Kidnap-ransom suspect arrested

TUGUEGARAO CITY – The suspected leader of a kidnap-for-ransom and gunrunning syndicate operating in Central and Northern Luzon and victimizing mostly Indian nationals was nabbed Wednesday by policemen while playing mahjong near his residence in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

No bail was recommended for the temporary liberty of Francisco Flores, 54, of Barangay Don Mariano Marcos, Bayombong town.

In his report to Chief Supt. Robert Damian, Region 2 police director, Senior Supt Pete Danguilan, Nueva Vizcaya police director, said Florez was tagged as the mastermind in the kidnap-for-ransom of Indian nationals and was also involved in a series of gunrunning operations. -- BC

Man shot dead for beheading daughter

TUGUEGARAO CITY – A farmer was shot dead by responding authorities in a remote village in a northern town here for refusing to give himself in after beheading his own 12-year-old daughter.

In a report to Senior Supt. Jude Santos, provincial police director, the Pamplona town police said one of its operatives was forced to fire at Remegio Dacquigan after reportedly attempting to attack them while they were negotiating for his surrender for beheading his daughter Janette.

Dacquigan, wielding a long sharp bolo and still holding the head of his daughter, reportedly went amuck, creating a commotion in Sitio Mali­cutoc, Barangay Casitian in Pamplona, Cagayan, prompting barangay officials to rush for police assistance.

Upon their arrival in the said place, the policemen saw Dacquigan going amuck in the community, wielding a long bolo and carrying the head of his daughter, whom he had earlier allegedly beheaded still dripping with fresh blood.

The policemen ordered Dacquigan to give himself in but instead, he reportedly poised to attack them and the village officials accompanying them.

This prompted one of the operatives, identified as SPO3 Cornelio Eduarte Jr. to shoot Dacquigan on the head with his M16 rifle, causing the farmer’s instant death. -- CL

7 Cagayan forest rangers sacked over missing logs

TUGUEGARAO CITY–Seven employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources here were relieved last week after they were implicated in the disappearance of confiscated illegally cut logs inside a government depository area here.

The relieved DENR personnel were led by forester Dumon Mabborang and six of his forest rangers, who were held responsible for the two trucks loaded with thousands of illegally-cut lumber stolen by armed suspects inside the DENR’s depository.

DENR operatives intercepted the trucks last July transporting the logs in Amulung, Cagayan.

The illegal shipment was eventually impounded at the DENR compound while their suspected owners and shippers were being investigated.

Clarence Baguilat, DENR regional executive director for Cagayan Valley, said based on their investigation, the trucks carrying the contraband were taken by still unidentified armed men who entered the depository compound, where the confiscated forest logs were kept.

“The armed men took advantage of the isolated area with only a caretaker manning the depository at that time,” he said.

Baguilat, meanwhile, called on the police and Land Transportation Office to help them recover the trucks and the stolen illegally cut logs. -- CL

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PGMA pledges more agri funds for Isabela

TUGUEGARAO CITY – More funds are expected for Isabela after President Arroyo ordered their release in recognition of Isabela’s role in the country’s agricultural production last week. The additional funding was also intended to help thousands of farmers in the country’s topmost rice and corn-producing province to sustain and further enhance their production capabilities.

The President’s order for additional funds to be poured into Isabela and the rest of the region drew praise from leaders in the region, with Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao of Isabela’s fourth congressional district calling it “a welcome development.”

Visiting here July 31, the Chief Executive, in her speech during the peace and security assembly, indicated that the financial assistance to Isabela was part of a bigger sum of money intended for the whole Cagayan Valley in recognition of its having taken over from Central Luzon as the country’s food basket.

This was especially since the closest equivalent to grand river systems irrigating vast areas of a country like the Mekong river in Indochina and the Chao Phraya in Thailand is the Cagayan river, saying that this river “could be the secret in our greater agricultural production.”

The President added further development of rice production in the region, especially in Isabela, could be greatly enhanced at lower expense with the development of the Cagayan river as a major source for irrigation.

She said the bulk of the funds intended for the region are to be poured into Isabela in recognition of its being the country’s biggest producer of corn and a close second largest rice producer behind Nueva Ecija.

Home to the Magat Hydro-electric and Irrigation Project, Isabela, she said, deserves to receive more technical and financial support to improve even more its rice production.

“The reason Nueva Ecija has been number one in production is that the government has been pouring aid into it ever since the beginning. But now Isabela deserves more assistance poured into it for its farmers,” she said. Agriculture officials noted that Nueva Ecija, despite being the country’s top rice producer, only produced 124,429 metric tons of palay in the first quarter of 2008 as compared to Isabela’s 272,001 metric tons.

Mrs. Arroyo, in announcing the additional funds for Isabela, also congratulated its governor, Grace Padaca for garnering another milestone for the province by being one of this year’s winners of the Magsaysay Awards.

Earlier, a day before the President was to deliver her 8th State of the Nation Address, Padaca said that she expects the Chief Executive would put agricultural development on top of her priority projects to strengthen her food production program. “I expect and I am sure the President will announce more programs for agricultural development. These are very important for the country’s self-sufficiency toward (food security) of which Isabela has a big role. -- CL


Dengue, water-borne diseases rise in Cagayan
TUGUEGARAO CITY – Authorities fear a dengue outbreak in this northernmost province of Cagayan as the number of cases has been rising.

An outbreak of gastroenteritis is also feared in remote Lasam town where the water-borne disease has downed 27 residents since last month.

Cases of typhoid fever have also been reported with the onset of the rainy months. Dr. Danilo Alonzo, provincial health officer, said dengue has afflicted 207 Cagayanos since January this year, already nearly twice the 106 cases reported for the entire 2007.

“Dengue cases are difficult to control. The only thing we can do at our level is to minimize the number of cases, especially fatalities,” he said.

“What’s worrisome is that the year is not over yet and a dengue outbreak may still possibly occur,” he added. A deadly viral disease spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, dengue has been a major cause of death in various parts of the country. Some of its major symptoms include extreme high fever, nausea, vomiting and skin rashes. – CL

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Cagayan mayor’s nephew, aides charged for ex-PC man’s killing

TUGUEGARAO CITY – Two aides and a nephew of a mayor of a remote southwestern town here and three others are now facing murder charges in connection with last week’s killing of a retired sergeant of the now defunct Philippine Constabulary.

Senior Supt. Jude Santos, provincial police director, identified those facing murder charges as Chito Cauilan and Dik-dik Gundan, reportedly both aides of Mayor Raul dela Cruz of Rizal town, and Kit-Kit Littaua, who, together with Cauilan were tagged as the gunmen who shot dead 50-year-old retired Constabulary sergeant Elmer Baligod.

De la Cruz was not immediately available for comment.

Also included in the case filed by the police was the mayor’s nephew identified as Kevin de la Cruz and two others, including a son of a barangay chairman of Rizal. However, except for Cauilan, the five other suspects have yet to be arrested.

The regional trial court here recommended no bail for Cauilan. A separate case of murder was formally filed against the five other suspects before the prosecutor’s office here.

The suspects, police said, were identified by witnesses as responsible in the killing of Baligod, who was shot dead while tending their family’s food stall in front of their house along Del Rosario Street Centro 4 here on June 18. – CL

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Arroyo vows to ‘wipe out rebels’ by 2010

TUGUEGARAO CITY – President Arroyo said here Thursday she was “determined to wipe out the communist insurgency” before her term ends in 2010. “Nolcom (Northern Luzon Command) must wipe out the armed rebels by 2010 in order to bring the country into the first world,” Ms Arroyo told Maj. Gen. Isagani Cachuela, commanding general of the military forces in northern Luzon.

“To the rebels, we’ll response in kind,” she said, as she congratulated Cachuela and his men for reducing NPA strength in their jurisdiction to only 500 armed fighters.

Ms Arroyo also asked the ordinary folk, especially farmers and small-time merchants, to stop giving support to the rebels in terms of “revolutionary taxes.”

“Peace and security will only come when the rebels are totally wiped out,” she said.

“Put away quarrels since the elections are still too far away,” she said. “In the meantime, let us focus on wiping out the armed rebels so we can bring our country to the first world.”

The President spoke before 400 participants in the two-day Peace and Security Assembly held by the National Security Council at the Hotel Roma here.

The participants represented various sectors in Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino.

The participants, in a resolution presented to the President, vowed to work closely with the national government to address the need for infrastructure and transportation facilities that will connect the region’s provinces to provide access and further boost economic development.

They also pledged to contribute to the government’s thrust on food security and be partners in delivering social services. In her speech, Ms Arroyo also called on Cagayan Valley’s political leaders to set aside their differences and work instead for the further development of what she described as the country’s fastest rising super-region.

“I call on our political leaders to set aside their differences and work for the common good, especially since election time is still far off,” the President said in the vernacular.

The President’s appeal came in the wake of reports by the police on the lower crime rate in the region, and that many of the crimes were allegedly politically motivated.

“I therefore congratulate the PNP (Philippine National Police) in the region led by (Cagayan Valley police director Chief Superintendent) General (Roberto) Damian for the improving crime rate in Cagayan Valley,” she said.

The President was in this region’s government center to address members of the local peace and security assembly. Local officials led by Cagayan Gov. Alvaro Antonio welcomed her. In her speech, the President cited the gains of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), especially in job generation.

Ms Arroyo disclosed that numerous foreign investors have signified their intention to do business in the eco-zone.

She also pushed for the establishment of an international airport here to cater to the growing business opportunities.

The President stressed the role of the region as the nation’s food basket, as it leads in corn production and is second in terms of rice production. Cagayan Valley farmers, she said, saved the day for the country during the height of the rice crisis. In turn, she vowed that her administration would concentrate most of its financial resources in the region, especially in Isabela, but made sure that other regions will not be neglected.

Mrs. Arroyo also cited the importance of peace and security in the region. Earlier in the day, the President and her entourage went to Flora, Apayao for the launching of feeding and seed production programs of the departments of education and agriculture. – With a report from CL

Nursing student flees abductors in Cagayan

TUGUEGARAO CITY – A 20-year-old male nursing student of Cagayan Colleges here escaped from his captors in a remote southwestern town.

Police identified the kidnap victim as one Rufino Cabrera of Barangay Bassi, Solana town, whose July 16 escape led to the arrest of two of four suspects, one reportedly a cousin of the victim himself.

The arrested suspects were identified as Nestor Mallillin, the victim’s cousin and Leonardo Balubal, also of Solana town. The other two are still being hunted down.
Police said the suspects barged into the house of the victim around 8 p.m. on July 15, blindfolded him and then dragged him to a waiting vehicle.

They kept him at an abandoned school building in Barangay Talusay in Santo Niño town.

The suspects reportedly settled for a P1 million ransom when the victim escaped. He also recognized Mallillin as one of his kidnappers.

Senior Insp. Carlito Barsabal, Santo Niño police chief, said Cabrera freed himself while one of his captors guarding him was asleep.

He hit him on the head thrice with a club and later sought refuge with Santo Niño’s vice mayor. – CL

Kidnap brains of Cagayan business couple arrested
By Armand Tamaray

TUGUEGARAO CITY – Despite undergoing plastic surgery to alter his face and elude arrest, the “mastermind” behind the kidnapping of a wealthy Filipino-Chinese businesswoman here was nabbed last week.

Senior Supt. Jude Santos, Cagayan police director, said Joey Jose, who allegedly plotted the abduction of businesswoman Editha Chua on Aug. 15, 2001, was arrested by a joint police team in Rodriguez, Rizal on July 12.

Ranked ninth on the list of the region’s most wanted persons, Jose, 40, who used several aliases such as John Mark Bautista Quintana, carried a P100,000 reward for his arrest.

Santos, who was the regional police intelligence officer at the time of the kidnapping, said Jose changed his identity in his driver’s license and other personal iden­tification documents.

“But we were able to track him down when three of his cohorts were apprehended earlier,” he said.

“We want to give credit to our colleagues in Rodriguez, Rizal for their efforts leading to the arrest of the suspect.” Two more suspects in the kidnapping remain at large, Santos said.

Police records bared six men barged into the Chua residence here and seized the businesswoman, leaving her husband unconscious after they struck him with a gun.

Police rescued Chua at a police checkpoint a few hours later. But his kidnappers escaped the police dragnet.

The Chuas are engaged in wholesale business and run grocery stores here.

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BFAR to revive lobster, sea urchin industry in Cagayan coastal towns

TUGUEGARAO CITY – After its tilapia production has made headway, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is now into reviving two high-value aquatic resources, whose supply has been depleted due to destructive fishing practices.

The rolling waves of a beach at Barangay Taggat in Cagayan’s northernmost Claveria town served as venue for the BFAR here in providing a local fisher’s association with the needed technology to help them again propagate sea urchin (Tripneustes gratilla) and lobster, both high-value delicacies.

Also both highly priced favorites at fancy restaurants, the two are expected to make a comeback as the BFAR regional office awarded to the local fishers association here stock enhancement technology and culture medium intended to propagate both species.

“The booming recreation and tourism industry at the Cagayan Economic Zone at Santa Ana is a potential market for both sea urchin and lobster,” said Dr. Jovita Ayson, BFAR director for Cagayan Valley.

According to the Fisheries bureau, sea urchin, locally known as maritangtang, were once abundant in the area. But their populations started to dwindle due to indiscriminate gathering in the 1990s.

In order to jumpstart the natural regeneration of sea urchins, the agency in collaboration with the local government unit, awarded five pieces of half-cubic-meter cages with bamboo frame and plastic screen as culture medium for the said sea urchins, and stocked with 3,000 juveniles.

BFAR said the initial stock had come from produce of a similar project at Santa Ana, another coastal town here known for its delectable marine resources.

For lobster production, meanwhile, the project uses a similar structure, but larger cage, with feed usually being trash fish and seaweeds.

Although still being gathered in the region, lobster is already rare, as most lobster produce is sent to the metropolis.

Likewise, the stock of sea urchins will be fed with seaweeds (Sargassum) present in the area, until they are ready for harvest, which is within six to eight months.

The culture area for sea urchins doubles as mini-reproductive reserves are known as ‘free spawners,’ said Dr. Evelyn Ame, BFAR research head here. This means
fertilization occurs in the water where eggs and sperm are released.

Additionally, the lobster cage, will serve as temporary shelter for gravid or egg-bearing females to enable them to release their eggs in safety. “This will ensure regeneration (of species),” Ame said, since the fishermen will no longer harvest the pregnant females. – CL

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Order hiking minimum wage by P5 in Region 2 takes effect

TUGUEGARAO CITY -- The wage order issued by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board in Cagayan Valley took effect effective last week.

The order increases the minimum daily wage of workers in the region by P5.

The National Wages and Productivity Commission said the wage earners now get a daily basic pay of between P203 and P223 with the new minimum wage rate in Cagayan Valley.

NWPC Director Ciriaco Lagunzad said the minimum wage workers in Isabela, Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Batanes and cities of Tuguegarao, Cauayan and Santiago are entitled to the mandated wage increase.

Under Wage Order No. II-12, workers in the non-agriculture sector in Isabela and Cagayan receive the P5 increase which brings to P223 and P220 their daily pay, respectively, from P218 and P215 set in the previous wage order.

In the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Batanes, the new daily minimum wage in non-agriculture sector is adjusted to P215 and P216.

Agricultural workers covered by the wage order were granted a minimum salary between P203 and P211 a day in all the provinces of Region II.

Under another category, the RTWPBC Cagayan Valley granted a lower wage hiked to those working in the retail and service sector employing not more than 10 workers. The salary rate ranges from P180 to P188 a day. -- RA

Lara confident of retaking Cagayan governor’s post

BY ARMAND TAMARAY

TUGUEGARAO CITY – The governorship row in Cagayan is far from over.

This, after former Gov. Edgar Lara said after more than a month since he lost his governorship, the Commission on Elections would issue a resolution within the next few days for him to retake the post which he had held for two consecutive terms.

Lara, who enjoyed a slim head only to lose it in last month’s re-canvassing of election returns (ERs), said his lawyers are confident the poll body’s second division would nullify the proclamation of his rival, Gov. Alvaro Antonio.

“We have a strong case here, that’s why we are anticipating a ruling favorable to us very soon or within the month,” said Lara, who belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

For his part, Antonio, a former three-term mayor of Alcala town, declared he is still the legitimate governor of Cagayan unless the Comelec rules otherwise.

“Right now I’m still the governor until the Comelec will say otherwise. Governor Lara, being a lawyer, should know it,” he said, dispelling rumors over his possible ouster.

Antonio also cleared Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, a native of this province, of allegation that he “engineered” his victory by allegedly exerting influence on the Comelec.

Enrile, together with the politically influential Mamba led by third district Rep. Manuel Mamba, supported Antonio in the May 114 elections.

“He (Sen. Enrile) campaigned for me in the last elections but never manipulated the results of the elections here,” said Antonio, who ran under the Administration’s Lakas-CMD.

A day after the re-canvassing pf the questioned ERs, the which led to Antonio’s proclamation and eventual oath taking as governor on July 9, Lara’s camp filed a motion before the Comelec’s Second division to nullify Antonio’s proclamation.

In the re-canvassing of the questioned ERs from Lallo town, Antonio obtained 175,484 votes as against Lara’s 174,822, of slim margin of 662 votes.

The result was a complete reversal of last May’s canvassing where Lara obtained 175,336 votes as against Antonio’s 174,731, or a difference of 605 votes.

Prov'l canvassers ordered to proclaim Cagayan gov

BY ARMAND TAMARAY

TUGUEGARAO CITY – The Commission on Elections directed the provincial board canvassers of Cagayan to reconvene and proclaim the winner in the gubernatorial race.

In a resolution, the Comelec’s second division also ordered the reconstitution of the certificate of canvass (COC) from Lallo town, which is the subject of the electoral protest by former Alcala mayor and gubernatorial candidate Alvaro Antonio against re-electionist Gov. Edgar Lara.

The PBOC, chaired by lawyer Michael Valdez, is scheduled to reconvene on July 9 in compliance with the Comelec resolution issued on June 29.

Lara’s camp, however, immediately questioned the order in a motion for reconsideration filed with the Comelec en banc, arguing the decision on the Lallo COC should also be applied to all contested COCs.

Laro also has been pending electoral protest on votes from Tuao town, alleging vote shaving and padding in favor of Antonio.

“We believe this is a case of the Comelec reversing itself, and one selective justice,” Lara said. “Just a week ago, in the Padaca case (referring to the contest between Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca and former governor Benjamin Dy), the Comelec upheld that only the COCs should be read in the provincial canvass. Now, they are ordering the votes from Lallo to be read based on the election returns.”

Lara said the resolution of his motion for reconsideration with the Comelec en banc should take precedence and the PBOC should not reconvene until it is resolved.

In the official Comelec count, which also reflects the tally of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, Lara, who is seeking his third and final term as governor, is leading Antonio with 175,336 votes against the latter’s 174,731 – or a margin of only 605 votes.

However, should the Lallo COC be reconstituted as per the Comelec order, Antonio would overtake Lara by 1,243 votes.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and third district Rep. Manuel Mamba have thrown their support behind Antonio’s gubernatorial bid.