.

The aim of the City Council is to prevent possible atrocities by motorcycle-riding lawless elements.

The feast of Our Lady of the Pillar draws thousands of visitors, including foreigners, into this city every October. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

KORONADAL CITY -- The city government has practically remained drug-free based on results of the latest random drug tests for its officials and employees.

Cyrus Urbano, city administrator, said Friday all city officials and employees who underwent the annual drug tests last Sept. 8 have yielded negative of using illegal drugs or any prohibited substance.

He said a total of 175 personnel were randomly selected for the tests, which was facilitated anew by personnel from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Region 12.

"We already received the results and we're very happy that they were all negative," Urbano said.

He said the favorable test results mainly meant that there are no drug users among their ranks and that the city government remains a drug-free institution.

As ordered by City Mayor Peter Miguel, Urbano said the tests were all unannounced to ensure the credibility of the results.

Dr. Glorio Sandig, City Anti-Drug Abuse Council action officer, said they made sure that none among their personnel had no prior information regarding the scheduled tests.

He said the subject employees were initially called by their human resources management officer to go to the city hall's conference room.

"They were not allowed to go out of the room and we later announced that they would undergo drug tests. So it's really a surprise test," he said.

Sandig said another round of tests would soon be conducted for 18 more employees who were pre-selected but we're not available for last week's tests due to various reasons.

In the past years, the local government had dismissed several employees after being found positive of using illegal drugs.

Last year, none among the city officials and employees who were subjected to the tests yielded positive of drug use.

The city government had been conducting annual "surprise" random drug tests for its officials and employees in the last four years.

The move was in support of the national government continuing campaign against illegal drugs.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BALANGKAYAN, Eastern Samar -- Vice-President Leni Robredo is overwhelmed with the public outrage over House of Representative's approval of PHP1,000 budget for the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) next year.

The Vice President said expressing sentiments and comments over the action of Congress is a right of every individual.

Robredo, who was in Eastern Samar Thursday afternoon for a dialogue with poor communities, said the strong public objection to the action of lawmakers is crucial to keeping public officials and institutions accountable.

Citizens immediately voiced disappointment on social media over the move of the lawmakers to allocate only PHP1,000 budget to the CHR for 2018.

The budget was approved by 119 congressmen while only 32 voted against the drastic cut from the CHR's proposed PHP678 million.

Lawmakers who approved the budget said the CHR failed to do its job and protected the human rights of criminals rather than the victims.
In her statement released after Congress approved the budget, Robredo described the action of Congress as a disrespect to the Constitution and to human rights of every Filipino, a threat to democracy and an act similar to the abolition of the human rights body.

Senators, however, vowed to fight to restore the original proposed budget of the agency.

The Senate on Monday approved the CHR's budget of PHP678 million lower to its present 2017 allocation of PHP749 million.

The budget of CHR still need to go to the bicameral committee wherein members of Congress and Senate needs to reconcile the approved budget. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

TACLOBAN CITY-- Eastern Visayas region is eyeing a PHP6.89 billion budget in the next two years to finance road projects leading to various industries and economic zones.

For 2018, the central government has approved PHP558.97 million for 10 projects dubbed as "Roads Leveraging Linkages for Industry and Trade" (ROLL IT) Program, a convergence between the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Submitted for 2019 funding are 42 roads with a total budget requirement of PHP6.33 billion.

"The priorities are the roads leading to areas with processing activities or major sources of raw materials. This is the basic concept of the project," said DTI Eastern Visayas Regional Director Cynthia Nierras in an interview Friday.

In Naval, Biliran, up for implementation next year are upgrading of Caraycaray-Cabungaan Libton Road, NRJ Agpangi connecting to Pongo subvillage Road, NRJ villa Consuelo connecting to Libtong Road, Villa Caneja connecting to Kahukaw subvillage Road, and Villa Caneja-Anislagan Road.

Other projects include improvement of access road from national highway to Iberan village in Salcedo, Eastern Samar; Divisoria-Langit-San Antonio Farm-San Diego-Sto. Niño Road in Alangalang, Leyte; Minuhang-Balud and Balud-Duka Road in Barugo, Leyte; Ichon-Sindangan-Guinabonan-Maningning Road in Macrohon and Malitbog, Southern Leyte; and Road from Patong-Tuburan-Ilaya-Nava-San Juan in Southern Leyte.

The DTI and DPWH have yet to release the list for 2019 projects.

The initiative is patterned after the Department of Tourism - DPWH Convergence Program or the Tourism Road Infrastructure Program that resulted to the upgrading of roads leading to tourist destinations.

In a statement, DPWH Regional Director Edgar Tabacon said it is also timely as a fulfillment to the promise of golden age of infrastructure for the Philippines by the Duterte Administration.

"This would create the opportunity to utilize the projected substantial increase in the budget for infrastructure into the development of complementary networks of regional and local roads that will connect to, and optimize the use of, the improved national roads system," Tabacon said.

Priority industries and activities are those with high potentials to globally competitive, innovative and resilient and those that can generate jobs and create spill-over effects to other industries and economic activities. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY -- The Home Development Mutual Fund, otherwise known as Pag-IBIG Fund, aims a P100 billion housing portfolio in the next five years.

This was disclosed Thursday by the Fund's chief executive officer Rizaldy Acmad Moti, saying the target could fund 100,000 houses yearly. The Fund has a take-out target of P65 billion this year.

Moti said the Fund would want to maximize countryside projects in tie up with the local government units, the institutions and similar groups.

"These are the areas that are underserved and unserved and will never have subdivisions," he said.

This is basically the reason that prompted the Fund to seek for the support of the local government leaders who would want to provide quality housing at affordable rates to their constituents.

This has already drew the interest of the Tawi-Tawi LGU after seeing the projects in other areas with affordable rates and bigger in area.

In Mindanao, Moti said, there are already existing projects under the program which was launched in 2011-2012 citing for instance the Dole Philippines project for their employees.

Dole donated the land for the housing projects of their employees. Another is the Dangkagan LGU in Bukidnon and another LGU in Compostela Valley Province, LGU Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental, just to name a few, he said.

The Fund is also pushing for an increase in the number of housing borrowers in Mindanao with an aim for the island to become the frontrunner of delivering more housing to members.

Moti said he is optimistic about meeting this year's target of P8.6 billion, noting that there is a surge of housing needs especially in Northern Mindanao.

He said that in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro areas, there is a huge spike in the take out of loans given huge demand for housing.

With the Marawi incident, Moti said the moneyed Maranaos are moving in these areas where they could build new homes.

As to the Pag-IBIG members in Marawi, Moti said the Fund is in talks with the local government unit and the Marawi State University for housing projects of their employees in the area.

Although the government is doing a rehabilitation project spearheaded by the Housing Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), the Fund will complement by offering housing projects to the 3,000 members of both the Marawi LGU and the MSU employees.

On the other hand, Moti said that with the convergence of the housing agencies of the government, the Fund is closely coordinating with the Land Registration Authority and the Housing Land Use Regulatory Board for faster processing of documents from two to three years to less than five months. (Digna D. Banzon/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – Validators of the Department of Interior and Local Government-National Capital Region (DILG-NCR) on the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) for 2017 were in this city recently to strengthen reliability of data gathered during the regional assessment.

City Information Officer Richard Ligad said Wednesday the validators came not to nullify earlier findings, but to strengthen and support the recommendation that Puerto Princesa be included in the list of the SGLG.

Ligad disclosed that the city underwent three validation processes, such as site visits in important and selected facilities, document reviews, and interviews.

Among those visited were the residential care facilities of Bagong Pag-Asa Youth Rehabilitation Center, Bantay Bata Group Home (BBGH) of Boys and Girls in Barangay Mangingisda, sanitary land fill in Barangay Sta. Lourdes, and the City Health Office (CHO) in Mendoza Park.

The CHO was visited to inspect PhilHealth accreditations of TB DOTS and primary care benefits.

Ligad said the validators lauded tha hazard and disaster markers in Puerto Princesa as they are both in English and Filipino languages, and some are even in the Cuyunon dialect.

Also checked were the evacuation centers, risk reduction equipments for rescue missions, the City Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO), and even the Citizen's Charter that indicates three steps for the release of Mayor's Permit.

The validators also checked the computerized tracking system of the city called the Electronic Track Revenue Assessment and Collection System. The last to be validated, Ligad added, was the drug clearing operations in barangays of the city. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CITY OF ILAGAN, Isabela -- The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is providing assistance to Local Government Units (LGUs) in establishing evacuation centers as part of its program strengthening disaster preparedness.

DILG-Isabela Director Elpidio Durwin said that through the then Bottom Up Budgeting (BUB) program, now renamed Assistance to Municipalities, at least six LGUs in Isabela were provided funding assistance for the construction of evacuation centers.

Durwin said the municipalities of Quezon, Angadanan and several other municipalities were given funding assistance for the project. He said more LGUs would be funded soon in order to construct their own evacuation centers.

Aside from the DILG-funded evacuation centers, two evacuation centers have been completed, three are still ongoing construction at the capitol compound and Dinapigue town. The construction of three more evacuation centers are ongoing at the coastal towns of Maconacon, Divilacan, and Palanan.

The three are expected to be completed within the end of the year, according to the Provincial Engineering Office. Provincial Engineer Virgilio Lorenzo said the provincial-funded evacuation centers are equipped with water system and generators and are typhoon-proof. (PNA)

* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DUMAGUETE CITY – Senior  Supt. Edwin Portento, newly-installed acting Philippine National Police (PNP) provincial director of Negros Oriental, on Wednesday assured the media here that they will still have access to police reports, especially on criminality.

Portento gave the assurance during a Kapihan sa PIA forum at which members of the Dumaguete media took turns in asking him if a supposed order of the PNP Chief, Director General Ronald dela Rosa, to withhold spot reports from the media, which the PNP Regional Office 7 in Cebu City also adopted, will also apply here.

According to Portento, what cannot be shared with the media is the formal investigation report to be submitted to higher headquarters but the basic information/details of a particular incident may still be shared with the reporters.

The Negros Oriental PNP Provincial Office (NORPPO), at the time, headed then by Sr. Supt. Harris Fama, had introduced a practice of sending text blast messages from the different police stations to the media to save the latter from unnecessary trips to the other towns and cities.

The text blast was then adopted by Fama's successor, Sr. Supt. Henry Biñas, until he was re-assigned to Iloilo City.

When Portento assumed the post vacated by Sr. Supt. Biñas, the text blast continued for days until dela Rosa's order came out this week, and by then the police reports through text messaging had stopped.

Local media practitioners pointed out that a police report, especially a police blotter entry, is a public document that should be shared to the public in the spirit of transparency and accountability.

Earlier suggestions of sending press releases instead of the immediate spot reports or text blast messages were not welcomed by the local media, saying that it defeats the timeliness of the news because these have to get the approval of superior police officers.

A press release may also be "biased" and/or perhaps slanted, some reporters here claimed.

But Portento agreed that the public has the right to know what is going on in the community.

Also, the different police stations, which he said have their own public information officers, may share the general information that is necessary, Portento added. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

LAOAG CITY — Ilocos Norte's Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO) has completed its 8,000-hectare reforestation project this year in support of the National Greening Program (NGP).

Hassler Garalde of ENRO confirmed this Wednesday, adding that they have engaged people's organizations and private groups and individuals in a massive tree planting program that forms part of developing the "green wall" of the province.

As one of top priority programs of the provincial government, the strengthening of the green wall of Ilocos Norte was launched two years ago, aiming to plant more trees in the province's idle lands particularly those near watersheds, rivers and creeks.

From an initial planting of 150,000 trees in 2016, the provincial government aims to increase the number by up to 400 percent in 2020.

In addition, the enhanced NGP in Ilocos Norte has also focused on lowland rehabilitation by planting more bamboo and mangroves in the low-lying areas of the province.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has allocated more than Php 104.5 million for this purpose, covering 2,213 hectares. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

LAOAG CITY -- A 51-year-old woman died instantly and her husband injured in a loud explosion inside their home in Barangay 22, this city on Thursday morning, authorities said.

Neighbors of the victims said they are preparing breakfast when they heard a loud explosion at the porch of Noemi Fiesta and husband Cresencio.

One of the witnesses said Noemi was holding a box at their porch when it exploded in front of her. Her husband who is a few steps away was also injured in the different parts of his body.

As of this posting, investigators are still processing pieces of evidence to determine what caused the blast. Several fragments of still unidentified explosive device were recovered at the crime scene.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – The local court here recently postponed the arraignment of Vice Mayor Luis Marcaida III, who is now detained at the Puerto Princesa City Jail (PPCJ) following a drug raid in his home almost two weeks ago.

Marcaida, who was supposed to be arraigned on September 12 at Branch 49 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC), had to wait before he is formally read the criminal charges against him as his lawyer wanted to first file a motion to quash the search warrant that a Manila court had issued against him.

"There was supposed to be an arraignment but I requested to defer it because I will be filing a motion to quash the search warrant, suppress evidence, and a motion to quash information," said Marcaida's lawyer, Zoilo Cruzat on Tuesday.

Marcaida's camp was given five days to file the motions, Cruzat added.

Marcaida is facing possible charges of illegal possession of drugs, firearms and ammunitions, as well as incendiary devices.

Joint operatives of the Philippine National Police in Camp Crame and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) found and seized them in his home in Jacana Road, Barangay Bancao-Bancao on the morning of September 4. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BURAUEN, Leyte -- Gone are the days when locals could still see hornbills in a village named after the bird.

Young dwellers in Kalaw, an upland village in this town have never seen a hornbill as human activities have driven them to extinction. Kalaw is also the local name of the forest-dwelling bird.

The farming village, with a population of 450, is about 18 kilometres away from the town center.

"In 1960s to 1970s, there were many hornbills here. I was still young at that time, but I remember seeing them. They started to disappear in the 1980s," recalled Kalaw village chief Noel Rellesiva, 59.

"It is sad to know that the people here, especially the young ones were not able to see the actual hornbills. They can only be seen in books and online images," he added.

Rellesiva said that hunting and widespread loss of habitat due to illegal logging, conversion of forest lands to agriculture area, and building of houses resulted in the bird's disappearance.

"I am 33 years old now and ever since I was born, I did not remember seeing such kind of bird," shared Jonadel Polancos, a resident of Kalaw village.

Department Environment and Natural Resources Eastern Visayas regional technical director Carlito Tuballa said there are two major reasons why hornbills became extinct - population growth and destruction of their natural habitat.

"Every wildlife is sensitive and so are the hornbills. Every human intervention, they will immediately leave the area. In fact, in some violent communities, they are the ones causing it to flee. They hunt them that is why they get out from the place," he explained.

He asked city folks not to keep hornbills as pets. He said that males of some hornbill species are known to feed their nesting mates. If one is captured, the entire family suffers.

The said species of large hornbills is endemic here in the Philippines. It has been often called "the clock of the mountains" because of its periodic noontime call.

Rellesiva recalled a story of a man who died and the locals were able to tell the police about the time of its death because they remembered the moment when hornbills made a sound.

Philippine Hornbill is classified as near threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list. Republic Act No. 9147 or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act prohibits hunting of hornbills. (with reports from Madelene B. Perez, OJT/PNA



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BAGUIO CITY – Councilor Elaine Sembrano said that the City Council has approved on first reading a proposed ordinance mandating all the 128 barangays here to formulate their integrated short and medium-term health development plans as part of their annually submitted barangay development plans. 

Sembrano, who authored the ordinance, said once approved, the barangay development plans will not be considered complete if there is no health development plan included in the submission.

In the proposed ordinance, the integrated barangay health development plan shall be consistent with the basic services and facilities that a barangay is mandated to provide. These are:

Infectious disease prevention and control, maternal and child health, prevention of non-communicable disease; adolescent health development; health of the elderly and environmental health and sanitation, barangay nutrition action plan;

Disaster prevention and response; including disease outbreak and epidemics; identification and maintenance of evacuation centers in case of calamities; purchase and maintenance of emergency transport vehicles or setting up of community-based emergency transportation facilities; construction, maintenance and repair of water and sewer systems as well as power and communication facilities;

Support for community health volunteers or teams; solid waste management which may include purchase of related equipment and facilities and identification or purchase of lots for the construction; and maintenance of barangay health stations and similar health facilities.

The barangays will be assisted by the City Health Services Office and the City Planning and Development Office in the crafting of their barangay plans to ensure that plans, programs, projects and activities are in harmony with the local and national health development agenda.

Under the proposal, barangay programs, projects and activities relative to health services and facilities that seek to be funded from the city's Annual Investment Plan (AIP) or from the budget of the City Health Services Office must be stated in the integrated barangay health development plan.

The proposed ordinance explained that the general welfare clause of the Local Government Code provides that every local government unit shall exercise the power expressly granted, those necessarily implied therefrom as well as powers necessary, appropriate or incidental for its efficient and effective governance and those which are essential to the promotion of the public's general welfare. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ILOILO CITY -- A job contractor working for the city government here was fired after he was apprehended along with 11 others in a pot session inside a private vehicle in Barangay San Jose, Arevalo district here Wednesday afternoon.

City Administrator Lawyer Hernando Galvez on Thursday confirmed the termination of 37-year old Noel Uy from Brgy. General Hughes, City Proper district who ironically was assigned at the office of the Iloilo City Anti-Smoking Task Force (ICAST) for almost two years now.

His contract, which is renewed every month, was supposed to end this October 31.

"As directed before by Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, it was incorporated in the job contract that the services of a job contractor shall be immediately terminated upon commission of any offense or act, which if done by a regular employee is considered administrative offenses or punishable under the Revised Penal Code of any laws inclusive of the Republic Act 9165," he said.

Meantime, ICAST executive director Iñigo Garingalao, saddened by what happened, immediately ordered all the remaining 24 employees under his office to also submit themselves to a drug test on Thursday following the incident.

He likewise ordered  the recall of all ICAST paraphernalia in the possession of Uy.

Garingalao said that Uy and other members of the task force were supposed to conduct an operation Wednesday afternoon. Uy also signed in their logbook but he was no longer around when the group was about to leave around 2:00 p.m.

He only heard over the radio that he was caught in a pot session inside a parked van along the circumferential road in Brgy. San Jose.

Uy was never subjected to the "Oplan Tokhang" of the Philippine National Police (PNP), he said.

"He is a non-smoker. Smoking is said to be the first substance to be abused before drugs although it is not a hard and fast rule," Garingalao said.

Also arrested by the combined group of the Regional Drugs Enforcement Unit (RDEU) and Iloilo City Police Stations 5 and 6 were Hamlin Querubin, 40, from Brgy. Don Candido, Molo; Noel Dañocup, 36 of Alta Tierra Village, Giemar Ric Bachoco, 35 from Brgy. Jalandoni and Jessie Rey Cantana, 38 all from Jaro district; Ma. Georgina Therese Rosales, 30 from Brgy, Rizal, Lapaz; Troy Lacson, 27 and Paolo Gonzales, 32 all from Zarraga, Iloilo; Loreto Alison, 38 and Chino Alvarez from Oton town; and Ma.Salvacion Juanga, 41 and Rodolfo Juanga, 46 both from Dingle, Iloilo.

Querubin and Dañocup were the original subject of the buy-bust operation, which led to the arrest of the 10 other suspects who were in the alleged "mobile drug den".

The operating team also recovered from Querubin, allegedly connected with the Prevendido Drug Group, 14 plastic sachets of suspected shabu.

The 12 suspects are detained at the lock up cell of the Arevalo Police Station.

They will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ILOILO CITY -- The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO6) is urging the support of the public in its fund-raising activity in support of law enforcers who have been charged administratively while in the performance of duty.

PRO 6 spokesperson Supt. Gilbert Gorero on Thursday said that the run-for-a-cause dubbed as "Dalagan Suporta sa Kapulisan" was conceptualized together with the Regional Advisory Council (RAC) for Police Transformation and Development.

It was initiated following the dismissal of Chief Inspector Charlie Sustento and his men but generated an "overwhelming sympathy and support from the community," he said.

Sustento is a bemedalled policeman previously assigned as chief of the Ajuy municipal police station and team leader of the Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU).

The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered his dismissal for grave misconduct and conduct unbecoming of a police officer.

Gorero said the fun run slated this September 23, from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., will be held simultaneously in different provinces of Western Visayas.

Those who are interested to join are urged to register. For five kilometers, the registration fee will  PHP150 for regular runners and PHP75 for students.

Registration fee for the three-kilometer run will be PHP100 for regular and PHP50 for students. T-shirts are also available at PHP250 each.

Gorero said the proceeds of the run will be used solely for the legal battle of policemen. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

MABALACAT CITY, Pampanga -- The field monitoring on the functionality of the Local Council for the Protection of Children (LCPC) of the cities and municipalities of Pampanga started here on Thursday to measure the child-friendly governance status of local government units (LGUs).

The LCPC aims to protect the vulnerability of every child to any form of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Elizabeth E. Baybayan, provincial social welfare and development officer,  said that monitoring the functionality of the council is crucial to sustaining national efforts in the localization of the National Strategic Framework for Plan Development for Children  and the Provincial Code for children.

Citing the guidelines, she said the LCPC should conduct regular or special meetings to discuss or tackle program implementation strategies, issues and problems on children that should be given utmost attention or solution and monitoring  of children's situations that are being implemented in the locality to ensure it is responsible in planning and  spearheading  programs for children in the locality.

Baybayan said the LCPC monitoring is expected to end in November 2017 but will be implemented yearly.

In line with the objective to make the province child- friendly, the Provincial Council for the Protection of Children (PCPC) under the chairmanship of Governor Lilia Pineda also assured special protection and rights to the Capampangan children.

Executive  Order No. 02-2016  mandates that the monitoring  team will be chaired by the Department  of Interior and Local Government (DILG) provincial director, while its members should consist of representatives from the Philippine National  Police (PNP), Provincial Planning  and Development Office (PPDO), Department of Education Division  of Pampanga, Provincial Health Office (PHO), PSWDO, Organization from International Justice Mission (IJM), academe representative from Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University (DHVTSU),  and non-government and faith-based organizations. (PNA



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique -- San Jose de Buenavista Mayor Elmer Untaran on Thursday said the PHP160M boulevard being constructed here will be the next tourist attraction in his hometown.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Barangay Comon to Barangay San Pedro coastal road upgrading project was held on Wednesday and construction started on Thursday by the International Builders Corporation (IBS).

The road project is expected to be completed in a year.

The road has a length of 4.1 kilometers spanning along the beautiful beach of San Jose de Buenavista which is being frequented by people who love to swim and is also a popular place to hold family picnic.

The coastal road upgrading project is the realization of a long-time dream of Antiquenos to have a boulevard and concrete coastal road in the area.

Antique Gov. Rhodora J Cadiao together with Mayor Elmer Untaran, Vice Governor Edgar Denosta and former Governor Salvacion Zaldivar Perez, who represented Senator Loren Legarda led the groundbreaking.

Cadiao on Wednesday said this will be a new tourist attraction in Antique, now considered as the "rising star" of Western Visayas due to numerous infrastructure development. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CEBU CITY -- The Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) will conduct the random drug testing of teachers in the municipalities of Cebu Province starting next week.

CPADAO chief Ivy Durano Meca on Thursday said that Cebu Province Schools Division superintendent Dr. Rhea Mar Angtud has given them authority to carry out the drug tests for teaching and non-teaching staff of public schools in the province.

Meca said the drug testing will be conducted in accordance with the guidelines set by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Teachers who will be found positive of drug use will be given due process and will have to undergo a six-month rehabilitation program.

The CPADAO will also conduct surprise drug tests in all police stations and units under the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO), which has also authorized the local anti-drug agency to carry out the tests on law enforcers.

Meca said the drug testing on policemen is part of the CPPO's internal cleansing program.

Meanwhile, a teacher of the Alaska-Mambaling Elementary School was ordered by the Department of Education's (DepED) Cebu City Schools Division to submit a valid explanation on why he refused to undergo the drug test last Tuesday.

Cebu City Schools superintendent Dr. Bianito Dagatan said the teacher should come up with a valid reason for refusing the drug test, otherwise he will be suspended or possibly dismissed for gross insubordination. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BACOLOD CITY -- Using a loan from the Municipal Development Fund Office (MDFO) of the Department of Finance (DOF), the Province of Negros Occidental has allocated about PHP1.27 billion in grants for 40 projects of various local government units.

A total of 33, majority of which are infrastructures, have been identified for roughly PHP913 million in allocation under the General Fund Supplement Budget No. 4 approved by the Provincial Board as of Wednesday.

These include farm-to-market roads for PHP549 million; purchase of heavy equipment - PHP128.4 million; port development in Sagay City - PHP86 million; construction of public market in Hinoba-an - PHP60 million; construction of San Enrique Public Market - PHP60 million; and Kabankalan Airport runway development - PHP30 million.

Also, seven LGUs were earmarked a total of PHP358 million, but they have yet to comply with the requirements.

Projects include construction of Bago City Public Market amounting to PHP88 million; La Castellana Public Market - PHP60 million; Isabela bridge construction - PHP60 million; Candoni Public Market - PHP50 million; Calatrava hospital development - PHP40 million; Toboso Government Center development - PHP30 million; and San Carlos City road concreting - PHP30 million.

Second District Board Member Salvador Escalante Jr., chairman of committee on appropriation, budget and finance, said the provincial government signed a PHP1.4-billion loan agreement with the MDFO.

The rest of the fund has been allotted for the PHP85-million information and communication technology sector development and PHP50-million multi-purpose building construction of the provincial government.

Escalante said the provincial government will pay the loan to the MDFO.

"The projects are given as grant to the recipient cities and municipalities," the board member said, adding that the construction of the projects will start next year.

Escalante said the Provincial Board will approve another supplemental budget for the PHP493 million grant, including the PHP358 million for the seven projects and PHP135 million of the two Capitol projects, once the concerned LGUs comply with the requirements.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BACOLOD CITY -- Fifty-eight soldiers of the Philippine Army's 303rd Infantry Brigade based in Murcia, Negros Occidental attended a training on environment laws and policies, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) here said Thursday.

PENRO head Edgardo Rostata, along with personnel of the Law Enforcement Section, led the discussions of the Presidential Decree 705 or the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines, and the Wildlife Act.

Rostata said they aim to equip participants in carrying out their roles and responsibilities in the conservation and protection of natural resources.

He added that they responded to questions of the Army personnel on their specific roles as deputized environment officers of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

In 2012, the national government deputized officials and personnel of law enforcement agencies, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, as environment and natural resources officers to further strengthen the government's campaign against illegal logging.

The deputations were contained in separate resolutions signed by members of the Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force created under Executive Order No. 23.

According to the DENR, the deputized military will exercise the power and authority provided for under PD 705, the administrative orders, forestry laws, rules and regulations and shall be under the supervision of the Provincial/Community Environment and Natural Resources Officers (PENROs/CENROs) within their area of jurisdiction.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ILOILO CITY-- The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) cannot be abolished even though it will only have PHP1,000 budget for 2018, Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. said Thursday.

Defensor, who for several terms served at the House of Representatives, explained that CHR is a "constitutional body." It was created as an independent office, citing Article 11, Section 17 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

"That means you cannot abolish it even if the House of Representatives will appropriate only PHP1000," he said during a press conference.

He added that it can only be abolished through an amendment of the Constitution.

The governor believed that the Senate will insist to provide the agency its budget.

"I believe that majority of the senators will restore the budget but I do not know if how much. But because they cannot abolish the CHR, they will provide a budget that is sufficient to maintain the operations of the CHR," he further said.

CHR proposed a budget of PHP623.38 million for 2018.

Congress on Tuesday voted to give the agency PHP1,000 budget for next year. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija — The Nueva Ecija Police Provincial Office (NEPPO) has reported that the government's anti-drug war "Double Barrel: Reloaded" resulted in the arrest of 966 drug pushers and users in the 738 police operations conducted in the province from March to August, this year.

NEPPO provincial director Senior Supt. Antonio Yarra said that of the total police operations, 45 drug personalities died in shoot out with police authorities.

Yarra said that some 804 drug personalities voluntarily surrendered in the house visitations conducted by anti-narcotics authorities.

As a result of the said police operations, he said that some 1,119.63 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu and 169.53 grams of marijuana were confiscated.

Likewise, the operatives seized 113 firearms during the operations.

The Nueva Ecija police official also said that in the provincewide campaign against illegal drugs since July 2016, some 28,338 individuals have voluntarily surrendered while 1,879 drug pushers and users were arrested.

He attributed their success in the anti-illegal drugs operations to the cooperation of various stakeholders from the different government agencies as well as from the private sector. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DUMAGUETE CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Negros Island is all set to close shop by the end of this month with regular employees returning to their mother units following the dissolution of the Negros Island Region (NIR).

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered last August 7 the abolition of the NIR or Region 18 through Executive Order No. 38 that revoked EO No. 38 signed by then President Benigno Simeon Aquino III for the NIR's creation due to lack of funds.

The NIR was created on May 29, 2015 with the provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental forming the new region and departing from Regions 7 and 6, respectively.

Shalaine Lucero, the outgoing DSWD-NIR regional director, disclosed Thursday afternoon that all regional NIR offices were given 60 days or until September 30 to make the necessary arrangements to return to their mother regions.

Lucero, however, expressed gratitude and satisfaction that in the two years of existence in the NIR, the DSWD regional office had many accomplishments to speak of, particularly on the government's programs and projects intended for the poor and the marginalized.

"We have served Negros Island well and we are so proud to say that in our first year of implementation in 2016, we had attained an outstanding rating from our central office," Lucero said.

"And we're just so happy that even with the short-lived region, I think majority of our part had established a very good relationship with the NGAs (non-government agencies), NGOs (non-government organizations), and the LGUs (local government units)," she added.

Lucero went on to say that even without the NIR, they want to maintain that kind of relationship with them because DSWD-NIR would not have delivered their services well if not for them.

The DSWD official stressed that they are happy to leave NIR with the thought that they have given the people their best.

The dissolution of the NIR will not impact much on the projects and programs of the DSWD in Negros Island because the agency has to ensure that the workers on the field will continue to deliver the programs.

The good thing about DSWD is that there is plenty of manpower on the field, especially in the LGUs, to ensure that the programs are implemented based on standards, according to Lucero.

While regular employees will be going back to their original assignments, it is unfortunate that job order employees of the DSWD-NIR will have to find other jobs after their contracts expire on September 30, she said.

She assured the public that despite the abolition of the NIR, DSWD will still be there to support the government's efforts to address poverty. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The National Housing Authority (NHA) is expected to complete the construction by December the original housing units, including the additional houses, under the Zamboanga City Roadmap to Recovery and Reconstruction (Z3R).

Z3R is the government blueprint for the reconstruction of areas damaged by the 21-day September 2013 Zamboanga siege.

Al-Khwarizmi Indanan, NHA district manager, said they have reached 93 percent completion in the construction of houses in the original target and 70 to 80 percent in terms of awarding of the housing units to the beneficiaries as of September 7, this year.

"We are almost done with the original target of the Z3R and the only projects left are Vale Vista 4 and Ayer Village 3 which are just additional projects requested by the city government and the Local Inter-Agency Committee (LIAC)," Indanan said.

He said that originally, there are over 6,000 housing units dispersed in 18 housing packages for construction by the NHA under the Z3R.

He said that over 4,000 units of the total number of houses have already been turned over while the others are scheduled for turnover soon.

He said the end of December is the new timeline set for the full completion and awarding of the remaining additional projects.

Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar is confident the NHA can fulfill its commitment to finish all the projects including the additional housing units on or before the end of this year.

City government records showed that 29 percent of the total number of internally displaced persons or approximately 1,800 have remained in the transitory sites or residing in private homes.
More than 100,000 people were displaced in the September 2013 siege.

The siege broke out on September 9, 2013 when hundreds of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) members loyal to MNLF founding-chair Nur Misuari infiltrated at least five coastal barangays of this city. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAGUPAN CITY – At least 114 illegal structures have been demolished by the city government  since August 31 this year as part of the continuing river clean-up ordered by Mayor Belen T. Fernandez.

Fernandez gave City Agriculturist Emma J. Molina two weeks to demolish all the illegal fish pens and fish cages still standing in the rivers of Dagupan.

Of  the total, 72 were over-sized floating cages and 42 were fish pens measuring more than 50 square meters.

All these were operated and maintained by 103 operators who are at the same time serving as  caretakers of these structures.

To date, there are just more than 30 fish pens that were left, that was why upon request of Molina, Mayor Fernandez extended the demolition deadline for another one week.

It was learned that the remaining structures are situated on titled properties claimed by different owners but based on an earlier study by the City Legal Office, these are also subject of demolition since they are located on portions of rivers.

Overall, the city has already demolished a total of 942 illegal structures since Fernandez ordered the massive clearing of rivers of illegal structures upon assuming office as mayor in July 2013. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BAGUIO CITY – Over 23,000 job opportunities will be offered to the city residents during the 108th Charter Day Anniversary Job Fair on September 16 at the Baguio Convention Center.

Jose Atanacio, Public Employment Services Office (PESO) designate and executive assistant to the mayor, said more than 20,000 vacancies were posted by 16 overseas job placement agencies that will participate in the job fair.

Most of the vacancies are for hospital or medical, cruise ship and food service personnel. Others are for skilled workers.

There are also 22 local companies who are joining the activity with an offering of 2,588 jobs.

Aside from private companies and manpower agencies, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) posted 189 vacancies while the Philippine National Police Cordillera will recruit 74.

The fair will offer one-stop services by the Philhealth, Social Security System and the Pag-IBIG as well as free haircut, massage and international calls to the public.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan said the jobs fair is a regular activity in the Baguio Day calendar of events undertaken by the city government through the PESO, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and other government and private agencies to reach out to job seekers in the city. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -- While the campaign continues against terrorists in adjacent area, the military in Lanao del Sur also is also resolving clan wars that affect Mindanao's peace and order.

On Wednesday, the Army's 6th Infantry (Redskin) Battalion, brought to peace table Moro families locked in 11 years of sporadic skirmishes that already claimed two lives from both sides.

Lt. Colonel Ruben Aquino, 6th IB battalion commander, successfully gathered the families Asraf Montañer and Mamarinta Macapodi Masacal at the Army base in Matling, Malabang, Lanao del Sur, about an hour drive to Marawi City where government forces have been fighting ISIS-inspired terrorists.

Witnessing the peace covenant signing were local officials, led by Lanao del Sur Boardmember Taha "Tanjie" P Macapodi and military officers.

The historic gathering marked the end of more than 10 years of bloody fighting between the Montañer-Masacal families.

Macapodi lauded the military for the efforts to bring the warring clans together and the stakeholders for giving peace a change.

"I laud the Montañer and Masacal clans for submitting themselves to amicable settlement and total peace in Malabang," the official said.

Macapodi reminded the now reconciled families that anybody who breaks the agreement will suffer the brunt of military action.

Aquino also congratulated the warring families for listening and giving peace a chance.

He reechoed the message of Colonel Jesus Sarsagat, commander of the 603rd Infantry Brigade that the younger generation of both clans are the end losers of this conflict, more known in Muslim communities as "rido" or clan war/family feud.

"The effects of the conflict are not for those who lost their lives, but to their children deprived of being raised by a strong family of Allah," Sarsagat said.

"In rido, we don't protect our family members instead we are endangering their lives and their future," Aquino said.

"Long time ago, man was able to go the moon," he said, adding that "why is it that because of rido you cannot go even to your neighboring barangays?"

With the successful mediation, Aquino said his unit will continue to perform its mandate for peace, security and further development in its area of operation.

More families locked in clan war are expected to be sitting across peace table inside the 6th IB headquarters, Aquino said.

To really make the reconciliation efforts effective and solemn, leaders of warring clans swore before the Holy Quran they will no longer use violence in settling misunderstanding.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY – Davao City has continued to see a downtrend in crime statistics particularly crimes against persons and property almost cutting half of the volume from January to August, this year , as against the same period in 2016.

In a comparative crime statistics released by the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) Thursday, the crime volume is down by 36 percent from 7,653 during the first eight months of 2016 to 5,634 in the same period this year or a decrease of 2,019.

In index crimes (crime against persons/property), crime incidents reduced 41 per cent from 1,927 from January to August 2016 to 1,143 for the same period this year.

DCPO reported a decrease of 22 per cent in non-index crimes, which included violations of special Laws like the illegal gambling, women and child abuse.

DCPO records show non-index crimes decreased from 5,726 in 2016 to 4,491 in 2017.

Police City Director Sr. Superintendent Alexander Tagum attributed the downtrend in crime incidents to maximum deployment and police visibility under its Oplan Iron City in all strategic points and places of convergence.

Tagum also factored in the police relentless campaign and operations against all forms of criminality with the support of the police auxiliaries and other security forces.

On Tuesday, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio cited the police for its work.She said she does expect zero crime in the city.

She credited the decrease in crime incident to the synergy between the city police, other units under the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

She said the full implementation of Oplan Iron City, a teamwork between the police and police auxiliaries deployed in strategic places to provide security cover thru static post, foot, bike, mobile, combat patrol accompanied by relentless anti-criminality operations of Oplan Bulabog (anti-crime), Oplan Lambat Bitag (road clearing operations), Oplan Double Barrel among others.

The mayor also cited the anti-terrorism campaign of the Task Forces Davao, noting that no bombing incident was recorded from the period of September 3, 2016 to September 3, 2017.

Duterte-Carpio was hoping the good work of the police and security forces would continue as the city eyes for the hosting of the Davao Regional Athletic Association Meet in preparation for the Palarong Pambansa in 2018. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Mayor Oscar Moreno has been ordered by Malacañang to answer an administrative complaint filed by a former village leader.

This was disclosed by the complainant, former Taglimao barangay chair William Guialani, who accused Moreno and three other City Hall officials of impropriety in releasing checks totaling P79 million sometime in 2015.

Reached for comment, Moreno confirmed that he has recently received an order from Deputy Executive Secretary Ryan Alvin Acosta, directing him to answer Guillane's allegations.

Moreno dismissed the complaint as premature, noting that although the COA finding was unfavorable to him, his administration has yet to conduct an exit conference with the auditors to clarify matters.

Moreno said the COA has never issued a notice of suspension or a notice of disallowance in connection with the release of the checks.

Date August 18 but received only by Moreno sometime this month, Acosta cited a report from the Commission on Audit, saying City Hall's actions pertaining to the questioned financial transaction appears to violate Circulars 2012-005 and 2009-006.

Guillane also named City Treasurer Glenn Bañez, City Accountant Beda Joy Elot and City Budget Officer Percy Salazar as respondents, but the Office of the President junked the complaint against them for lack of jurisdiction.

Moreno said he has already instructed his lawyer, Dale Bryan Mordeno, to immediately answer Malacañang's directive.

"All government transactions from the lowest to the highest levels are always audited by COA. And in the course of their duties, certain findings will come out," the mayor said. But what's most important is the law provides the agencies concerned ample course to check those findings." (PNA/Mark D. Francisco)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BUTUAN CITY—A team of police, military and coastguard personnel is helping secure the annual surfing competition on Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte, later this month.

At least 163 policemen, 21 Philippine Army soldiers and eight Philippine Coast Guard personnel will man the dedicated security team throughout the duration of the international surfing tournament, slated on the third week of the month, said Police Chief Supt. Rolando B. Felix, Police Regional Office-13 (PRO-13) director.

Felix said the team will complement local security forces under the Task Force Siargao headed by local and provincial officials.

Known as the country's surfing mecca, Siargao's annual surfing tournament attracts thousands of foreign and domestic tourists, including competitors from Australia, Indonesia, Japan and the United States of America.

Local security preparations will be headed by Mayor Jaime P. Rosillon of General Luna, where the famous Cloud Nine surfing break is located, and the Surigao del Norte Provincial Tourism office, officials said.

Felix said the security preparation is meant to "ensure the safety and well-being of the competitors and tourists as well."

"We are doubling all security efforts. In fact reserved forces are on standby and are ready to be mobilized to ensure a zero crime incident during the event," the police official said. (PNA/Noel B. Nalzaro)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BULUAN, Maguindanao -- The Maguindanao provincial government has extended livelihood assistance to two families whose breadwinners are awaiting execution in Saudi Arabia.

Gov. Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu told parents of Guiara Abdullah and Warda Mintang, both overseas Filipino workers, that the government is not abandoning them.

"This is the government's assistance to you so that you will earn a living," Mangudadatu told the beleaguered parents Wednesday after he handed over to them a pair of cattle for breeding and fattening projects.

Abdullah's mother said her daughter was wrongly accused of killing another Filipino worker in Saudi Arabia while the parents of Mintang said she was convicted for killing her Saudi employer who tried to rape her.

Mangudadatu said his administration has a comprehensive anti-human trafficking initiative by providing alternate livelihood assistance to Maguindanaons who were victims of illegal recruitment.

Other victims and parents of "Trafficking in Person" (TIP) have been earning a decent living out of the livelihood assistance provided by the provincial government, Mangudadatu said.

Some of them are now producing the iconic "Inaul" cloth ready for sale not only in Maguindanao but in other areas, especially in Manila.
Mangudadatu said orders for the famous Maguindanao cloth (Inaul) are pouring in to the benefit of Maguindanao women engaged in cloth production.
During the program that included "Inaul" exhibit, Mangudadatu also handed over PHP50,000 worth of food cart for rescued TIP victims.

"This is your government working for you, you can put up a variety store so you have fixed income," Mangudadatu told the beneficiaries.

The assistance program was in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DSWD-ARMM).(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao –- Police and military authorities have been hunting down two men on board a luxury vehicle who tried, but failed, to kill off-duty soldiers in an ambush in Maguindanao Wednesday, police said.

Capt. Arvin John Encinas, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said Thursday the Army and police personnel have joined forces to look for the suspects and the Toyota Innova they used in trying to execute the two soldiers.

The two, who were not identified by Encinas, were on board a motorbike in civilian clothes from Isulan, Sultan Kudarat to Cotabato City when the suspects on board a grey Toyota Innova opened fire upon reaching Guidulungan, Maguindanao at around 3 p.m.

Although they escaped alive, Encinas said one of the two soldiers sustained minor injury on his left leg.

Encinas said the soldiers who were armed with hand guns traded shots with the suspects. He said the suspects also chased the soldiers until they reach a police outpost.

The gunmen, Encinas said, backed off when they saw police officers from Guindulungan municipality were about to respond.

The Toyota Innova, without license plate, was seen speeding toward Datu Odin Sinsuat, also in Maguindanao.

"We are following up a lead, in due time the long arm of the law will catch up with the suspects," he said in a radio interview.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DATU PIANG, Maguindanao -- Police here said members of illegal drug syndicates operating in Maguindanao could be behind the murder of a village official who has been relentlessly campaigning against illegal drugs.

Senior Inspector Cesar Ibal, municipal police chief of Datu Piang, said investigation showed that those engaged in illegal drug trade in Datu Piang and nearby towns could be behind the death of Barangay Montay chair Kadatuan Masukat.

Masukat, who was on board his motorbike with his son, was shot dead by two gunmen riding in tandem on a motorbike using .45 caliber pistol Wednesday afternoon in Barangay Buayan, Datu Piang.

"He is an active supporter of police in the campaign against illegal drugs," Ibal told reporters. "He wanted to get rid of illegal drugs in his village because he wanted to ensure the future of young generation," Ibal said of the slain village official.

Masukat's son who was driving the motorbike escaped unharmed.

Quoting witnesses and relatives, Ibal said the village chair had been receiving threats to his life because of his no nonsense campaign against illegal drugs in the village.

"He really hates illegal drugs and vowed to stop peddlers from infiltrating his village," a witness told police investigators.

Ibal said other angle of the crime is also being looked into by police probers.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY – The Army's 10th Infantry Division on Thursday debunked accusations of the leftist groups that members of the CAFGU Active Auxiliary (CAA) or a paramilitary group were behind the killing of a lumad student last September 5 in Barangay Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao del Norte.

In a press statement released by the Army's 10th Infantry Division spokesperson Capt. Rhyan Batchar Thursday, the Army division based in Tuburan, Mawab, Compostela Valley Province reiterated its stand that the perpetrators were not members of the CAA or any paramilitary group sanctioned by the military.

Batchar said the 10th ID emphasized it only recognizes the police, CAA and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as the legitimate security forces while all others are considered illegal armed groups, if there are any.

"We shall wait for the investigations being undertaken by the police force which will eventually unmask and place in the bars of justice the real perpetrators of the killing of Bay-ao," Batchar said.

Batchar assured that the 60th Infantry Battalion who takes operational control of CAAs deployed within its area is fully cooperating with the Talaingod PNP and Davao del Norte Police Provincial Office (DNPPO) who are conducting investigations on the said case.

As this developed, the 10th ID leadership urged the alleged victims to substantiate their accusations that military personnel, whether CAA or active military members were involved to allow them to answer in the courts of justice.

The 10th ID emphasized it does not condone any violation of Human Rights by any of the soldiers.

Likewise, if any case soldiers are found to have committed violations thereto, the victims are assured and the people they serve that the leadership shall take serious actions against violators of HR, administratively or criminally.

According to Karapatan human rights group, 19-year-old Bay-ao, a student of the lumad-run Salugpongan Ta' Tanu Igkanugon Community Learning Center (STTICLC), was killed by alleged members of a paramilitary group in Talaingod.

Brig. Gen. Bienvenido Datuin, 10th ID assistant division commander, earlier debunked reports the killing of Bay-ao was perpetrated by the CAA.

Karapatan said the paramilitary groups and military troops continue to harass lumad communities in the hinterlands. Batchar said the 10th ID seriously took note of the allegations made by NDF-SMR (National Democratic Front – Southern Mindanao Region) allied organizations that a member of the CAA was involved in the death of Bay-ao.

Based on police reports, Batchar said five civilians who were onboard two motorcycles from Central Baugan, Brgy Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao del Norte were ambushed by 10 New People's Army (NPA) members belonging to Guerilla Front 55 at the vicinity of Sitio Mambandulan, Brgy Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao del Norte at around 7:50 a.m., September 5.

A victim identified as Tikoy Manampao suffered gunshot wounds but was immediately brought to the nearest hospital for medication. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY – Housing developers in Mindanao were awarded by the Pag-IBIG Fund for their accomplishments and support to the housing program of the agency.

A total of 15 housing developers were cited based on take-outs for the year 2017 during the Mindanao leg of the Home Lending Accomplishment Report (HOLAR) held at the Apo View Hotel Thursday.

Among those awarded were the 8990 Housing Development Corporation with projects in Davao and General Santos (Gensan) City; VCDU Realty Corporation in Butuan and Cagayan de Oro; Agan Land Corporation in Gensan; Jukens Builders and Trade - Cagayan de Oro; Gensan VSM Realty Corporation –Gensan; Moderno Citihomes Dev't. Corporation – Davao; Davao Joyful Homes Realty Corp. - Davao; AZ Developers Corporation – Tagum City; Prosperidad Real Estate Dev't., Inc – Butuan; Mediatrix Homes, Inc. - Zamboanga and Pagadian; Argusland, Inc. – Cagayan de Oro; HLC Construction & Dev't. Corporation – Gensan and Tagum; Sarangani Resources Corporation - Gensan; A Brown Company, Inc. – Cagayan de Oro; and Johndorf Ventures Corporation – Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Butuan.

Pag-IBIG Fund CEO Acmad Rizaldy Moti said the Mindanao leg of the HOLAR forum series has been convened since the appointment of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairperson Eduardo D. del Rosario in July.

"We conducted activities such as these in line with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's directive to provide our stakeholders with transparency in our operations and to support his call to address the country's housing backlog. This is also an opportunity for us to encourage our developers to share in Secretary del Rosario's thrust of upholding the mandate and mission of HUDCC to provide adequate and affordable housing to low-income families," Moti said.

Moti said the next HOLAR forums will be held in South Luzon, Visayas, and North Luzon.

Aside from the 15 housing developers, the Fund also gave special recognition to the local government unit of Dangcagan in Bukidnon and Telow Brothers Inc. for collaborating with the Pag-IBIG fund to initiate the realization of the Sto. Nino Heights project in Poblacion, Dangcagan.

A Brown Company Inc. branch in Cagayan de Oro was awarded best in performing loans ratio; 8990 Housing Development Corporation in Davao for best in Conversion Performance Ratio; and, VCDU Realty Corporation in Butuan and Cagayan de Oro for best in performing accounts ratio. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A total of 240 of the 1,750 drug-affected barangays had been cleared of illegal drugs brought about by the government's relentless campaign in Region 9, a top police official announced Thursday.

Chief Supt. Billy Beltran, Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) director, said the 240 villages were declared by the Barangay Anti-Drug Council (Badac) as cleared of illegal drugs as of Monday, September 11.

Beltran said the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Police Office (ZDSPPO) has the highest number of illegal drugs cleared barangays at 111.

It is followed by Zamboanga del Norte Provincial Police Office (ZDNPPO) with 103 cleared barangays; Zamboanga Sibugay Provincial Police Office (ZSPPO) with 25; Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO), one; and, Isabela City Police Office (ICPO), zero.

Beltran disclosed that 618 of the 1,750 drug affected barangays are in Zamboanga del Norte.

He said the other drug affected barangays are in the following areas: Zamboanga del Sur, 613; Zamboanga Sibugay, 377; Zamboanga City, 97; and, Isabela City, 45.

There are 1,904 barangays in the region and these are: Zamboanga del Norte, 691; Zamboanga del Sur, 681; Zamboanga Sibugay, 389; Zamboanga City, 98; and, Iabela City, 45.

Beltran said 154 of the 1,904 barangays are listed by the BADAC as drug unaffected barangays, namely: Zamboanga del Norte, 73; Zamboanga del Sur, 68; Zamboanga Sibugay, 12; Zamboanga City, one; and, Isabela City, zero. (TPGJR/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Veterinary personnel in South Cotabato have expanded their animal disease monitoring and prevention program as it moves to maintain the province free from possible outbreaks.

Dr. Flora Bigot, acting head of the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVET), said Wednesday they have assigned additional personnel to augment their ongoing animal blood sampling activities in parts of the province.

She said they are targeting to cover all barangays within the province's 10 towns and lone city for the disease monitoring.
Some 285 animal health workers have been trained and commissioned by PVET for the initiative, she said.

"This is to ensure that our animals are safe from diseases that could result to outbreaks and severe economic losses," she said.

Bigot reiterated that the entire province has remained free from major animal diseases, especially the foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza or bird flu.

Last month, the Department of Agriculture (DA) confirmed bird flu outbreaks in poultry farms in Pampanga and Nueva Ecija.

But these have been so far contained and no new cases have been reported in the last three weeks.

As a result of the bird flu outbreak, DA's Bureau of Animal Industry banned the movement of live poultry animals and meat from Luzon to Visayas and Mindanao but it has since been lifted.

With the lifting of the shipment ban, Bigot said they stepped up their monitoring activities in the province's border areas.

The provincial government led the reactivation last month of the avian flu task forces down to the city and municipal levels to properly coordinate the disease prevention and monitoring activities.

Aside from these, Bigot said they have also intensified their animal deworming activities at the barangay level.

She said they have already utilized 22,000 doses of deworming drugs and have served some 500 farmers.

The official said they will launch later this month the second round of its vitamin supplementation and castration program.

"This is aimed to prevent infections like the New Castle Disease and hemorrhagic septicemia," she added.(AC/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ILOILO CITY-- The pre-feasibility study for the construction of the Panay-Guimaras-Negros bridge is expected to be completed by end of the year, said the Western Visayas director of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) on Tuesday.

Ro-Ann Bacal said they met with members of the CCCC Highways Consultants Co., Ltd, a China state-owned company conducting the pre-feasibility study for the inter-island bridge.

"Because now they are on the process of coming up with a pre-feasibility study that will become the main reference of the minutes of discussion between the government of the Philippines and the government of China in identifying the next steps after that," she said in a media interview.

Bacal explained that after this, a feasibility study will be conducted followed by the detailed engineering study.

"I think they are going to proceed immediately to detailed engineering which will discuss in more details the four alignment options for the bridges," she said.

The detailed engineering study may take one more year as it will involve technical studies, said Bacal.

"There will be more technical people who are coming in to look at the train, the underwater ecology, and so many others; the wind, the geographic characteristics and they are also looking at the different environment. They will be bringing in their drones to look at how the drones would be leading to the bridges, so on and so forth," she added.

Bacal said that there is no final arrangement yet as to the funding of the project.

The Iloilo to Guimaras bridge is more than 20 kilometers while the Guimaras to Negros bridge is about 18 to 20 kilometers, she said.  "And therefore you must realize how important the preciseness and accuracy of the studies to help the engineers later on," she said.

Bacal said that the Chinese company's current move in conducting the studies for the inter-island bridge is among the results of the travel of President Rodrigo Duterte to China and the good relationship that has evolved after that.

Last September 6, the Chinese group also visited the provincial government here to gather the medium- and long-term development plan and the socio-economic profile of the province, which will be used for the study.(PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Despite previous setbacks, the provincial government of South Cotabato has remained optimistic in getting another Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) award this year.

South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes said Wednesday the province's chances for the award have improved this year after facing problems in the past years over its remittances with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

Such problem had affected the province's compliance with the financial administration criteria of the SGLG, which it last received in 2014.

Last week, the provincial government hurdled the national evaluation for the SGLG, which is spearheaded by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

"They are still looking into our GSIS remittances and the compliance of the provincial capitol as a PWD (persons with disability)-friendly institution," Fuentes said.

The governor said the local government has undertaken various reforms these past years in line with the SGLG's 4+1 assessment criteria.

The guidelines require local governments pass its four core areas and at least one of the essential areas. The core areas are financial administration, disaster preparedness, social protection, and peace and order.

The essential areas are business friendliness and competitiveness, environmental management and tourism, and culture and the arts.

Fuentes said the national validators have recognized the provincial government's efforts to meet the added essential areas.

"The SGLG serves as our minimum standard in service delivery and I believe it should become our way of life," she said.

Local government units that will be conferred with the SGLG award will receive marker and cash incentives, through the Performance Challenge Fund, to finance local development initiatives.

The province failed to get the SGLG award due to the unmet requirement on the GSIS remittance.

The DILG provincial office said most of the province's 10 municipalities and cities also failed in such aspect.(AC/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BORACAY ISLAND, Aklan -- Thousands of volunteers will spend the morning of September 16 removing trash from the shores of this resort island.

The activity is in line with the annual International Coastal Cleanup Day (ICC) celebration observed in various areas of the country and in over 100 countries.

The Saturday's event here will be spearheaded by the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary (PCGA) Squadron 609 in partnership with the local government unit of Malay and Boracay Foundation Inc.

Volunteers can select from among different areas including the four-kilometer White Beach, Tambisaan, Bulabog, Diniwid, Puka, as well as on the island's mangrove area.

"The activity is aimed to help educate the younger generation about keeping Boracay clean and to encourage everyone to volunteer," the PCGA, the event's organizer, said in a press statement.

Last year, the activity had more than 3,000 participants and collected over 350 bags of trash with an estimated weight of 3,000 kilos.

The organizer is optimistic that more volunteers will be joining this year's coastal clean-up activity.

The ICC is a global cleanup effort started by the Ocean Conservancy, an environmental advocacy group based in the United States, and considered as the world's largest volunteer effort to clean up the marine environment. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga-- Some 400 inmates from the Pampanga Provincial Jail (PPJ) have benefited from the dental mission conducted by the provincial government through the Provincial Health Office (PHO).

Provincial dental supervisor Dr. Thricia Sunglao on Wednesday said the dental mission is part of the regular activity of PHO inside the provincial jail to ensure the health and well-being of inmates.

Tooth extractions and check-ups were performed on the inmates while proper medications were also provided during the activity.

Fifteen dentists from the district hospitals of the province, some rural health units, a private practitioner, and staff from the PHO and the Provincial Malward took part in the activities.

Sunglao disclosed that the PHO will conduct another dental and medical mission inside the PPJ in December as part of the Pampanga Day celebration. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY—The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) released a memorandum circular directing all Liga ng mga Barangay or the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) to elect their new president to sit in their respective Sanggunian until the election next year.

This was revealed by DILG 11 Director Alex Roldan, saying the memorandum circular came out after it was noted during the budget hearing in Congress that barangay captains should hold elections for their representation in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, Sangguniang Bayan or Panlungsod.

Roldan said the term of the Liga or ABC president is only for one term or three years. After a three-year term, Roldan said the Liga should elect another president to sit in the Sanggunian for the next three years.

He explained that even with the postponement of the barangay polls, the election of the Liga president should still take place even if the barangay captains are on holdover.

He said this was also an oversight in the law, referring to the local government code, as there was no provision that Liga president should be elected every three years.

Thus, Roldan said the DILG issued the memorandum circular, which he received the other day. Roldan could not however, remember the circular number.

As this developed, the House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading House Bill 6308 which seeks to postpone the October 23, 2017 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to the second Monday of May 2018.

To reset the synchronized barangay and SK polls, the bill seeks to amend Republic Act No. 9164, as amended by RA No. 9340, RA No. 10656 and RA No. 10923, which are all related to barangay and SK elections.

The bill provides that all incumbent barangay and SK officials shall continue to hold office until the next election is held.

The postponement of the barangay and SK elections this year is in support of President Duterte's call to reset the polls because he does not want those financed by druglords to win. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)

 



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Authorities have foiled an attempt to slip in a large-sized pack of illegal drugs to a correctional and rehabilitation facility in Zamboanga del Norte, an official said Wednesday.

Chief Supt. Billy Beltran, Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) director, said this came after the guard on duty arrested a 13-year-old girl in possession of illegal drugs in Manukan, Zamboanga del Norte.

Beltran said the girl was arrested at around 11:08 a.m. Tuesday while she was about to enter and visit her mother at the Zamboanga del Norte Correctional and Rehabilitation Center in Barangay Don Jose Aguirre, Manukan.

Beltran said the female guard on duty seized from the girl a large-sized pack of suspected shabu concealed in her sock. The girl is a student of Zamboanga del Norte National High School-Turno Campus, Dipolog City.

"Upon verification of the suspect's cellphone, it was found out thru an SMS or text message that her mother instructed her to deliver the said illegal drug items to the facility," he said quoting a report from Zamboanga del Norte police.

He said the girl's mother is detained at the correctional facility for violation of Republic Act 9165 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

He said the girl was turned over to the custody of the Social Welfare Office for appropriate action.

He said they have yet to determine the market value of the confiscated illegal drugs. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ILOILO CITY -- Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog has filed for a 15-day sick leave starting September 11 until end of the month, putting an end to questions whether or not the local chief executive will resume office.

"This is to inform the public that Mayor Mabilog had already filed for sick leave up until the end of the month," confirmed spokesperson, Lawyer Mark Piad on Wednesday, adding that the mayor is suffering from Diabetes Mellitus Type 2.

Piad said Mabilog "needs additional time" for follow up tests in other institutions abroad "because of the stress the good mayor had gone through."

"He needs time to heal himself," he added although he stressed that his condition "is not serious."

Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog has left for Japan last week of August for a seminar on disaster risk reduction (DRR) organized by the Citynet –Yokohama where he talked about "Mainstreaming DRR within City Governments."

He proceeded to Melaka, Malaysia from September 6- 9 for the Urban Environmental Accord (UEA) Summit where he talked about the Iloilo River Project during the presentation of best practices.

"Rest assured that he will definitely come back," he added.

The mayor's foreign travels happened amid the supposed transfer of Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido to Iloilo upon the order of President Rodrigo Duterte. The President labeled Mabilog as supporter of a drug lord and called Iloilo as "shabulized" and "bedrock of illegal drugs."

Piad, meantime, said that "they have no credible reason to believe that there was security threat on the part of the mayor."

With the mayor on leave, Vice Mayor Jose Espinosa III will continue to assume as acting mayor of Iloilo City, he said.

In an interview, Espinosa said that they have a lot of things to do in running the city government.

Right now, there is a need to review the proposed 2018 budget of Iloilo City that is supposed to be submitted to the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) for approval by October 15.

Other concerns are emergency response, peace and order, business sector, benefits for city hall employees and delivery of services to the vulnerable sectors, among others. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The city government is establishing a facility to centralize the roasting of pigs by the "lechoneros" in this city.

The term lechoneros locally refers to businessmen engaged in the trade of roasted pigs.

Amelia Amar, Task Force Karne team leader, on Wednesday said the establishment of a centralized roasting facility will ensure the roasted pigs being sold to the public are of good quality and safe.

"Centralizing the roasting of pigs in this city will ensure that the meat is safe since it will pass through sanitary requirements," Amar said.

Amar said the facility will cost PhP6.5 million and will be placed at the compound of the city government's abattoir in Barangay San Roque.

Amar said the roasting facility will include enclosed lavatory and others.

She said the facility will also serve as one of the city government's sources of income through the payment of service charge.

She said there are 20 registered lechoneros in this city. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Authorities seized a Philippine ship off Misamis Occidental waters for allegedly falsifying documents to avoid paying duties and taxes, an official of Bureau of Customs in Region 10 (BoC-10) said Wednesday.

M/V Jake Vincent Seis allegedly tried to pass itself off as a vessel plying the BIMP-EAGA route, which would have exempted it from paying certain duties and taxes to the government.

BIMP-EAGA, or Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asian Growth Area, is a subregional economic co-operation initiative that began in 1994 to accelerate economic development in among its four-members countries.

Alvin Enciso, chief of the BOC-10 Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service, said the seized vessel appeared to have tried to take advantange of the BIMP-EAGA "free trade agreement that would allow the vessel to deliver and pick up cargo within the member countries" with reduced or no taxes at all.

Loaded with 1,450 metric tons of copra, M/V Jake Vincent Seis made it appear that its port of origin was Indonesia, Enciso said.

The cargo vessel was heading to an oil milling facility in Jimenez, Misamis Occidental to deliver its shipment when a team from BOC-10 and the Philippine Coast Guard boarded the ship on August 28, Enciso disclosed.

According to BOC-10, it found out that the ship's owner, Villa Shipping Lines Inc., allegedly deceived the government by making it appear that the M/V Jake Vincent Seis was plying the ports within BIMP-EAGA, when its operations was only limited to domestic routes in the Philippines.

Enciso said the practice is a common "modus operandi" to get away with tax and duties to the government.

In the case of the M/V Jake Vincent Seis, BOC-10 said the cargo ship owed the government some P35 million in duties and taxes.

Enciso said they discovered the ship's identity by coordinating with the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), which issued a certification that the vessel's special permit to operate in the BIMP-EAGA was fake.

Customs officers inquired about the records of the duties and taxes that they paid, but the ship's 19 Filipino officers and crew reportedly failed to present any proof. 

In a separate interview, Jamail Marohomsalic, BOC-10 district collector, said the M/V Jake Vincent Seis was issued with a warrant of seizure and detention by the agency on Sept. 8.

"If the ship was not diligently searched, we would not have found out about the bogus special permit they presented in order to legitimize their activities," said Dir. Marohomsalic. (PNA/Jigger J. Jerusalem)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY -- Army officials have expressed support to the localized peace talks initiated by Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio even if the peace negotiations with the communists at the national level had been suspended by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Brig. Gen Bienvenido Datuin, Assistant Division Commander of the Army's 10th Infantry Division, lauded the mayor for initiating the local peace talks and other trailblazing activities like the recruitment of the Special Cafgu active auxiliary (SCAA).

"We will toe-the-line," Datuin said during the AFP-PNP press forum at the Royal Mandaya Hotel on Wednesday.

Datuin does not see any problem on the local peace talks even if the commander-in-chief (President Duterte) has "no talks" policy with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

After all, he said, the mayor is the President's daughter.

He said the Philippine Army could even pursue its reintegration program, continue securing the people, and developing conflict-resilient communities.

"It is not about winning the war but it is about winning the peace," Datuin stressed, hoping that the other side will also respect the peace initiatives of the mayor.

"Let's give it a try," he said.

Meanwhile, Lt. Col Raymund Lachica, Commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Battalion, said it is a good move on Mayor Sara to look for political solution to the ongoing conflict with the NPA.

The 3rd IB covers the area of Davao City's Marilog, Calinan, Toril and Marilog Districts. These are also the areas where NPA guerrilla fronts 54, 56, and Pulang Bagani Command (PBC) 1, 2, and reportedly a newly-created PBC 3 are operating.

Lachica said the localized peace talks will be very peculiar especially that the family of the President is here.

Although this will be unique, Lachica said he does not see any problem.

"We will just make adjustments with current developments," Lachica said.

On Tuesday, Mayor Duterte-Carpio announced she already signed Executive Order No. 34 creating the Davao City Local Peace Committee that will handle the localized peace talks with the members of the NPA, particularly in Davao City.

The committee is composed of the City Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO) head Ma. Luisa Bermudo, Lawyer Eliza Lapeña from the City Legal Office, Barangay Captain Joselito Areja of Barangay Malabog, Davao City Archbishop Romulo Valles, representative from the private sector, and 2 other consultants.

She said the city is still vetting for a chairperson from the private sector. Duterte-Carpio said the committee will initiate all the negotiations between the local government and the rebels to ensure lasting peace in the city.

"It is the duty of your duly elected public officials to pursue just and lasting peace in the city, we have created the Davao City- Local Peace Committee with the objective and function to manage the localized peace talks with the NPA operating within the area of responsibility of Davao City," she said.

The mayor said it is her duty as a local government leader for the Dabawenyos to achieve just and lasting peace even if the national government already suspended the peace negotiations with the NDF.

If the committee fails to achieve positive outcome in a year, she will terminate it in November 2018 and find alternative solution to bring peace in the city.

"The life of the committee will only be until November 2018. If there are no significant developments and movements in the localized process, we will pursue other options to achieve peace," the mayor said.

"I am asking our NPA friends to work with us in the local government. After all, we all want to see a better Davao and we surely can attain this if you work beside us," she urged.

It can be recalled that Duterte-Carpio already offered the NPA for local talks as long as they will be sincere with their intention to put down their guns and accept her job offer for them. (Lilian C. Mellejor and Funny Pearl Gajunera/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ILOILO CITY -- Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Iloilo will once again showcase their products during the Fourth "Weekend Tienda sa Iloilo".

"Weekend Tienda sa Iloilo" is a venue to bring the best Ilonggo cuisine and delicacies available to locals and visitors.

Spearheaded by the Regional Development Council (RDC) in Western Visayas, in partnership with Taytay Sa Kauswagan Inc. (TSKI), the event is slated September 15-17 at Atria Park in this City.

Cherry Ganancial, executive director of Tinukib Foundation Inc., a marketing arm of the TSKI, said the event will help farmers and producers promote quality products packaged well in order to make them improve as an enterprise, become more competent and even gain market opportunities.

As of now, 53 exhibitors have committed to join the event. Ganancial encouraged more local farmers and producers to join the event and showcase their products as they have 60 slots intended for them.

The exhibitors will display their homegrown food products, handcrafted gift items, artworks of local artists, organic and certified natural farm fresh poultry, vegetables, fruits, fisheries and aquaculture products from the various municipalities in the province of Iloilo.

Ganancial said that they are targeting more than PHP600,000 income during the three-day event.

Since the "Weekend Tienda sa Iloilo" was launched in December last year, Regional Director Ro-Ann Bacal of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) 6 noted that the agency was able to help a lot of entrepreneurs not only in promoting their products but also in gaining market opportunities.

She said that they are hoping that other provinces in the region, especially the capital towns, will replicate the event in their respective areas so they can also assist their entrepreneurs. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

DAVAO CITY -- The official weigh-in of "The Redemption: Clash of Champions" boxing event will be held Thursday, Sept. 14, 10 a.m. at the lobby of the Panabo City Hall.

"Everything is all set for this triple boxing championship event," said promoter Engr. Jilson Basang of MB Northstar Promotions.

Pitted in the main event is Philippine Boxing Federation (PBF) lightweight champion Rosekie "Kapre" Cristobal (13-2-0, 10 KOs) of North Cotabato and Jovany Rota (9-11-0, 6 KOs) of Bukidnon.

Former Mindanao Professional Boxing Association (MINPROBA) champions Glenn "The Rock" Porras (29--0, 17 KOs) of Pres. Roxas and Dingdong "The Fantasy Warrior" Quinones (6-18-1, 4 KOs) of Gen. Santos City will battle it out for the vacant MINPROBA super bantamweight crown. Porras and Quinones are former bantamweight and super flyweight champions, respectively.

"This is really a battle of champions," said matchmaker Engr. Ricardo "Bong" Javier. The other title-fight is for the vacant MINPROBA light flyweight crown between Michael "Chieftain" Bravo (11-1-0, 4 KOs) of Kidapawan and Armando Yee (2-10-4, 1 KO) of Gen. Santos City.

Cristobal, Porras and Bravo are now all fighting under the MB Northstar Promotion based in Panabo City.

The boxing event is supported by the Panabo City Government in coordination with the Barangay Council of JP Laurel. It is supported by JBRJ Construction, PS Solutions of Ralph Peterson and Nature's Spring Water. (Lito delos Reyes/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

BAGUIO CITY – The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Cordillera Administrative Region (BJMP-CAR) is reiterating President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's call for its personnel to shy away from illegal activities, especially on hard drugs.

In an interview Wednesday, Jail Chief Inspector Mary Ann Ollaging-Tresmanio, BJMP-CAR information officer, said they continue to implement and further strengthen "Oplan RODY" which started at the beginning of the term of President Duterte.

Operation Plan or Oplan "RODY" she said, means:

R - remove personnel in jail facilities who are involved in the illegal drug trade;

O - the offensive operation against illegal drugs in facilities which they are performing in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the conduct of greyhound operations. "These are surprised and are unannounced in facilities to flash out the presence of illegal drugs."

D - decongestion of jail facilities. Tresmanio said, "even at the start of the quarter of the President's administration in 2016, with the 'Tokhang' operations, there was a shoot-up of the jail population.

Y - is "Yes" to discipline and classification of inmates. Jail cells, she explained, are occupied by those charged with the same or similar cases. Those facing cases for violation of the illegal drug law are placed together and separated from the other inmates for easier monitoring of their movements which will allow them to see if there are unusual activities happening.

On decongestion of jail facilities, Tresmanio said they have intensified their paralegal efforts.

"Nakiki-coordinate naman ang ating mga paralegal officers sa courts para 'yung mga pwede nang ma-speed-up ang cases ay magawa at mapauwi o mapalabas na mga pwede (Our paralegal officers are coordinating with the court so that those cases can be expedited so that those who have served their jail term more than the required can already be released)," she said.

Tresmanio said, "we continue to reiterate, especially to our personnel, the thrusts of the present administration that drugs have no place in government, in the BJMP."

She added that in September 2016, one personnel, who was found positive for illegal drug use, was dismissed from service for failing to undergo rehabilitation.

On the first week of September, a BJMP-Cordillera personnel was also arrested for selling illegal drugs -- an incident that came as a shock to the organization.

"As custodians of those arrested for illegal drugs, we cleanse our jails but it was different realizing that there is someone within us who is involved," Tresmanio said.

Personnel education is a continuing activity of the BJMP-CAR, to always remind the jailers to observe "simple living".

Tresmanio added, "[it is] wiser to learn from the experiences of others. We saw that there are many being arrested, they see it, so why do we still go into it?"

She reiterated the guidance of the bureau's leadership and that of President Duterte, saying, no one who is involved in illegal drugs will be spared in the fight against this menace. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CEBU CITY -- The Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas (CHR-7) is not worried over the decision of the House of Representatives to give the agency a PHP1,000 budget for 2018.

CHR-7 chief investigator Leo Villarino said Wednesday they have anticipated this move by members of the House as they were even threatened of possible abolition of the agency.

Villarino said it's not possible for the CHR to be abolished as the agency is a constitutional body.

"The Constitution has to be amended first before the CHR can be abolished," Villarino declared.

However, Villarino said what the House did has the same effect as having the agency abolished as the CHR cannot be fully operational with only a PHP1,000 budget for the whole agency including all its regional offices.

But Villarino still believes reason will prevail among the senators, hoping that members of the House and the Senate who will comprise the Bicameral Conference will reconsider the decision of the House and give them the appropriate budget.

The Budget Department submitted a budget proposal of over PHP600 million for CHR for the coming fiscal year, but acting on the motion of Party List Representative Rodante Marcoleta (Sagip), the House on Tuesday slashed the budget to a measly PHP1,000 allocation.

At least 119 congressmen voted for the PHP1,000 budget for CHR, while 32 legislators -- including Cebu City North District Rep. Raul del Mar, Cebu 2nd District Rep. Wilfredo Caminero, and Lapu-Lapu City lone district Rep. Aileen Radaza -- voted against.

Villarino said the measly budget will render the CHR virtually ineffective in its investigations.

Villarino, however, added that despite the "virtually zero" budget, the CHR-7 will still be doing their constitutional function, even without getting any compensation. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga -- The Police Regional Office -3 (PRO-3) has started its intensified drive against illegal gambling in Central Luzon.

The PRO-3, in its separate anti-gambling operations, arrested Tuesday four persons in the provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga and Tarlac who were caught in the act of collecting bets for illegal number games known as jueteng and bookies.

Those arrested were Abigail Castro, 34, a resident of Barangay Niugan, Angat, Bulacan; Eliza Dolores Due, 34, of Barangay Maimpis, City of San Fernando, Pampanga; Enrimo Cruz, 51, of Barangay PulongSantol, Porac, Pampanga, and Ronnie Dizon, 33, of Barangay Pando, Concepcion, Tarlac

Confiscated from them were several illegal gambling paraphernalia, including collection money.

Police Chief Supt. Amador Corpus, PRO-3 regional director, lauded the operating police troops for the arrests as he vowed to eradicate all forms of illegal gambling in the region.

Likewise, Corpus said that police operatives are continuously conducting monitoring operations especially in the areas where illegal gambling activities have been previously reported. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

NAGA CITY -- Based on a presidential proclamation of former President Benigno Aquino III issued in 2013, Naga Mayor John Bongat has declared September 15, Friday, a special non-working holiday in this city.

Bongat cited Presidential Proclamation No. 654, series of 2013 that declared every Friday immediately preceding the Feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia as a special non-working holiday in the City of Naga.

"Considering that the Feast of Our Lady falls this year on Sept. 17, Sunday, the public is advised that September 15, the Friday immediately preceding the Feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, is the special (non-working) day in the City of Naga being referred to under (Presidential Proclamation No. 654)," he declared in an advisory issued on Tuesday, September 12.

The civic-military activity will be conducted on Friday, the last non-religious event before the culmination of the religious fiesta in a fluvial procession at the Naga River.

According to Allen Reondanga, head of the City Events, Protocol and Public Information Office, a military parade competition will be held to be participated in by 697 groups.

Compared to last year when there were 646 participants, this 2017, there is an increase of 51 groups competing in the military parade.

Reondanga said the military parade competition will be held starting at 7 a.m. and last until late in the afternoon, given the huge number of participants.

He said for the military units in high school level, there were 308 participants; military units in college level, 14 participants; majorettes in high school and college levels, 142; drum and bugle corps/drum and lyre corps in high school and college levels, 130; and high school and college bands, 14.

Reondanga said joining the "exhibition style" for majorettes are 38 groups; drum and bugle corps/drum and lyre corps, 29; band, 9; and CAT fancy drill, 13.

The Feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia was given formal recognition by the national government during the administration of President Aquino with the declaration of Naga City and Camarines Sur as "Pilgrimage Capital of Bicol."

Aquino issued Executive Order No. 33 in 2010 that officially declared the Feast of the Our Lady of Peñafrancia as the "only regional feast in the country" at the time when it was celebrating its 300th year of existence.

Executive Order No. 33 draws from Section 15, Article 14 of the 1987 Constitution, which declares that the "State shall conserve, promote, and popularize the nation's historical and cultural heritage."

"Beginning every September of every year until mid-October, the City of Naga and the Province of Camarines Sur welcome millions of pilgrims from different parts of the country and the world who participate in the celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Penafrancia," the executive order added. (Juan Escandor Jr./PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan -- Governor Jose Alvarez and other local officials welcomed here recently the visiting delegation of 45 elite businessmen and industrialists from China for a two-day exploratory trip that ended Wednesday.

Provincial Information Officer Gil Acosta Jr. said Thursday that the delegation from Jiangsu province, who arrived on September 12, constituted the core of the Jiangsu Association of Friendship for International Exchange (JAFIE), a group of top business personalities and industrialists led by its president, Teng Yong.

"The governor said that we are glad they visited the province and that we look forward to return their good gesture soon," Acosta said.

For his part, Yong reportedly expressed deep appreciation to the provincial leadership for the warm reception they received from the local hosts.

"We are looking forward to fruitful cooperation between Palawan and Jiangsu in the future. Palawan is rich in natural resources. We have expertise in infrastructure development, industrial zone development, fisheries development as well as e-commerce and we are looking forward to sharing our knowledge and expertise to the people of Palawan," the JAFIE delegation head was quoted saying.

The officers and members of JAFIE visited the province to consult with local officials regarding the fishery industry, as well as to promote bilateral friendship and cooperation among the people of the two provinces.

Among the topics discussed were possible cooperations on Fishing Port and Fisheries Cooperation, International Education, and Tourism Cooperation.

Included in the itinerary of the Chinese delegation was the familiarization tour to the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) on their second day.

The visit of the Jiangsu businessmen started with a fellowship night that opened through the singing of the national anthems of the two countries, where the visitors were treated to a performance of the Capitol Chorale.

Acosta said the fellowship night ended with a "community singing" of a Chinese popular song by the Capitol Performing Group. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan -- Governor Jose Alvarez and other local officials welcomed here recently the visiting delegation of 45 elite businessmen and industrialists from China for a two-day exploratory trip that ended Wednesday.

Provincial Information Officer Gil Acosta Jr. said Thursday that the delegation from Jiangsu province, who arrived on September 12, constituted the core of the Jiangsu Association of Friendship for International Exchange (JAFIE), a group of top business personalities and industrialists led by its president, Teng Yong.

"The governor said that we are glad they visited the province and that we look forward to return their good gesture soon," Acosta said.

For his part, Yong reportedly expressed deep appreciation to the provincial leadership for the warm reception they received from the local hosts.

"We are looking forward to fruitful cooperation between Palawan and Jiangsu in the future. Palawan is rich in natural resources. We have expertise in infrastructure development, industrial zone development, fisheries development as well as e-commerce and we are looking forward to sharing our knowledge and expertise to the people of Palawan," the JAFIE delegation head was quoted saying.

The officers and members of JAFIE visited the province to consult with local officials regarding the fishery industry, as well as to promote bilateral friendship and cooperation among the people of the two provinces.

Among the topics discussed were possible cooperations on Fishing Port and Fisheries Cooperation, International Education, and Tourism Cooperation.

Included in the itinerary of the Chinese delegation was the familiarization tour to the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) on their second day.

The visit of the Jiangsu businessmen started with a fellowship night that opened through the singing of the national anthems of the two countries, where the visitors were treated to a performance of the Capitol Chorale.

Acosta said the fellowship night ended with a "community singing" of a Chinese popular song by the Capitol Performing Group. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – Validators of the Department of Interior and Local Government-National Capital Region (DILG-NCR) on the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) for 2017 were in this city recently to strengthen reliability of data gathered during the regional assessment.

City Information Officer Richard Ligad said Wednesday the validators came not to nullify earlier findings, but to strengthen and support the recommendation that Puerto Princesa be included in the list of the SGLG.

Ligad disclosed that the city underwent three validation processes, such as site visits in important and selected facilities, document reviews, and interviews.

Among those visited were the residential care facilities of Bagong Pag-Asa Youth Rehabilitation Center, Bantay Bata Group Home (BBGH) of Boys and Girls in Barangay Mangingisda, sanitary land fill in Barangay Sta. Lourdes, and the City Health Office (CHO) in Mendoza Park.

The CHO was visited to inspect PhilHealth accreditations of TB DOTS and primary care benefits.

Ligad said the validators lauded tha hazard and disaster markers in Puerto Princesa as they are both in English and Filipino languages, and some are even in the Cuyunon dialect.

Also checked were the evacuation centers, risk reduction equipments for rescue missions, the City Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO), and even the Citizen's Charter that indicates three steps for the release of Mayor's Permit.

The validators also checked the computerized tracking system of the city called the Electronic Track Revenue Assessment and Collection System. The last to be validated, Ligad added, was the drug clearing operations in barangays of the city. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CITY OF ILAGAN, Isabela -- The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is providing assistance to Local Government Units (LGUs) in establishing evacuation centers as part of its program strengthening disaster preparedness.

DILG-Isabela Director Elpidio Durwin said that through the then Bottom Up Budgeting (BUB) program, now renamed Assistance to Municipalities, at least six LGUs in Isabela were provided funding assistance for the construction of evacuation centers.

Durwin said the municipalities of Quezon, Angadanan and several other municipalities were given funding assistance for the project. He said more LGUs would be funded soon in order to construct their own evacuation centers.

Aside from the DILG-funded evacuation centers, two evacuation centers have been completed, three are still ongoing construction at the capitol compound and Dinapigue town. The construction of three more evacuation centers are ongoing at the coastal towns of Maconacon, Divilacan, and Palanan.

The three are expected to be completed within the end of the year, according to the Provincial Engineering Office. Provincial Engineer Virgilio Lorenzo said the provincial-funded evacuation centers are equipped with water system and generators and are typhoon-proof. (PNA)

* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Personnel of the Regional Anti-Cybercrime Office were cited for meritorious performance that led to the arrest of a cyber den operator and rescue of two minors in this city.

The awarding was held just after the flag ceremony on Monday at Camp Romeo Abendan that houses the Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) headquarters in Barangay Mercedes, this city.

Awarded the efficiency medal (Medalya ng Kasanayan) were Chief Insp. Joel Tuttuh, regional anti-cybercrime chief; SPO1 Charlene Nabua; PO3 Mary Grace Francisco; PO2 Art Binas; PO1 Art Josef Valdez; and, PO1 Jenny Ian Kalayakan.

Chief Supt. Billy Beltran, PRO-9 director, said their exemplary performance resulted to the arrest of Eric Acain alias Madam, 40, an alleged cyber den operator, and the rescue of two minors.

Acain was arrested in a law enforcement operation by way of serving of search warrant on August 26 in Barangay Ayala, this city.

Confiscated from Acain's residents were 11 units of computers; 11 units cellular phones; six units laptop computers; seven Wi-Fi modems; internet cables; one hard drive; and, a pocket Wi-Fi.

Beltran said the awardees' exemplifying leadership qualities are an epitome of true and dedicated public servant, earning them honor and prestige, worthy of praise and emulation not only by their peers in particular but the Philippine National Police in general. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

CEBU CITY -- Seven suspected drug pushers and six users were rounded up Monday in a series of operations in Danao City, 48.7 kilometers north of this city.

Danao City Police seized from the suspects 53 sachets of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride or "shabu" worth more or less PHP15,000.

The suspected drug peddlers were identified as John Peter Almerez, Jeremy Mata, Ricky Miro, Efren Enero, Randy Collantes, Roel Collantes, and July Bughaw.

They will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, along with suspected drug users Kim Angelo Lochavez, Felix Calvo, Ardie Fabroa, Filomeno Giandam, Ronald Lipao-Lipao, and Marjun Dolero.

Operatives led by Danao City Police chief Gerard Ace Pelare arrested the suspects olong Taboc Loboc, Ralota, Duterte, Suba, and Juan Luna streets, all in Barangay Poblacion of said city.

Meanwhile, a resident of Pamplona, Negros Oriental, is now detained at the Cebu City Police Station 11 after he was caught in possession of illegal drugs.

Rommel Jayme, 32, was arrested by roving policemen led by PO3 Jonathan Basiller in Barangay Duljo-Fatima where he bought the two packs of "shabu" recovered from him. (with reports from Michelle Bugtai/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Health personnel in South Cotabato province have raised alarm over the rising cases of suicide among residents.

Jade Javellana, mental health program coordinator of the Integrated Provincial Health Office, said Tuesday they recorded a sudden increase this year in suicide rates in the province's 10 towns and lone city.

Since January, she said they already documented 21 suicide cases, including one visiting foreign national.

She said the cases involved 15 males and five females who were mostly suffering from depression and other related problems.

"The reasons are actually diverse. We also have cases that were due to love and passion, frustration, family problems, health issues and mental challenges," Javellana said in a media forum.

Citing their assessment, she said the victims ended their lives mainly due to the "feeling of hopelessness."

The profile of the involved victims are students, jobless persons, a housewife, a tourist and elderly, she said.

Owing to this, Javellana said they have launched a series of trainings this month to further capacitate health workers in the handling of cases of depression and mental illness.

Such move is part of the activities for the province's ongoing observance of the National Suicide Prevention Month.

She said the trainings are focused on equipping local health workers in creating strategies that would help address the problem.

These activities are spearheaded by Lake Sebu Municipal Health Officer Dr. Josephine Bayquin, she said.

Javellana said they are also promoting open discussions on suicides as it is considered a form of a therapy, especially for depressed individuals who have attempted to end their lives.

"It's okay to ask them why they attempted to kill themselves. We need to talk to them and not leave them at such state," she added.(AC/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

LAOAG CITY— Residents here are advised to take necessary precautions as two weather disturbances are near Region 1.

Engr. Pedro Agcaoili, head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) said Tuesday all departments under the Ilocos Norte government are well-prepared in times of calamity.

As ordered by Governor Ma. Imelda Josefa Marcos, Agcaoili said all members of the PDRRMC attended a pre-disaster assessment at the Resiliency Office on Monday to ensure everything is in place.

For her part, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer Lilian Rin said a stockpile of relief goods had already been prepositioned in the different towns and cities of the province.

Representatives of the Provincial Engineering Office and the Department of Public Works and Highways also assured their heavy equipment and operators are alerted to immediately respond particularly in pre-identified highly vulnerable areas due to flooding or landslide.

Dr. Loida Valenzuela of the Provincial Veterinary Office also reported that if rain persists, a text brigade will immediately operate, informing concerned stakeholders.

Agcaoili hopes that by practicing pre-disaster preparedness operations, Ilocos Norte will be spared of any further damages to property or possible loss of lives.

As of Tuesday morning, Tropical Depression "Maring" has accelerated and made landfall in the vicinity of Mauban, Quezon. In Ilocos Norte, low to moderate rains are observed in some parts of the province.

Fishermen were advised not to venture out into the deep sea today due to erratic weather condition. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The Police Regional Office (PRO)-12 has cleared the mayor of Tampakan town in South Cotabato of any legal liability following the raid at his home on Monday morning that yielded several high-powered firearms.

Supt. Romeo Galgo Jr., PRO-12 public information officer, said Tuesday Tampakan Mayor Leonardo Escobillo was cleared after presenting legal documents as proof of ownership for the six recovered firearms and assorted ammunition.

He said these were a unit of caliber .45 Norinco pistol with live ammunition, a caliber .40 Taurus pistol with loaded ammunition, two carbine rifles, a shotgun, an AK47 rifle, and assorted magazines and ammunition.

The firearms were recovered during an anti-drug raid at the mayor's house in Barangay Maltana in Tampakan town at around 6 a.m. on Monday.

The operation was based on 15 search warrants for possession and selling of illegal drugs, maintenance of a drug den, and illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives issued by Judge Alandrex Betoya of the Regional Trial Court Branch 16 in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

The warrants were implemented by operatives of the PRO-12's Regional Drug Enforcement Unit, Regional Public Safety Battalion, 1st and 2nd Maneuver Company, Tampakan municipal police station.

But Galgo said the mayor's son, Leonard "Junjun" Escobillo, is facing charges of illegal possession of firearms after a caliber. 45 Taurus handgun loaded with eight live bullets and with expired license was seized in a separate raid at his home in Purok 6, Barangay Maltana.

Also recovered were 18 rounds of live ammu0nition and two pieces of steel magazines, he said.

"He was arrested for not having presented legal documents to vouch ownership of the confiscated items," he said in a statement.

Galgo said Leonard is currently detained at the Tampakan municipal police station jail pending the filing of formal charges.

Sr. Insp. Harold Cornel, Tampakan police chief, clarified that Mayor Escobillo, who is currently on his third term, was not arrested after the raid.

The raiding team declared as unlicensed the two carbine rifles seized from the mayor's residence.

The mayor denied owning them. No illegal drugs were recovered during the raids.

He said Leonard, who was reportedly eyeing the mayoralty post in the 2019 elections, had been serving as the mayor's secretary.

Mayor Escobillo condemned the raid and denied any involvement in illegal drug trade and related activities.

The mayor blamed politics as behind the raid, which he said was based on "wrong information" fed to authorities.

"I will face this challenge and at the same time, continue serving the people of Tampakan," he said.(AVE/PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Operatives of the Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) arrested 12 people and seized illegal drugs in separate anti-drug operations, a top police official said Tuesday.

Chief Supt. Billy Betran, PRO-9 director, said the arrest came as the anti-drug campaign continues without let-up in line with the President Rodrigo Duterte's declaration of war against illegal drugs in the country.

Beltran said the suspects were arrested in a series of anti-drug operations in Zamboanga City; Ipil in Zamboanga Sibugay; and Isabela City in Basilan.

Beltran identified those arrested as Abdel Qadir, Gichin Moreno, Alfadz Kammak, Norgie Caceres, Leo Patrick Cabato and Ellaine Guina of Zamboanga City; Alex Turno and Raymond Turno of Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay; Ben Amirul, Adrian Ijirani, Aldrin Ijirani, and Jerico Baro of Isabela City, Basilan.

He said the arresting teams confiscated from the suspects packs of suspected shabu with an estimated market value of PhP13,000; packs of dried marijuana leaves; marked money; and, other illegal drug paraphernalia.

He said the suspects are now detained pending the filing of appropriate charges against them. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The police have launched a manhunt operation against the gunman behind the killing of a barangay councilman in the province of Basilan, an official disclosed Tuesday.

Supt. Jerome Afuyog, Isabela City police chief, identified the subject of the manhunt operation as Ben Apas, of Sibago Island, Mohammad Ajul, Basilan.

Afuyog said Apas has been identified as the alleged gunman who shot and killed Barangay Councilor Alasin Sali Kaya, 45, of Tampalan, Malamawi Island, Isabela City, the capital of Basilan province.

He said Apas shot Kaya at around 8:20 a.m. Monday in Barangay Tampalan and fled after the crime.

He added that Kaya, who had multiple gunshot wounds, was rushed to a hospital in mainland Isabela City for medication.

But he said Kaya expired later Monday while being transported to a hospital in Zamboanga City.

He said the motive of the incident has yet to be ascertained although initially, it is believed to involve money. (PNA)



* Stay at Home and START YOUR OWN blog site, business or personal website, or e-commerce store at www.wirenine.com