NBI arrests 3 mail pilferers in Nueva Ecija
BY JOJO DE GUZMAN


CABANATUAN CITY - Local agency of the National Bureau of Investigation here arrested three suspected “Baklas-Sobre” gang members while in the act of pilfering mail materials inside a closed van in this capital city of Nuevo Ecija.

Pedro Roque jr., NBI-Cabanatuan chief, indentified the suspects as Doan Lomboy, an employee of the Philippine Postal Corp. office in Gen. Luna St. here; Leonilo Valenzuela of Rizal town, and Rogelio Estabillo of Laur.

Roque said NBI agents led by Special Investigaotors Eddie Guitierrez, Arnaildo Fineza and Oliver Madrid caught the suspects opening two bundles of mail inside a Ford Fiera van parked at a secluded area in Hilltop, Marcos Village. Seized from the three were several mobile phones and dollar and yen bills believed to have been taken from the opened letters and packages.

Roque said several complainants sought his help over missing money and other valuables from their mail.

Surveillance operations helped them track down Lomboy’s group in Marcos Village. On the day of the arrest, he said the Ford Fiera van driven by Estabillo met the postal van driven by Lomboy in the middle of the road where the two mail packs were transferred to the Fierra. Lomboy drove on to Laur after the transfer while NBI agents waited until he returned to pick up the same mail packs he had transferred to the Fierra to launch the raid. “Pagkatapos baklasin ang mail, ang ginagawa nila ay ire-repack uli ito at ibabalik sa dating ayos,” said Roque.

He said the three suspects have been charged with qualified theft before the city prosecutor’s office.

NFA to start buying palay

CABANATUAN CITY – The National Food Authority in Central Luzon is now ready for its intensified palay procurement for the main harvest season starting mid-September until the end of the year, according to NFA Region 3 Director Nicolas Crisostomo.

Despite of the recent typhoons, NFA is anticipating another round of good harvest and Crisostomo assured farmers that their produce will get a fair value with the current government support price of P17 per kilo.

Crisostomo said last summer cropping season, farmers benefited from the highest ex-farm prices offered by traders in recent years ranging from P18/kg to P21/kg.

Crisostomo also announced that the procurement target for Region 3 has been increased to 1.266 million, as he allayed fears that commercial traders would not be as aggressive in buying palay this coming harvest.

“All is now set and this is to adequately complement the buying operations of private traders and maintain a profitable level of ex-farm prices,” he said.

Crisostomo added that to attain the food agency’s procurement target, a total of 23 buying stations in the region have been put up to accommodate farmers who will sell their palay to the NFA.

“In addition, the NFA will mobilize 10 mobile procurement teams to serve farmers in far-flung areas where ex-farms prices are showing a decreasing trend against the government support price,” he said.

MALAYA
August 08, 2008

PhilRice starts training on new technology
By JOJO DE GUZMAN

MUÑOZ – Rice self-sufficiency in the P_hilippines could be attained by 2010 if farmers will be made to practice advanced method of farming.

According to Ronilo Beronio, acting executive director of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) based in Barangay Maligaya here, with proper technology, Filipino farmers can produce seven to nine tons of palay per hectare, far above the present average yield of 3.8 tons per hectare.

Beronio said Philrice has spearheaded a three month intensive training for extension workers and agriculture graduates who will later be deployed to various provinces in the country soon.

He explained that the said training included integrated crop management of high-quality rice seeds, research and development, capacity enhancement, irrigation system repair, restoration and rehabilitation, post harvest and mechanization assistance, farm-to-market roads, marketing assistance, program monitoring and evaluation, incentive system, as well as database management.

The training that started last comprised the tsk force against the rice crisis, according to Beronio. Members of the task force will then be assigned to different provinces and will be coordinating with various institutions for the implementation of the government’s agenda for self-sufficiency in rice.

Beronio stressed that PhilRice as an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, had spearheaded the training program entitled “Focusing on Increasing Provincial Productivity”’ aimed at improving the per-hectare yield of rice through technology-transfer. With a projected palay production of 19,770,004 metric tons in 2010, we will then attain rice sufficiency, he added.

Do an Obama and Clinton for unity, Ecija pols urged

A provincial lawmaker has called for a political ceasefire and urged local leaders to embrace unity just like what Senators Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton did after their epic battle for the US Democratic presidential nomination which the former won in stirring fashion.

Provincial Board Member Edmond Abesamis said the two US lawmakers put behind their turbulent political past and made a public show of unity in their first joint appearance in a New Hampshire town since the Democratic primary race ended.

Abesamis represented Gov. Aurelio M. Umali during the 60th charter anniversary and joint inductions of the Rotary and Inter Wheels Clubs of Cabanatuan City at the Nuevo Ecija Convention Center here last week.

Inducted were Yolanda R. Wycoco as president of the Rotary International-Cabanatuan, and Juanita Galang, president of the Inner Wheel Club of Cabanatuan City.

In his speech, abesamis said the two rivals-turned-allies shared a stage for the first time to band together and create a unifying force for change, which also echoed Obama’s winning campaign slogan.

This clarion call for change, he noted, has also been the main thrust of the Umali administration in its quest to make real aspiration for a united and a more progressive Nuevo Ecija.

Joker calls Palace spokesperson stupid

Sen. Joker arroyo yesterday called a presidential spokesperson “stupid” for saying that executive privilege would be invoked if the Senate pushed through with its plan to reopen its inquiry into the $500-million North Luzon Railways (NorthRail) project.

Lorelei Fajardo, a deputy of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, told reporters last week that Cabinet officials would not think twice about invoking executive privilege should the Senate pursue its investigation into the NorthRail project, denounced as overpriced and anomalous. Ermita is President Macapagal-Arroyo’s spokesperson.

Fajardo made the statement indicating the Palace’s elation following back-to-back wins scored by the Arroyo administration this year in the Supreme Court, which upheld the confidentiality of diplomatic negotiations involving the scuttled $329-million National Broadband Network deal with China’s ZTE Corp. and the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement.

“It’s really stupid,” Arroyo said in an interview with the INQUIRER
“How can you invoke executive privilege on something when there is no question yet? Thse people just talk and talk without knowing what they are talking about. No wonder the President is getting such a bad reputation because of the people around her,” he added.

Arroyo likened the situation to a lawyer declaring an objection when the opposing side had yet to state a case.

Tha administration senator said that Ms Arroyo should ask her spokespersons not to invoke executive priviledge on practically every conversation regarding the Chief Executive because it “cheapens” this potent power of confidentiality.

Arroyo agreed that the President must continue to have recourse to secrecy on confidential matters or else no president or prime minister would talk to a Philipine leader now or after 2010.

Use privilege sparingly

“I think she should use this power sparingly because this is very important. Only the President should invoke this and not her officials. It cheapens this power,” Arroyo said.

He said that the 13th Congress, which investigated NorthRail and its housing component, should have come out with a Senate committee report.

“The testimony of our resources, especially those from UP (University of the Philippines), were all wasted because these were stored in a warehouse since no report was made of the findings,” Arroyo said.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. found it “distasteful” for Malacañang to suppress information related to projects or transactions being reviewed or investigated by the Senate is only inflaming the feeling of distrust, frustration and alienation among the people,” Pimentel said.

He cited the negative 38-percent public satisfaction rating for Ms Arroyo in the Social Weather Stations survey in the second quarter this year, the lowest among all post-Edsa Revolution leaders.

He said it was “ludicrous” for Malacañang to refuse to talk about NorthRail despite reports of an internal dispute with its contractor, China National Machineries and Equipment Group (CNMEG).

Flaws in the deal

The Chinese contractor has suspended civil works pending the Philippine’s approval of an additional $299-million funding on top of the $400 million from China and the $103-million counterpart funding from Manila government. Phase 1 of the project runs between Caloocan and Malolos in Bulacan, a distance of 32.2 kilometers.

Pimentel said the government should decide soon whether it was in the best interest to continue the project with additional costs or just simply terminate it.

He said NorthRail’s troubles illustrated the risks involved in a government’s refusal to discuss terms of government contracts.

Had the deal been placed under more scrutiny, the government would have not been forced to accept onerous terms in the NorthRail contract, Pimentel said.

He said for example that China’s Export-Import Bank was given the right to award NorthRail to the contractor of its choice without a bidding or a feasibility study or design contract.

He said the Chinese Eximbank paid the contractor directly from the loan proceeds without government consent and that the government ceded to Chinese courts and Chinese laws any disputes arising from the project.

Pimentel said lack of transparency was the reason the NorthRail project was now “mired in acute troubles.”

“The fate of the project is now uncertain. The CNMEG is asking for additional funding, and yet it has not even started actual construction of the railway system about four years after the project agreement was signed,” he said.

Carless days plan revved up

CAR-LESS days. Ban on the unofficial use of state ambulance. These are two of the proposal coming from the House of Representatives in the aftermath of a series of increases in fuel pump prices.

Car-less days can be enforced in Metro Manila as a way to lessen fuel consumption and compel the oil companies to lower if not freeze prices, according to Rep. Eduardo Nonato Joson.

Instead of a boycott, reducing the demand for gasoline or diesel is more feasible, Joson said at a forum in Quezon City.

Joson said the government should make it a policy to require its agencies to use “gas misers” instead of gas-guzzlers like sport utility vehicles.

Joson cited Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza who had sold his SUV and left only one for his personal use.

Presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo, according to Joson, also deserves praises for shying away from the use of expensive gas for the cheaper and environment-friendly LPG as car fuel.

The government can also bar the entry into the country of SUV’s and other luxury vehicles use, Joson said.

Negros Oriental Rep. Jocelyn Limkaichong expressed her support for the “car-less days” proposal but said this should be studied further.

Even as gas prices were hitting the roof, carmakers posted a big jump in sales for the first half of the year. They also announced an increase in prices ranging from P5,000 to P20,000 per unit starting next month.

Another noteworthy proposal came from Cebu City Rep. Nerissa Corazon Soon-Ruiz, who called for the imposition of stiffer penalty on any official or employee caught using government ambulance for recreational or personal use.

Her proposal embodied in House Bil 1305 was approved by the House of Representatives yester.

House Bill 1305 imposes penalties ranging from suspension from office without pay for 30 days to six months to termination from service for any government official or personnel caught using ambulances for unofficial use.

Ruiz said the state-owned ambulances would be the responsibility of the local chief executive and the local health officer.

Ruiz said local officials must ensure that the vehicle will be available for use by all their constituents without discrimination. She said that a government ambulance can be used in non-emergency cases such as relief and medical outreach mission.

The Daily Tribune
July 24, 2008
By Charlie V. Manalo

Hoping to bring down the cost of fuel by reducing the demand, an independent solon bared he is set to file a bill calling for a carless day which he says could also help ease the perennial traffic problem, especially in the metropolis.

“Ang solusyon na hinahanap natin ay kung paano maipapababa ang presyo ng langis. Kapag kumonti ang demand, sigurado ang mga oil companies ay magbaba ng presyo,” Rep. Eduardo Nonato Joson said during the weekly Ayes and Nayes News Forum.

The solon explained thet during carless days, people can ride an alternative means such as the Metro Railways Transit (MRT) and Light Railways Transit (LRT); bicycle; tricycle, and other mass transport.

Also, Joson said under his proposal, the modified color coding scheme should be implemented the whole day instead of few hours only.

“Kung the whole day ay hindi mo gagamitin ang kotse mo dahil color coding, malaking bawas yun sa consumption ng fuel,” Joson said.

He also suggested that government can take a look at the possibility of not allowing cars ending 1 to 5 during Saturdays while the 6 to 0 on Sundays on the streets.

According to Joson, such easy measures may help people reduce the burden of paying the high cost of fuel.

“Sa halip na gumamit ng kotse sa mga araw na ito, sumakay na lang sa alternative na less ang consumption at mas mura pa, like the mass transit,” Joson added.

Meanwhile, Negros Oriental Rep. Jocelyn Limkaichong suggested that lawmakers who are using Sports Utility Vehicles should try to convert their cars to low-end also lessen the consumption.

Limkaichong said government officials should set an example to fuel conservation, especially at these times when the fuel crisis is a global trend.

IT WAS A BIRTHDAY GIFT SHE COULD live without.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo was reffering to Sen. Joker Arroyo’s remarks the other day denouncing her statement that Cabinet officials would not think twice about invoking executive privilege if the senate reopened its inquiry into the $500-million North Luzon Railways (Northrail) project.

“It’s relly stupid … These people just talk and talk without knowing what they are talking about,” Arroyo said in a story carried by the Inquirer yesterday – Fajardo’s birthday.

“Ang gandang pa-birthday naman ni Senator Joker (What a lovely birthday gift from Senator Joker). Front page in the INQUIRER,” Fajardo said. “My statement was taken out of context.”

She said she and the senator had already kissed and made up.

“He called me up (early yesterday) … he apologized personally, and I accepted the apology,” she added.

Fajardo was reached by phone while she was traveling with President Macapagal-Arroyo in Datu Odin Sinsuat in Shariff Kabunsuan province, where the Chief Executive inspected government projects and presided over a Cabinet meeting.

Fajardo is a former mayor of Palayan City in Nuevo Ecija and concurrently presidential assistant for Central Luzon.

Senator Arroyo earlier said that presidential advisers should talk sparingly about executive privilege and that “only the President should invoke this and not her officials. It cheapens this power.”

“No wonder the President is getting such a bad reputation because of the people around her,” he had said.

‘We are not gloating’

Fajardo clarified that she was not jumping the gun on the President or on Congress.

“With due respect to the good senator, my statement may have been taken out of context. We are not gloating over the Supreme Court ruling relative to the issue of executive privilege,” she said.

Fajardo was referring to two recent Supreme Court decisions which upheld the confidentiality of negotiations involving the scuttled $329-million National Broadband Network deal with China’s ZTE Corp. and the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement.

GMA’s sole prerogative

“We said it is the right to the Senate to conduct or reopen investigation on the NorthRail project,” Fajardo said.

“We emphasized that public records are for public consumption. It is not our call to invoke executive privilege, this is the sole prerogative of the President,” she added.

“While I take (exception) to the quoted statement of the senator, I wish to emphasize that my respect remains high for a learned and respected legal luminary like the senator.”

Decongesting Metro Manila

Fajardo said that Arroyo “may have been misquoted,” as well.

“I have spoken to the good senator and we have threshed out the matter. I only have the highest respect for the good senator,” she said.

Fajardo also clarified that her job as the presidential assistant for Central Luzon did not include supervision over the NorthRail project.

Work suspended

The project has been awarded to a Chinese contractor, who has suspended civil works pending the Philippines’ approval of an additional $299-million funding, on top of a $400-million funding from China and a $103-million counterpart funding from the Philippine government.

Phase 1 of the project, which is intended to link Metro Manila to Central Luzon by rail, runs between Caloocan and Malolos in Bulacan, a distance of 32.2 kilometers.

The entire project aims to speed up the transport of passengers and goods between Metro Manila, Central and Northern Luzon. It is also envisaged to decongest Metro Manila by encouraging urban development in the north.

Decide to continue or not

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has said the government should decide soon whether it is in the country’s best interest to continue the project, with the additional costs, or just simply scrap it. With a report from Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon, and PDI Research

Nueva Ecija third highest dengue cases in Central Luzon

There have been 2,167 cases of dengue fever in Central Luzon so far this year, or 273.6 percent higher than last year’s. two deaths were reported

The DOH regional office summed up data from the seven Central Luzon provinces in an updated report, citing Pampanga as having the most number of dengue cases.

Nurse Marilou Pajarillaga, of the DOH’s regional epidemiology surveillance unit, said that the mosquito-borne dengue fever has not yet reached epidemic proportions in the region.

According to the latest statistics, there have so far been 796 dengue cases this year in Pampanga, 481 in Bulacan, 394 in Nuevo Ecija,177 in Tarlac, 172 in Zambales, 140 in Bataan, and only seven in Aurora.

Pajarillaga said the number of deaths rose to 17 from 15 a month ago – five in Pampanga and four each in Bataan, Bulacan and Nuevo Ecija. The latest figures indicate a 273.6 percent increase from the same period last year when Central Luzon had only 580 dengue cases. She also said that most of the victims were school children.

The DOH noted that nationwide, more than 15,000 dengue cases have been reported in the first six months of this year, or 43 percent more than the same period last year, with Metro Manila still topping the list with the most cases.

Other provinces with high numbers of dengue cases are Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon.

But the dengue fatality rate remains low at one percent, which the DOH attributed to the quick response of the patients’ families and health workers.