Fire claims 5 dead, 3 injured in Iligan City

ILIGAN CITY - Five members of a family were killed and three others hurt in a fire that gutted at least 12 houses in Iligan City, Monday, October 29, 2018. 

Iligan City Fire Officer 1 Janica Kissey Acain identified the fatalities as Elizabeth Baricuatro and her four sons Francis, Jethan, Nathaniel, and Xander.

Fire investigators revealed that the fire broke out at about 3:29 a.m. at a residential compound in Barangay Maria Cristina, this city.


Those injured during the fire were identified as Rowela Noro (with first-degree burns), JieJie Tiongco (first-degree burns), and Philam dela Cerna (second-degree burns).

Acain said that the estimated damage caused by fire was at P250,000.00.

Firefighters placed the fire that reached the third alarm under control at about 4:21 a.m., she added.

Fire investigators said that the father of the family, who is a seaman, was in Manila during the fire for his scheduled deployment flight.

The investigation into the cause of fire, was believed to be caused by an unattended gadget. [Mariz Revales, GMA News Online]

Chinese steel firm seeks cheaper rent in Phividec

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (25 Oct 2018) - Chinese steel conglomerate Panhua Group is asking the government for better lease terms on a 300-hectare property within the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental for a proposed $3.5-billion integrated steel manufacturing plant.

Philippine Economic Zone Authority director-general Charito Plaza said Panhua was one of the Chinese companies seeking to relocate to the Philippines to escape the high tariff imposed by the US on China-made products.

Plaza said locators in China and Vietnam were enjoying incentives, such as the low lease for the first 25 years on top of affordable power cost and other subsidies.

She said to make up for the high power rates in the Philippines, Panhua was asking for lower rental rates.

PEZA already reduced Panhua's rent to P40 per square meters from P150, but the Chinese firm wanted a further reduction.

Panhua proposed to produce ten types of steel products in its Mindanao plant for the local and export markets.

Plaza said PEZA was also reviewing the proposals of three Chinese investors who were interested to relocate to the Philippines.

"This is due in part to the trade war between China and the US with soaring tariffs for products traded between these nations," she said.

PEZA expressed concern that the proposed Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities, or 'Trabaho bill', might affect the companies' desire to relocate to the Philippines.


She said the Trabaho bill would dramatically alter the current set of incentives given to foreign investors. [Othel V. Campos, Manila Standard.net]

President Duterte addresses his fellow ASEAN leaders in Indonesia

BALI, Indonesia - President Rodrigo Roa Duterte addresses his fellow Heads of State/Government in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Leaders' Gathering at the Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua Beach Resort in Bali, Indonesia on Thursday, October 11, 2018.

Gov't nabs rice hoarders in Iligan City; 40,000 bags of rice seized

ILIGAN CITY - Two Iligan City-based rice traders, one of them a Taiwanese national, were arrested yesterday by a composite government team for alleged hoarding of 40,000 bags of rice and charged with hoarding, involvement in cartel operations and profiteering.

Ozamiz City RTC executive judge gunned down in ambush

[Ozamiz City RTC Executive Judge Edmundo Pintac slumped on driver's seat. PHOTOS: WENDELL TALIBONG]  

OZAMIZ CITY - Executive Judge Edmundo Pintac of Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 15, in Ozamiz City was killed by still unidentified riding-in-tandem assailants Monday afternoon while driving on his way home, the police said.

DOE to donate 200 e-trike units for Boracay drivers

BORACAY ISLAND, Aklan - The Department of Energy (DOE) will be donating at least 200 electric tricycles for Boracay in preparation for the phase-out of all gasoline-powered units on the island.

President Duterte spends time off with family in Hong Kong, bought yellow jacket for himself

President Rodrigo Duterte took a rest from politics and managing the country by traveling to Hong Kong together with his family and his Special Assistant Christopher Lawrence 'Bong' Go.

5 PDEA agents, 1 cop killed in Lanao Sur ambush

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - Five operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and a non-uniformed police personnel were killed while two other policemen were wounded in an ambush staged by still unidentified gunmen in Kapai town in Lanao del Sur on Friday.

PDEA Region 10 Director Wilkins Villanueva said the PDEA operatives had just come from a drug symposium for drug surrenderees in the Lanao del Sur town of Tagoloan II when waylaid.

He said that on their way back to Marawi City, armed men positioned along the road ambushed the white Toyota van filled with PDEA operatives in Barangay Malna, Kapai around noontime.

Killed on the spot were four PDEA agents and a non-uniformed police personnel of the Kapai municipal police station who hitched a ride in the van, Villanueva said.   

A fifth PDEA operative identified as Diobel Pacinio died on the way to the Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City.

Villanueva identified the PDEA operatives who died on the spot as Kenneth  Tabulo, Kristine Mae Torlao, Joy Amar, and Binzo Dipollo.

Two others - PDEA operative Rachel Gentapanan and non-uniformed police personnel Normina Dicay - are now undergoing treatment at the Amai Pakpak Medical Center. 

Villanueva said the policemen who escorted the victims were able to return fire.  Pursuit operations are still ongoing against the perpetrators.

PDEA Chief Condemns Attack

Meanwhile, PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino denounced the ambush.

"We strongly condemn to the highest sense the cowardly and atrocious killing of our six agents in Lanao.  This is unacceptable to the government and to the PDEA leadership," Aquino said in a statement.

He assured the families of the slain agents that PDEA will do a full investigation to identify the perpetrators behind the killing.

"This act of inhumanity and cowardice, taking the lives of our comrades in a surprise attack, will not just pass as another common incident in our day-to-day operations on the fight against illegal drugs.  We will use all our resources to put these animals in jail and we will intensify our campaign against their illegal operations.  Their death will not go in vain.  We will fight even more with fierce commitment and determination," he said.

The PDEA chief said the incident has given the agency more strength to continue its crusade to go after illegal drug syndicates.

"Kami po ay taos-pusong nakikiramay sa pamilya ng mga kasamahan nating nabiktima ng karahasang ito. (We are sending our heartfelt condolences to the families of our people who fell victims to this violence)," he added.
[Froilan Gallardo, MindaNews and Noel Punzalan, Divina Suson and Jigger Jerusalem, PNA]

Hundreds flee NorthCot village as armed lumads avenge kin's death

[PHOTO: Brigada News Davao]

KIDAPAWAN CITY - Hundreds of residents from both settlers and Lumads left their homes in a remote area in the hinterland of Arakan town in North Cotabato after a group of armed indigenous people on Monday entered their village to avenge the death of a kin, reports said.

Authorities have assured the public that the tribal war, or "Pangayaw" in Kitaotao, Bukidnon, would not escalate into a full-blown conflict.

Mocha Uson resigns, House approves PCOO budget in minutes

MANILA - The House of Representatives on Wednesday finally terminated the plenary deliberation of the PhP1.474-billion budget of the Presidential Communications Office (PCOO) for 2019.