MORE NEWS, PAMPANGA

Shortlist for next Clark president gets shorter
By George Trillo

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga – President Arroyo’s shortlist for the possible replacement of retiring Clark Development Corp. president and chief executive officer Liberato Laus is getting shorter.

Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan, chairman of the Subic-Clark Alliance Development Council and reputed to be a close confidante of the President on issues affecting Pampanga, her home province, told newsmen the next CDC head will be picked from “within this Freeport.”

This leaves out retired Philippine National Police chief Oscar Calderon, a distant relative of the President, whose name has been floated as the next CDC president.
Calderon was appointed director of the Bureau of Corrections only five months ago.

Sources in the CDC, the state-run firm that runs this freeport, said the President wants Laus, who is resigning effective July 31 to attend to his businesses in Central Luzon, to recommend his replacement.

Laus could not be contacted as he was on an official trip to Korea.

But the sources said Laus listed Clark International Airport Corp. chairman Nestor Mangio and CDC director Benigno Ricafort in his recommendation to the President.
Mangio, however, said that he is contented with his present job at the CIAC, which runs the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport here.

He said Pampanga first district Rep. Carmelo Lazatin, a critic of Laus, informed him recently that the President was considering him as the next CDC head.

But Mangio said, “I’m happy at the CIAC. I want to see the realization of all infrastructure plans to make the a premiere gateway by 2010.”

Talk that Ricafort could be the next CDC top executive was fueled when he was among those who welcomed the President who presided over a meeting of the regional disaster coordinating council here last Monday.

Ricafort is one of the longest staying members of the CDC board of directors.
He is also the chairman of Naturecraft Industries Corp., Management Centre and Resource Group Inc., and Wemberg International Inc., vice chairman of the Ricafort Development Corp. and a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference Business Advisory Council.


Dengue fever downs 25 in Pampanga town
By George Trillo

MASANTOL, Pampanga – Dengue afflicted 25 residents of Barangay Bebe Anac here who were taken to various hospitals in the province for treatment.

A Regional Health Office report said most victims were admitted at the Jose B. Lingad Regional Hospital in San Fernando City and Macabebe District Hospital in Macabebe town.

Residents here said cases of dengue have been prevalent in their neighborhood since May because floodwaters, the favorite nesting places of mosquito, are all over when there is high tide.

But Dr. Abelardo Algarne, Masantol municipal health officer said his office had no report of dengue incident in the community.

The patients in this town were amongmore than 660 dengue cases in Pampanga this year, RHO data showed.

Police tag crime gangs in Pampanga ‘salvagings’By George Trillo SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – Criminal syndicates operating in Angeles City could be behind the “salvaging” (summary execution) of two men whose bodies were dumped in Magalang and Porac towns recently.

Senior Supt. Keith Singian, Pampanga police director bared this saying the victims could have been killed as a result of conflicts within these syndicates.

One of the bodies, without a head, was dumped in Magalang. Supt. Rodney Louie Baloyo IV, town police chief, said the victim could have belonged to a robbery-holdup gang operating in Angeles City.

The second victim, whose body was found at the anti-lahar megadike in Porac, was reportedly also involved in illegal activities, according to local police chief Supt. Rolly Mendoza.

The bodies of three other men also surfaced in Arayat town recently. Police said the victims could have been abducted and killed in Nueva Ecija and their bodies dumped in Porac to mislead investigators.


29 victims of illegal recruitment arrive
By George Trillo

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga – At least 29 repatriated Filipinos including two children arrived here July 5 at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, Clark, Pampanga.

The group of undocumented Filipinos arrived on board an Air Asia Airline and met by representatives from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Foreign Affairs and other non-government organizations.

Among the repatriates were two children aged two to three, said Senior Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, regional officer of PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit-3.

Eleazar told newsmen the victims were recruited as tourists by different persons in Marikina City, Pasay City, Cagayan de Oro and Bacoor, Cavite.

The victims were recruited to work in Malaysia as waitresses, entertainers, domestic helpers and farm workers on a salary deduction scheme, he said.

They victims said recruiters promised their working visas would be arranged once they are already in Malaysia.

Eleazar said some of the victims were able to work as domestic helpers but they were abused and forced to do hard labor by their employers.

He added others who worked as entertainers were first required to meet a quota, but still they were not paid.

Other repatriated Filipinos said they were not recruited but went to Malaysia as tourists with the hope of landing high paying jobs.

Cressie Gisulteria who was reportedly the secretary of suspected illegal recruiters said she was just a trainer to those first timers in Malaysia, according to Eleazar.

The group was reportedly recruited by Agenci Pekarjaan Reiter Solution owned by Edelsa Romero, a Filipina and her partner Alfred Lim alias Lim Beng Huat Eugene, a Singaporean. The agency is located in Mainjalara, Malaysia.

The repatriated victims were temporarily provided shelter by the DSWD in Magalang, Pampanga.