It’s Josons’ turn to be sued for graft in Nueva Ecija

Former Nueva Ecija Gov. Tomas Joson III and two past provincial treasurers have been charged with corruption before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The criminal charges were filed by Raymund Sarmiento, head of the Nueva Ecija provincial government’s Public Affairs and Monitoring Office, against Joson and Lilia de Jesus and Adoracion Del Rosario–Sumangil, who had served as acting provincial treasurers.

In his sworn statement, Sarmiento said Joson, De Jesus and Del Rosario–Sumangil failed to remit loan payments amounting to P1.457 million to the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp., a government-owned and controlled company.

The amount came from salary deductions from provincial government employees who took out loans under a livelihood assistance program.

Sarmiento also said the provincial government failed to pay a penalty of 2 percent a month for delayed remittances.

He attached copies of disbursement vouchers for the deductions that he said were not remitted.

Sarmeinto said the loan payments were considered public funds held in trust, and could only be spent for the specific purpose for which that trust was created.

Since the funds were not remitted, it was presumed those were used for some other purpose, he said, accusing Joson, De Jesus and Del Rosario-Sumangil were liable for the misuse of public funds.

Sarmiento said the actions of the three had caused undue injury to the government.

The complaint seeks the suspension of De Jesus and Del Rosario-Sumangil, who are assistant provincial treasurer and chief of the Land Tax Division, respectively, until the case is settled.

Joson was governor of Nueva Ecija for three terms, from 1998 to 2007, De Jesus was acting provincial treasurer from July 1 to Sept. 30, 2005, while Del Rosario-Sumangil held the post, also in an acting capacity, from Nov. 2, 2006 to the end of Joson’s tenure in office last year.

Joson opens new front in Ecija politics

Nueva Ecija politics is heating up with the vice governor taking the governor and his wife to court on graft charges.

In documents filed with the Office of the Ombudsman, Vice Gov. Edward Thomas Joson accused Gov. Aurelio Umali, his wife Rep. Czarina Umali, provincial treasurer Edilberto Pancho, consultant Ferdinand Abesamis, and administrator Alejandro Abesamis of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

In particular, Joson said, it was illegal for Umali to hire Edgardo Rillon as the provincial information officer because the Civil Service Commission had rejected his appointment.

Joson also complained about an alleged overpricing of 93 “multi-cabs” that were distributed to various villages in the province.

The provincial government bought these for P176,200 each, even though the supplier, HCK Motors, had quoted them at P135,000 each with free registration.

As part of his complaint, Joson said the appointment of Abesamis as a consultant violated the Local Government Code because he had been dismissed from government service during the Estrada administration.

Joson added that Abesamis “rules” the capitol, despite his status as a consultant.

Umali’s wife, the representative of the 3rd District, was included in the suit for donating P5 million from her countrywide development fund to the multi-cab project.

Standard Today tried to reach the Umalis for comment, but a call made to the governor’s cell phone was answered by someone who introduced himself as the executive’s chief of staff.

The person said Umali was in a meeting and that they would meet to discuss the matter later yesterday (April 22). – Joel M. Sy Egco (Manila Standard Today April 23, 2008)

Gov’t behind ‘revived’ murder raps, say party-list solons

Militant lawmakers yesterday (April 18) branded as another attempt of the Arroyo government to pin them down on the multiple murder charges filed against them by the military in separate courts in Nueva Ecija last year.

The latest charges against Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño, both of Bayan Muna, Liza Maza of Gabriela and former Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano stemmed from accusations that they ordered the killings of three Nueva Ecija farmers.

Ocampo denied the charges against him, saying these are merely trumped-up accusations by the Arroyo administration.

He noted that the charges are just a retaliation of the government after he attended the 10-day meeting in Canada which tackled the issue of spate of extra-judicial killings in the country.

The Bayan Muna representative also accused the government of conducting surveillance on him.

Ocampo, in a radio interview, said two motorcycle riding men were stalking outside his house in Quezon City.

He added the men apparently had two other companions in aboard another vehicle and the four unidentified persons were communicating through radio.

According to him, if the men were from the police, they had no reason to closely monitor his actions because authorities have yet to release any warrant of arrest against him, in connection with the murder case filed against him at a court in Nueva Ecija province.

Casino, for his part, said the Nueva Ecija multiple murder case against them was the same charge used as basis for last year’s disqualification case filed against their party-list groups which was eventually dismissed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

He also accused the military and the police of pressuring the court to issue an arrest warrant against them.

“The PNP and the AFP are now pressuring the court to abandon due process and issue an arrest warrant tomorrow (April 21) to again forcibly remove us from serving our constituents,” Casiño, in a text message, stressed.

The families of victims Danilo Felipe, Carlito Bayudang and Jimmy Peralta filed the criminal charges after witnesses surfaced and named the party-list congressmen in the killings.

Apart from the lawmakers, 15 other members of the Communist Party of the Philippines. New People’s Army in Central Luzon were also named in the charge sheet.

Malacañang, however, denied having a hand in the alleged surveillance operation against Ocampo.

Chief presidential legal counsel Sergio Apostol maintained that there is no reason to do that because there is no pressing issue against Ocampo right now.

The Palace official said Ocampo is always free to speak up against the government in the matter has no logic.

“Why would we threaten him? He is even free to speak anything and besides, he is not doing anything wrong… There is no issue about him so what is the reason of any surveillance?” he asked.

Apostol said the government is willing to give security to Ocampo should he ask for it.

He added they also want the matter looked into so they would know if it is true and who are involved.

In 2007, Ocampo was arrested over his alleged participation in the killings of former colleagues in Hilongos, Leyte, in connection with the purging of government spies who infiltrated the ranks of the Communist Party of the Philippines in early and mid 80s. the Supreme Court dismissed the rebellion case against the Batasan 6, and allowed Ocampo to post bail on the Hilongos case.

Militant group Pamalakaya, meanwhile, accused President Arroyo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzalez, and outgoing Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. of masterminding the looming arrest of Ocampo and the three other activist lawmakers.

“The National Security gang in Malacañang is behind this brazen attempt to imprison the real servants of the people. It wants to stop them from exposing and opposing the President’s long-running crimes against the people,” Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap, in a statement, said.

“Malacañang just waited for the Universal Periodic Review finished its assessment of the President Arroyo’s human rights performance over the last six years before deciding to push through with the filing of criminal charges against our party-list lawmakers,” he added.

Last week, Ocampo was on a spwaking tour in Canada to tackle the human rights performance of Mrs. Arroyo, while Casiño was part of the six member delegation dispatched by the Philippine UPR Watch to contest the human rights report of the 44-men delegation team sent by Malacañang last week to report the human rights records of the Philippine government over the last seven years before the United Nation Human Rights Council currently reviewing the human rights status in the country.

Batasan 4 faces kidnap, murder raps

CABANATUAN CITY –Four party-list representatives were charged last Friday (April 18) in court with kidnapping with murder and two counts of murder for the alleged liquidation of three deep-penetration agents by the leftist movement in 2001, 2003 and 2004.

No warrant was yet issued by the regional trial courts of Palayan City and Guimba town for the arrest of Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza, Teodoro Casiño, and Rafael Mariano, party-list representatives of Bayan Muna and Gabriela.

The co-accused were Eugenia Magpantay of 189 A. Bonifacio Ave., Tañong, Marikina City; Vicente Cayetano of Poblacion, Norzagaray, Bulacan Ditumabo, Baler, Aurora; Emeterio Antalan of Estiponia, Pra, Tarlac; all highranking officials of the Central Luzon Regional Committee, and Nueva Ecija Privincial Committee of the CPP/NPA/NDFP, and members known only as “Ka Sendong”, “Ka Puroy”, “Ka RV”, “Ka Ra”,”Ka Mylene”, Ka Dick”, “Ka Mig”, “Ka Michelle”, “Ka Nasa”, and “Ka Apple”.

The cases were docketed as Criminal Cases Nos. 2613-G, Guimba; 1879-P, Palayan City; and 1880-P, Palayan City.

The four solons were accused by the government of allegedly funding the Central Committee of the Comunist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front Party (CPP/NPA/NDFP) in their reported violent activities.

A panel of Nueva Ecija Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Antonio Lapus Jr., Edison Rafanan and Edie Gutierrez recommended no ball for all the accused.

The conspiracy allegedly involved the liquidation of the victims Danilo Felipe in Guimba (in 2001), Jimmy Peralta (in 2003), and Carlito Bayudang (in 2004), both in Bongabon town.

Court records showed that in the evening of February 17, 2001, Felipe was riding on his tractor in Sitio Balic-Balic, Barangay Narvacan, Guimba, when a hit squad, in conspiracy with the co-accused, kidnapped and hogtied him. He was allegedly taken to Sitio Bangkag, in Mayantoc, Nampicuan town where he was interrogated, tortured and later killed.

On December 23, 2003, around 10 p.m. Peralta was run over and killed by a white driven by the accused along the highway of Sinipit, Bongabon town.

Peralta was reportedly mistaken for his brother Jimmy who has the same build and appearance as those of the victim.

On May 6, 2004, at past 8 p.m., Bayudang was shot dead in Barangay Sta. Cruz by the same liquidation squad acting on orders from their co-conspirators.

Meanwhile, Human Rights lawyer Romeo T. Capulong cried “foul” and described it as a case of “a long pattern of persecution”.

In a press conference held yesterday, Capulong told media the action of the government was intended “to neutralize these personalities by filling non-bailable and common crimes to freeze their movements and stifle legitimate dissent”.

Rep. Ocampo, who had just planed in from Canada, shared the same sentiments and described the raps as resurrected cases.

9 dead as bus falls into ravine

Nine people were killed while several others were injured Friday (April 18) morning when an Aurora-bound bus carrying some 50 passengers fell into a 20 meter-deep ravine in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija.

Senior Superintendent Napoleon Taas, Nueva Ecija police director, said the D-Liner bus with license plate CWW-643, had left Cabanatuan City and was on its way to Casiguran, Aurora when the driver lost control of the vehicle and plunged into the ravine at kilometer 8 in Barangay Cadactan at around 10 A.M.

Pantabangan Mayor Romeo Borja, Sr., said nine passengers died. He was in Manila when the mishap happened but his son, Romeo, Jr., Provincial Board Member told him about the mishop.

Tim Dante, Superintendent of the D-Liner, said the bus, fell into the ravine after its brake malfunction and while maneuvering a dangerous curve in Cadactan.

Dante said, one passenger, Albano Tagnas, was able to escape injury after je jumped out of the bus before it fell off the road.

Dante said rescue operations for the victims were immediately conducted by Nueva Ecija and Aurora authorities.

9 dead as bus falls into ravine

video by GMA7 News

Nueva Ecija rice millers stop buying palay as costs get steep

San Jose City – Rice mill pwners have stopped buying palay (rough rice), citing diminishing capital and the low demand of milled rice from outlets, particularly in Metro Manila.

“Our combined capital can only buy up to 60 percent of the usual volume of palay that we buy during harvest time,” Edgardo Alfonso, president of the San Jose City Ricemillers Association, said.

He said rice millers here used to buy up to 11 million metric tons of rough rice every year. The palay that they buy is miled and sold in Metro Manila and Southern Luzon.

“Our hands are tied and we cannot move on any further,” Alfonso Said.

This city has the most rice mills in Luzon. The owners, who mill rice year-round, usually send agents to various places in northern Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Nueva Viscaya to buy the farmers’ palay harvest.

Slow recovery

Not anymore.

“Our P2-billion combined capital was enough then as the palay buying price was from P9 to P10 per kilogram only,” Alfonso said. “But now that it reached more than P19 per kilogram, we can buy only a portion of what we used to buy.”

What aggravated the situation was the low demand for milled rice.

Recovery for capital is slow, hence money cannot be rolled on for continuous palay buying, Alfonso said. “We are accused of manipulating the buying price of palay to earn more.”

He said: “That’s not true. What we want to do is to continue buying palay so that we can mill and sell rice continuously. Our buying capacity is not that strong anymore.”

The fear of being raided by government agents on suspicion of hoarding is always there, he said. But he said they cannot hoard as they should be regularly supplying their outlets.

Asked about the increase in the buying price of rice, Alfonso said the “noise” about the alleged rice crisis, or very low supply of rice, in the world market created panic and speculation by some traders.

Panic-buying

“There was panic-buying of rice. Speculators also bought rice and kept supplies to be sold later at a very high prices,” he said.

He said government officials also sent wrong signals to the public about the real rice situation. They even surprised the public about the decision to increase the buying price of palay by National Food Authority from P12 to P17 per cavan.

It was only recently that the government announced there was a rice crisis. But it came too late, Alfonso said, adding that prices of rough rice and milled rice were already high.

For rice farmers, it was good as they would now earn more, he said. But for non-rice producers, they would be affected very much especially during the lean months, he said.

As a rule of thumb, the price of milled rice is pegged by the millers at double the buying price of palay.

“If we bought the palay at P17 per kilogram, the price of the milled rice should be P34 per kilogram. But look what’s happening. The buyers prefer the much cheaper rice now,” he said.

Ex-Cabanatuan judge found guilty of sexual harassment

The Sandiganbayan sentenced a former municipal trial court judge in Cabanatuan City to five years’ imprisonment for sexually harassing a court employee on two occasions in 1997.

The anti-graft court’s first division found former MTC judge Rogelio Esteban guilty of two counts of sexual harassment and two counts of acts of lasciviousness.

The former judge was a godfather of the complainant in her wedding.

In a 24-page decision penned by Associate Justice Rodolfo Ponferrada and concurred by Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo and Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta, Esteban was also ordered to pay the complainant P100,000 in moral damages.

The victim, whose name was withheld, accused Esteban of kissing her on two occasions in 2007 when she was working as a staffer in his MTC branch.

The complainant said Esteban first kissed her on the cheek on June 25,1997 while she was asking him to sign her appointment as a bookbinder of court records.

“Ano naman ang magiging kapalit ng pagpirma ko rito? Mula ngayon girlfriend na kita. Araw-araw papasok ka dito sa opisina ko at araw-araw isang halik (What will I get in return for signing this? From now on you will be my girlfriend. Every day you have to give me a kiss),” she quoted him as saying during the hearing.

She recalled that the second harassment occurred on Aug. 5, 1997 when Esteban summoned her and inquired about her salary after her promotion.

When she told him she had received the increase, the judge asked why she did not give him a kiss.

The complainant said the judge then embraced her, kissed her all her face and even touched her right breast. She said she resisted until the accused lost his hold.

The court stressed that it found strong evidence against Esteban, especially with the testimony of another court employee who corroborated the complainant’s accusations.

“The foregoing lustful and unwelcome repeated sexual advances made by the accused on the complainant, his subordinate employee, are an affront to women, and therefore, unmistakably constitute sexual harassment,” the decision stated.

In his defense, Esteban claimed that he could not have committed sexual harassment because the door of his room was always open and at the two dates cited by the complainant, there were “10 to 20 ballot boxes” stacked beside his table, which would have made any attempt to go after her impossible.

But the court apparently did not buy his alibi, saying the prosecution presented a witness who disproved his claim.

The anti-graft court further noted that the complainant’s testimony remained credible since the defense failed to present any evidence to show that the witness had any ill-motive to testify against the former judge.

The court said the mere denial of the accused cannot prevail over the combined testimonies of the complainant and the prosecution witnesses.

“The complainant… in a credible, candid, categorical and straightforward manner, declared in vivid detail her harrowing experiences in the hands of the accused, )She) affirmed all these declarations unshaken by cross-examinations and unflawed by inconsistencies and contradictions in their material points, and therefore, she deserves, the court’s full faith and belief,” the Sandiganbayan said.

The Supreme Court dismissed Esteban from the service in 1999.

Ecija mango growers see ‘disastrous’ year

PEÑARANDA, Nueva Ecija – Mango growers are expecting a “disastrous” production year, blaming erratic weather and the fruit disease called “gloria-gloria.”

They say they do not expect to make money and were only hoping to recover production costs. This town has about 30,000 of the more than 400,000 fruit bearing mango trees to the province.

Unusual rainfall destroyed much of the flowers of the mango trees, resulting in fewer fruits. Many of the fruits that developed were, however, disfigured by the “Gloria-gloria” and “armalite” diseases, characterized by mole-like bulges, punctures or circular, brown scab-like spots on the fruit surface.

In a forum on Tuesday (April 8), Dr. Oscar Opina, technical expert on mango of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), said the “gloria-gloria” and “armalite” were caused by the cecid fly that attacks mango leaves and fruits.

The forum was organized by officials of the Laguna-based PCARR, the Central Luzon Agricultural and municipal agriculture offices.

Wilfredo Abesamis, 52, who was cited as a “magsasaka-siyentista” (farmer-scientist) by PCARRD, also spoke in the forum and shared with fellow mango growers his experience.

He said the science and technology interventions provided him by PCARRD experts helped improve his production. These included training on sanitary and center pruning of the trees, pest and diseases management, fertilizer application, irrigation, flower induction and fruit bagging.

“We did not know then that we need to provide good aeration and entry of sunlight to the branches and leaves of our trees, which can be done by pruning,” Abesamis said. “We did not also know then that we could retard the growth of the new shoots in order for them to mature well and become ready for inducing them to flower and bear fruits.”

Abesamis said it is also important to keep trees healthy and irrigated.

He said he would assist other mango growers in Nueva Ecija by disseminating the technology and knowledge shared to him by PCCARD experts.

Cut rice wastage, Pinoys urged

Filipino can cope better with the increasing cost and scarcity of rice if only wastage in rice production can be minimized, according to a Philippine Rice Research Institute official.

Dr. Leocadio Sebastian, PhilRice executive director, said the institute’s studies showed that the equivalent of about 450,000 metric tons (MT) of milled rice went to waste last year.

“That’s equivalent to one-fourth of the rice (we) imported last year,” Sebastian said.

“But the situation is not that hopeless yet. At present, the rice requirement can still be reduced by the people themselves as there is room for savings on rice production losses and wastage in (its) use,” he said.

“Barring calamitous events in our next cropping season, and with our good harvest this current season plus the announcement by Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap that we have buffer stock of imported rice, we do not see a rice crisis this year,” Sebastian said.

‘No Shortage’

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo earlier said there was “scarcity of rice” because of global warming and increased world demand but that there is “no shortage” of commodity for the consumers in the country.

The Bureau of Post Harvest Research and Extension (BPHRE) here said that post-production losses in palay production because of the mishandling of grains reached more than 14.84 percent, or 1`.5 million MT, according to a 1994 national assessment.

Grain losses occur in harvesting, threshing, transport, drying, storage and milling stages, said the BPHRE.

Losses are also incurred when palay is not harvested on time as overripe grains fall from the stalks.

In most provinces where drying facilities are rare, palay is dried on roads and on basketball courts. When concrete pavements are not available, some farmers resort to drying the grains on sleeping mats.

Losses in drying

These drying methods often lead to losses as grains are destroyed, carried by strong wind or eaten by stray chickens and birds.

The BPHRE said poor storage conditions also lead to attacks by rats feeding on the stockpiled palay.

The bureau has yet to release an updated study on post-production losses but the agency estimated that the losses have gone down to about 10 percent.

PhilRice reports said rice production in the country has been deficient for the past 130 years, except for a two-year period in the late 1960s.

Data gathered from publications of PhilRice and the Laguna-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) showed that the Philippines has been importing rice since 1869 to fill the gap between production and consumption.

Rare surplus

It was only in 1970 that the country did not import rice as palay production reached such levels as to come up with an exportable surplus.

PhilRice records showed the country imported rice at an average of 806,000 MT a year from 1999 to 2003. rice importation in 2004 jumped to 1.001 million MT, 1.882 million MT in 2005, 1.716 million MT in 2006, and more than 1.8 million MT in 2007.

These volumes are a far cry from the less than 1,000 MT of rice imported yearly from 1979 to 1991.

“Rice importations were resorted to meet our consumption requirement,” said Sebastian.

However, this did not mean that the country’s rice production was decreasing, he said.

P13.59-B project is seen to solve Metro water woes
Balintingon reservoir to augment La Mesa Dam’s water volume

CABANATUAN CITY – The P13.59-billion Balintingon Reservoir Multipurpose Project (BRMP) whose construction is expected to start in early 2009 is expected to solve the perennial problem of Metro Manila.

NIA Regional Irrigation Manager Manuel Collado said here that the BRMP project is the answer to the drinking water requirement of Metro Manila residents, whose only source is the La Mesa Dam.

It could also provide irrigation water for Bulacan, relieve Angat Dam of the burden of irrigating the farms in the province, and augment the water at La Mesa Dam.

The La Mesa Dam, which irrigates some 30,000 hectares of farms in northern Bulacan, may be utilized instead to augment its portable water supply, it was learned.

Although irrigation authorities would not name the proponent of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) project that would bankroll the construction of BRMP, they hinted that funds are available and that the construction would start by early 2009.

The BRMP is now on the critical stage of securing an environmental impact assessment (EIA) through the conduct of scoping or public hearing on the impact of the project.

The hearing will be participated in by the beneficiary-residents of General Tinio and Cabanatuan City on the Nueva Ecija side, and San Miguel and San Ildefonso on the Bulacan side.

NIA-UPRIIS Operations Manager Antonio S. Nagel said the BRMP was first formulated under the “irrigation Development Plan for Central Luzon,” whose feasibility studies were completed in 1983.

Its source of water is the Sumacbao River.

The Sumacbao dam project was originally designed to replace the Aurora-Peñaranda Irrigation Project (APIP) as source of additional irrigation water for southern Nueva Ecija which is being serviced by the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System (UPRIIS), which includes the Pantabangan Dam.
The P13.59-billion Balintingon Reservoir Multipurpose Project (BRMP) has a foreign-component cost of P9.38 billion. The local-component cost is P4.20 billion.

The BRMP will serve to:
• Provide irrigation to some 14,900 hectares in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan;
• Generate electricity for the Luzon grid;
• Promote crop diversification and stabilize vegetable prices; and
• Generate income from caged fishery with the use of the reservoir water.

Invited to participate in the hearing on the P13.58-billion are farmers of San Miguel, San Ildefonso, both in Bulacan; the cities of Gapan and Cabanatuan, the towns of Sta Rosa, Peñaranda, and General Tinio, and other agriculture stakeholders in Nueva Ecija.

They got a briefing on the technical aspect of the project which will benefit farmers in the southern part of Nueva Ecija, a portion of Bulacan, and the town of Arayat in Pampanga.

It was learned that at least five barangays will be submerged in Peñaranda town, and the Balintingon area in General Tinio side.

The BRMP project is 140-meter-high rockfill impervious embankment dam. It has a reservoir with a storage capacity of 572 million cubic meters.

It has a power generating capacity of 30 megawatts and has a 395-meter-long power tunnel.

Police rookie, informer shot dead in Ecija ‘buy bust’

TALAVERA, Nueva Ecija – a rookie policeman and an informer were shot dead allegedly by a Muslim toughie they were supposed to arrest during a failed drug “buy bust” operation last Monday (April 7) night in Barangay San Pascual, this town.

Talavera town police chief Supt. Arnel Santiago identified the fatalities as PO1 Michael Arellano of 41 Rizal St., Espinona, Pura, Tarlac, and civilian agent Rudy Hidalgo, Sr.

Arellano died of wounds caused by bullets fired from a caliber .45 revolver. He died on the spot.

Hidalgo died on arrival at the Dr. Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Center in Cabanatuan City to where he was taken.

Nueva Ecija police director Senior Supt. Napoleon C. Taas identified the suspect as Bernie Mamaid, alias “Big Time.” He is a notorious drug pusher and hired killer, police said.

The police reported that Arellano and Hidalgo were about to arrest the suspect during a drug “buy bust” operation at about 7 Monday night.

Police said Mamaid fired a caliber .45 pistol at the duo, then ran away.

Mamaid’s companion, Edward Castillo, 32, was taken in for questioning.

Taas has ordered an in-depth investigation of the circumstances leading to the shooting incident in which a neophyte police officer was tapped to join a police operation of such serious nature.

Taas had also vowed to get Mamaid for the killing of his policeman, who was the first casualty under his watch in the province.

Taas immediately launched a province-wide hunt for Mamaid.

The shooting incident came three days after the Army and the police had inked a compact to tighten their campaign against all forms of criminality, especially terroristic acts. Magtanggol C. Villar.

Name rice czar – solon

There is no shortage at least for now, according to two lawmakers.

However, one sees a need for a rice czar and other said it may be necessary to declare a state of emergency and impose price control to avert a rice crisis.

Speaking in a news forum, Ayes and Nays, Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor and Nueva Ecija Rep. Edno Joson, both former officials of the National Food Authority, said unscrupulous traders are creating an artificial shortage of rice so they can jack up the price of commercial rice and rake in more profit.

“as a whole we have enough rice supply. But the government should be very vigilant against the hoarders,” Defensor said.

But despite his claim of no shortage, Defensor urged President Macapagal-Arroyo to appoint a rice czar whose function is to monitor the supply, production and even hoarding.

According to Defensor, the appointment of a rice czar, on top of the action to be taken by concerned agencies such as the National Food Authority and the Department of Agriculture, is necessary to avert a rice crisis.

Joson suggested that the government should implement a soft and hard approach to resolve the problem.

He said the government should start with talking to traders, retailers and wholesalers to lower the price of commercial rice and unload their stocks in the market so that the people will not resort to panic buying.

Palayan, Lipa City crush foes, make final group

Lipa City of Batangas and Palayan City of Nueva Ecija came up with lopsided victories yesterday (April 8) and joined four other teams into the next round in the centerpiece Major league (11-12) boys baseball division play of the 2008 Little League Philippine Series at the posh Alabang Country Club.

The Lipa Major Leaguers showed too much class in disposing of General Trias of Cavite via a 12-2 verdict for its fourth straight triumph to join Marikina City at the top of the standing in the six-team Group C.

The victory also pushed Lipa City into the two-group Final 10 of the 29-team field.

The Palayan 11-12 sluggers, on the other hand, crushed their erstwhile Group B co-leader Zamboanga City, 16-0 to assume solo leadership in their bracket.

Palayan also advanced into the two-group Final 10 of the six-group elimination round in the division.

Marikina, Ilocos Norte and Tanauan City of Batangas in Group A and defending champion International Little League Association of Manila (ILLAM) in Group E have already made it into the next round with their 4-0 win-loss records.

Pook Agoncillo of Batangas resumed its winning ways, dumping Pasig City, 12-2, and tied Zamboanga in second place in its group behind the streaking Palayan.

The top two teams from each group in the 11-12 age division will be divided into two brackets that will play another round to decide which teams advance into the medal phase.

Team Manila, meanwhile, mauled last year’s Big League (14-16) girls softball winner ILLAM, 6-2, in a victory that created a triple tie for first place in the four-team, two-round level.

Bacolod City East shared the Big League top spot with the Manila Golden Girls and ILLAM after surviving host Muntinlupa City, 1-0, in a marathon three-hour duel that lasted for nine innings. All three ended the first of two-round elimination play toting similar 2-1 records each.

Sheena Mae Ventura’s single at the bottom of the third extension drove home teammate Maria Aila Millano for the game-clinching run after the two teams battled to a scoreless deadlock for eight frames.

Millano boarded first on a freebie, stole second then advanced to third on a fielder’s choice from where she scooted home on that base-hit by Ventura.

The Big League girls softball format calls for the four-team cast to play one round elimination to decide the two teams that will dispute the championship. The No.1 squad based on its win-loss slate will enjoy a twice to beat advantage in the final.

Politics, business rivalry eyed in ex-NE exec’s slay

Police are eyeing politics and business rivalry in the ambush-slaying last Saturday of a former Nueva Ecija board member in front of his wife and son in San Isidro town.

Senior Superintendent Napoleon Taas, Nueva Ecija PNP provincial director, said the dying declaration of the victim, Rodolfo Lopez, 52, helped the probers identify three of the suspects in the crime.

While being rushed to the Good Samaritan Hospital in Gapan City in an ambulance, Lopez intimated to his wife and son one of the gunmen as their former driver, Lito Flores.

“We considered this case solved following the identification of the gunmen,” said Taas.

He said his men are now hunting down Flores, his brother, Evelito and one Benito Hipolito before the provincial prosecutor’s office in Nueva Ecija last Monday.

“Politics and business rivalry are among the angles being worked on by our police investigators in the Lopez murder,” said Taas.

Lopez was a former provincial board member and Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president of San Isidro Mayor Sonia Lorenzo.

Lopez served as a political coordinator and infrastructures staff of Nueva Ecija fourth district Rep. Rodolfo Antonino before he was killed.

Taas said Lopez, his wife and son were about to board their white Nissan van parked at a basketball court near the barangay hall in Barangay Poblacion after attending last Saturday’s March 29) evening Mass at the San Isidro Parish Church when three gunmen appeared and shot Lopez at close range at around 7:40 p.m.

Lopez sustained three gunshot wounds in the chest. He was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.

Responding scene-of-the-crime operatives recovered three spent shells and three slugs from a caliber .45 automatic pistol at the crime scene.

Upon learning about Lopez’s murder, Taas directed the 309th Provincial Mobile Group to set up roadblocks and checkpoints fleeing suspects, who were on board two motorcycles. But the effort failed.

“We are checking reports that the fourth suspect entered a van right after the shooting,” said Taas.

Taas has created Task Force Uding, composed of elements of the San Isidro police and the provincial office of the Criminal Investigation and Detective Group headed by Superintendent Benjie Villasis to go after Lopez’s assassins.

Superintendent Isagani Aguas, deputy provincial police director, said incumbent Barangay Pulo captain Cherry de la Cruz was ruled out as a suspect although she had a rift with Lopez.

Lapus defends boxing, nixes Joson bill

EDUCATION Secretary Jesli Lapus disagreed with Nueva Ecija Rep. Edno Joson’s proposal outlawing boxing saying it is one of the aged-old sports where the Philippines has gained international recognition.

Lapuz said it is in boxing that Filipinos exceland has brought global recognition to the country’s athletes. He also pointed out the sport is included in the annual Palarong Pambansa to be held in Puerto Princesa, Palawan on April 20 to 26.

“It is through boxing that the Philippines produced the likes of WBC featherweight champion Manny Pacquio. How else do we develop world class athletes if not from the youth?” Lapus said.

Earlier, Joson filed HB 3743 banning “violent sports,” like boxing, saying it is a dangerous sport whose basic intent is to inflict physical injury on one’s opponent.

“Boxing is an Olympic sport and has been and still is RP’s best bet for medals. It is included in Palarong Pambansa, except in the elementary level,” Lapus said.

He sited Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines president Gov. Raul Daza and congressman Monico Puentebella as lead advocates for the promotion of youth boxing.

Joson cited studies showing boxing contests that resulted in permanent damage to the sight and hearing loss and in some cases even death.

‘Crime rate down in Ecija’

CABANATUAN City – Nueva Ecija police director Sr. Supt. Napoleon C. Taas yesterday citd foul over published reports that the people-friendly, anti-crime Mamang Pulis program of the Philippine National Police has failed.

Taas said, on the contrary, the crime rate has considerably gone down due to the successful implementation of the project under the strict guideance of PNP chief Director-General Avelino I. Razon, Jr.

“Just how can the crime situation in NE be on the rise when crime is on the downtrend in the entire country,” he stressed

Taas showed figures indicating a 40-percent drop in the total index crimes in the province in the first quarter.

From Jan. 11 to March 19, the Nueva Ecija police recorded 69 index crimes (murder-17, homicide-4, rape-40 percent compared to the same printed last year.

Last year, 116 index crimes were reported; murder-18, homicide-27, rape-11, physical injury-27, robbery-18, and theft-15.

Taas said the average unsolved crimes decreased by 43 percent compared to the same period last year.

He said the police was even commended by Gov. Aurelio M. Umali when the province registered “zero crime incidence” during the staging of the Central Luzon Regional Athletic Association in Palayan City, Talavera and this Cabanatuan City.

3 Josons rapped for ‘illegal donation’ of capitol equipment

PALAYAN CITY – Three Josons, two incumbent local officials and eight other former mayors and ex-provincial council members were charged before the Office of the Ombudsman for the alleged questionable donation made last year to certain municipalities of a fleet of heavy equipment and vehicles that provincial mobile clinic.

They were identified as Vice Gov. Edward Thomas Joson, his father, former three-term Gov. Tomas Joson III and Quezon town mayor Eduardo Basilio Joson, son of Tomas III’s younger brother, defeated governatorial candidate, ex-vice governor Mariano Cristino Joson.

The complaint was filed before the Office of the Ombudsman for Luzon by Dr. Raymund Sarmiento, officer-in-charge of the Public Affairs Monitoring Office of the provincial government based on the Special Order issued by Gov. Aurelio M. Umali.

Also named respondents were incumbent Bongabon Mayor Amelia Gamilla, Board Member Cesar Cucio, former mayors Jose Pocholo Dizon, fo Guimba and Marvin Martin, of San Leonardo and former provincial board members Bella Aurora Dulay, Jose Bernardo Yango, Cesar Eduardo, Leonardo Garcia and Allan Gamila. They are all Joson allies, except for Martin who is with the ruling Lakas-CMD.

Dizon is a former three-term mayor of Guimba and son-in-law of Tomas III’s younger brother, incumbent first district Rep. Eduardo Nonato Joson.

The complaint sought the preventive suspension of the incumbent officials pending the outcome of the graft investigation.

Tomas III was named principal respondent in the complaint because he executed at least four deeds of donations and the alleged illegal acts were committed during his incumbency as governor.

Edward Thomas Joson was named a co-respondent for being one of the board members when the Sangguniang Panlalawigan approved last year’s Resolution 37-A donating the heavy equipment to the towns of Quezon, Bongabon, Guimba, San Leonardo and Talugtog.

Sarmiento alleged that the respondents violated Section 3.e of RA 3019 when it passed on January 22, 2007 the resolution authorizing Tomas III to donate the heavy equipment to these towns.

He claimed that the respondents, in the “malevolent and reprehensible” performance of their official functions, conspired with evident bad faith to “seriously prejudice, if not totally paralyze” the then incoming administration of Umali, giving in warranted benefits to the respondent mayors.

On February 15, 2007, the complaint said Tomas III, acting on the Resolution “hastily executed” three deeds of donations that “generously” donated all serviceable heavy equipment and motor vehicles of the provincial government to his “cronies,” including the service vehicle of the governor, the provincial mobile clinic and other “luxurious SUVs” and utility vehicles. – Steve A. Gosuico