There they go again...
Josons raps Umali for fertilizer mess

Vice Gov. Edward Thomas Joson filed a 10-page complaint with the Ombudsman against Gov. Aurelio M. Umali for involvement in a fertilizer scandal.

It was the second case filed by Joson against the governor.

Joson claimed that Umali, as 3rd District Representative, caused the release of his priority development assistance fund (PDAF) worth some P15 million to two non-government organization for the procurement and distribution of fertilizers to qualified farmer-beneficiaries in his district.

Joson alleged that on December 1, 2005, Umali entered into a memorandum of agreement with Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation, Inc. (MAMFI) to buy and distribute 7,290 liters of liquid fertilizer worth P12 million for selected beneficiaries in Gabaldon and General Natividad.

Joson said that by approving the MAMFI project proposal that involved overpriced fertilizer and allocating P12 million for the project, Umali entered into a transaction that was manifestly and grossly disadvantageous not only to the government but to the people as well.

What was worse, Joson added, was that there was no bidding prior to the grant of the project to MAMFI.

Joson asked Ombudsman Maria Merceditas Gutierrez to file criminal and administrative charges against Umali with the Sandiganbayan and dismiss him from service.

Earlier, Umali filed two cases against the Josons for illegal dismissal of capitol executives and to recover provincial government vehicles that were allegedly distributed by Joson to his allies before leaving his post. ###
 
 

Agri chief leads Independence Day rites in San Isidro

Agriculture Sec. Arthur Yap joined 4th Dist. Rep. Rodolfo Antonino and San Isidro Mayor Sonia Lorenzo in a flag ceremony to mark Independence Day at the town hall.

Later, Yap joined farmers in planting rice after dialogue with them, rice mill operators and officials of local governments and agencies involved in agriculture and irrigation.

He distributed 16 flatbed dryers, hybrid rice seeds and vegetable seeds to farmers, and sent off a food caravan consisting of five trucks to deliver rice and vegetables to Metro Manila.

Before leaving San Isidro, Yap visited the public market to inspect food prices. ###
 
 

Cuyapo SB secretary gunned down

The Sanguniang Bayan secretary of Cuyapo who just recently assumed office was shot and killed allegedly by a securtity aide of Mayor Amado Corpuz in the municipal hall compound last June 4.

Police identified the victim as Angelito Espinosa, 40.

The suspect, Carlito Samonte, reported to be a driver-security aide of Corpuz, was arrested after the killing.

Espinosa was the second SB secretary to be killed in the province this year.  The first was that of San Antonio in January.

Prescilla Espinosa, 39, the victim's widow and a medical technologist in the local rural health unit, said she was on her way back to her office after taking snacks with her husband at past 10:00 AM when she heard gunshots.

The victim managed to run to the nearby police station followed by Samonte who fired at him in front of a policeman.

The widow said that her husband was instrumental in filing with the Ombudsman administrative and criminal charges of nepotism, non-payment of GSIS premiums and violation of the Magna Carta for Health Workers against Corpuz.

She asked the police to look deeper into the political angle as her husband's appointment as SB secretary by Vice Mayor John Diego was openly opposed by Corpuz.

Meanwhile, Gov. Aurelio M. Umali asked the police to conduct a thorough investigation of the case following reports that Samonte was being coddled by the local police.

He issued the order after receiving reports that a policeman named Salipsip did not arrest Samonte even after allegedly witnessing the shooting. ###
 
 

Security tightened in Ecija schools

Pollice, in coordination with local authorities, have tightened security in schools in Nueva Ecija to ensure the safety of pupils and students when classes open.

Sr. Supt. Napoleon C. Taas, provincial police chief, met with security chiefs of public and private schools and local police chiefs to look into preparations for the orderly and peaceful opening of classes.

In line with the  police's "Ballik Eskwela 2008", Taas said more uniformed personnel would be fielded to augment the security forces of schools on the first day of classes.

He said that police volunteer identification cards marked "I-report Mo Kay Mamang-Pulis-PD" have been distributed to residents so they can report to him for immediate action.

Taas also said that the Nueva Ecija police office's website at www.nuevaecijapulis.com is open to the public. ###
 
 

San Isidro's 57-75, Gawad Kalinga projects wow HEI presidents

San Isidro Mayor Sonia Lorenzo impressed members of the Council of Presidents of Higher Education Institutions in Nueva Ecija (CPHEINE) with two of the town's show window projects -- a school building built through the efforts of Task Force 57-75 and Gawad Kalinga housing projects.

Lorenzo spoke before the heads and executives of various local universities and colleges during their meeting last June 6 at the San Isidro campus of Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology (NEUST) hosted by Pres. Hilario Ortiz. She floated the idea of partnering with CPHEINE for her town's education reform projects.

At T.A. Dionisio National High School in Barangay Malapit, Lorenzo showed the guests the school building erected through Task Force 57-75, a private sector initiative to enable local communities to carry out reforms in education using their own resources based on their own small town dynamics.  The name comes from the low test score of Filipino students in the National Achievement Test -- 57% - and the goal of getting at least the minimum passing grade of 75%.

Volunteer parents and students worked for ten weeks in 2006 and completed a two-room building complete with toilets, electrical fixtures and tile roof but at 30 percent less than the usual cost.  The only cash allocation from the San Isidro municipal government was about P1 million for building materials.

The new building was a far cry from the old one that could pass for a chicken coop -- mesh wire separated the rooms and with no ceiling to keep out the heat.  There were no arm chairs either, and students had to sit on the concrete floor. One such structure still stands across the new building but now serves only as a warehouse.

Emerencia Dalalo, principal, said, "Now our students can concentrate. And because they know they built it with their own and their parents' sweat, the new building has never been vandalized for the last two years."

San Isidro is one of six pilot areas of Task Force 57-75, covering 23 elementry and three high schools, with Jess Lorenzo, son of the mayor, as the local pointman.

Also supporting the efforts are external partners like the Ateneo Center for Education Development which conducted a retraining program this year for some 200 mathematics teachers and a leadership-management workshop for 15 high school principals. Under construction at T.A. Dionisio is a library building donated by the center.

Mayor Lorenzo also showed the school executrves two Gawad Kalinga housing projects, complete with day care centers and other amenities. ###
 
 

Farm school to open in San Jose City

A farm school that is envisioned to help farmers increase their rice harvests and the country to attain rice self-sufficiency is set to open in San Jose City on June 15 coinciding with the start of the wet planting season.

It will be a school without buildling, with the rice fields of Barangay Tondod serving as classrooms, and a simple aim -- launch the Rice Profit Protocol (RPP) developed by inventor Alfonso G. Puyat and local farmer Fernando Gabuyo, Jr.

Under the scheme, a minimal addition of inputs a bit less than P2,000 and slight modifiction of planting methodology will allow a dramatic increase in rice yields in irrigated farms.

Puyat, son of the late Senate Pres. Gil J. Puyat, is a business administration graduate of the University of the Philippines and Wharton School of Business in the United States. Though he became a bank and insurance executive, his passion since college has been agricultural and scientific research.

Gabuyo, on the other hand, is a marine engineering graduate, serving in an interisland ship as an apprentice before becoming a full-time farmer.  In 2004, he won second place in a nationwide rice production contest sponsored by Bayer Crop Science. During the dry season, he harvested 221 cavans of rice per hectare. The chamion, a Davao del Sur farmer, managed to produce 227 cavans per hectare. In 2005, using his regular rice growing methods but applying Puyat's input, he harvested 335 cavans per hectare during the dry season.

After Gabuyo's failed attempt to beat the world record of 370 cavans per hectare set by a farmer in China, Emmanuel Libre Osorio, president of Toledo Green Coconut Farmers Association and one of the initiators of the Primer Farm School, suggested that a school be set up to spread the RPP technique but the idea failed to materialize.

Because of the current rice crisis and the threat of traditional rice exporters not to sell to the Philippines, Puyat, Gabuyo and Osorio decided to open the Primer Farm School in Barangay Tondod.

There, farmer trainees will work in Gabuyo's farm and those of his neighbors who have adopted the RPP.

The trainees will stay in San Jose for four months, and will also learn vegetable gardening and freshwater fish culture.

The Primer Farm School will later form the 300 Club for those harvesting 300 cavans and more, and the 200 Club for those producing 200 to 299 cavans per hectare. ###
 
 

Military scores victories vs. NPA

Maj. Gen. Ralph Villanueva, commanding generl of the 7th Infantry Division, said that communist rebels operating in southern Nueva Ecija suffered setbacks due to aggressive operations launched by the 703rd Brigade.

In the mountainous portion of General Tinio town, the military offensive resulted in the confiscation of high powered firearms, surrender of rebels, destruction of a rebel camp and the recovery of stored food and equipment.

Villanueva said that the operation started last May 26 when soldiers from the 73rd Recon Company led by 1stLt. Hector de Leon and General Tinio policemen were fired upon by NPA advance guards while on their way to verify the presence of  rebels in Barangay Rio Chico. The ensuing half-hour firefight resulted in the capture of one rebel, the wounding of several others and the recovery of three M16 rifles, a handheld radio and subversive documents.

On May 29, troops under 1stLt. Benny Espanola chanced upon two young men who surrendered and confessed to being new NPA recruits and part of the rebel group that had engaged the soldiers in a firefight. One of them was wounded and was given medical attention by the troops.

The two revealed the locationof their camp which was subsequently overrun by soldiers. Found in the area that can accommodate 40 to 50 persons were provisions like rice, medicines and medical equipment. ###
 
 

12 female thieves arrested in Gapan City

A total of 12 women caught stealing and robbing were arrested by the Gapan City police in just one day.

Three female thieves seen on closed circuit television (CCTV) while robbing Ellen Jose, a 29 year old teacher of Barangay San Nicolas, at a local shopping mall, were arrested last June 2.

Supt. Marlon Bingcang, city police chief, identified the suspects as Catherine Uring, 29; Joy Arellano, 22; and Cherry Mangahas, 19, all of Santa Rosa town.

The mall's security guards alerted the police after they saw on CCTV one of the suspects bumping the victim to distract her, as the two others grabbed her wallet and cellphone.

The three were nabbed at the parking lot of the mall and yielded the victim's brown purse with P7,000 in cash and her cellphone.

Meanwhile, nine other suspected female snatchers were rounded up at the city public market that same day, for stealing T-shirts, pants, fancy jewelry and grocery items.

They were identified as Lanie De Vera, Loly Gonzales, Mariane Tabano, Josephine Mendoza, Marlyn De Guzman, Jenna Manuel, Joy Del Rosario, Blanca Velasquez and Carmen Regala. 

“Halos mapuno na ang kulungan natin dahil sa sunud-sunod na huli ng pandurukot nitong nakaraang dalawang araw,” Bingcang said.

He said that police visibility has been intensified in business areas as ordered by Philippine National Police chief Avelino Razon, Jr. and provincial police director Napoleon Taas. ###
 
 

Two die as feuding brothers shoot it out

A long-standing feud between two brothers erupted into a gunfight that resulted in the death of one of them at a birthday party last May 2 in Talavera.

Investigators said that former Barangay Kinalanguyan Chair Fortunato Rayo, 55, was shot and killed by his younger brother, Florencio, the incumbent barangay chief.

Four year old Glaycee An Abenojar of Barangay Sibol, Talavera was hit by a stray bullet and died.

The incident happened during the 40th birthday party of Alfredo Hernal in Barangay Sibol.

It was learned that the feud between the Rayo brothers worsened when the two ran against each other in the last barangay election.

Supt. Arnel V. Santiago, Talavera police chief, said the elder Rayo died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds while his brother was hit in the legs and back and was rushed in serious condition to the Nueva Ecija Doctors Hospital in Cabanatuan City. ###
 
 

Suspects in kidnapping of PNB exec arrested in Rizal

A police team led by the Nueva Ecija police director, Sr.  Supt. Napoleon Taas, arrested three of the kidnappers of Philippine National Bank Vice President Ramon Murillo in Rizal town last June 4.

Murillo was abducted along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City and released after his family paid P5 million in ransom.

The arrested suspects were identified as Melchor Herrera, Niño Carangan and Rizalito de Guzman.

Earlier, another suspect, Allan Lacandazo, reported to the police that he was kidnapped after sensing that his companions were out to kill him to deprive him of his share of the ransom. Under tactical interrogation, he broke down and confessed his role in the Murillo kidnapping.

He gave the police information that led to the arrest of his three companions in Nueva Ecija. ###