GMA calls on Ecijanos to lead the fight against 'new enemy'

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asked Novo Ecijanos to lead the people in fighting the country's new enemy, referring to the slowdown of the economy and the fast rising prices of rice and oil in the world market.

The President made the call when she spoke at the 112th commemmoration of "Unang Sigaw ng Nueva Ecija" last September 2 at the provincial convention center in Palayan City.

Mrs. Arroyo said that Nueva Ecija would always be remembered as one of the first eight provinces that revolted against the Spanish regime.

"Unang Sigaw" was the revolt staged by some 3,000 revolutionaries from Cabiao and Gapan led by General Mariano Llanera and General Pantaleon Valmonte, centered on the Spanish garrison in San Isidro town on September 2, 1896.

"Napagtagumpayan natin ang ating kasarinlan sa mga tulong ng Nueva Ecija. Ngunit ngayon patuloy pa rin tayong hinahamon sa kasalukuyang panahon. Pero iba na ang ating kalaban, ‘di na Kastila. Tumutulong pa nga ang mga Kastila sa atin ngayon. Ang hamon sa atin ngayon ay kaunlaran sa harap ng paghina ng ekonomiya ngayon sa buong mundo, at hamon din ay kasarinlan sa bigas, dahil masyadong nagmamahal na ang presyo ng bigas sa buong mundo. At ang sigaw din ay kakayahang bilhin ang langis sa pamamagitan ng ating kitang dolyar," Mrs. Arroyo said.

The President said that her administration has been working tirelessly to address the new challenges which, she pointed out, is a worldwide phenomenon.

She said that Nueva Ecija plays a very important role in ensuring the stability of the country's food supplies.

"Biniyayaan kayo ng malawak at kapatagan at mayamang lupain na pinanggagalingan ng bigas para sa ating mga kababayan," she said.

"Alam niyo tinatanong nga nila, bakit ba tayo ay nag-iimport pa ng bigas? E, dahil hindi lahat ng lalawigan ay parang Nueva Ecija," she explained.

She told her audience that the administration has poured huge funds to Nueva Ecija for agriculture, irrigation and road network.

Echoing this year's Unang Sigaw theme, "Pagkakaisa para sa patuloy na pagbabago ng Nueva Ecija", the President ended her speech by saying, "Magkaisa tayo para sa patuloy na pagbabago ng Nueva Ecija at ating bansang Pilipinas. Magkaisa tayo sa bagong sigaw -- sigaw ng kaunlaran, sigaw ng sapat na pagkain para sa lahat ng Pilipino!" ###
 
 
 

GMA distributes land titles and P400-M worth of livelihood loan assistance

During her visit to Palayan City last September 2, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo distributed land titles, free patents and grants, and P400 million in livelihood assistance to different farmer organizations and cooperatives in Nueva Ecija.

She distributed free patents or original certificates of titles to barangay chairs Elorde Florendo of Mayamot 1, Talugtug; Panfilo Palomo of Pias, Gen. Tinio; Roland Padolina of Poblacion East, Gen. Tinio; Ernesto Samano of San Felipe, Laur; Mario Trillana of San Julian, Cabiao; Francisco San Gabriel of San Anton, San Leonardo; and Juanito Ison of Nieves, San Leonardo. 

The President distributed 200 land patents under the "Handog Titulo" program to beneficiaries from General Tinio, the Science City of Muñoz and Zaragosa.

She turned over land grants by the National Commission in Indigenous Peoples covering 20 heactares to beneficiaries from Carranglan.

She gave 82 units of flat bed dryers to representatives of the Irrigators Association Federation. Domingo Protacio of District I received 26 units; Mario Berde of District II, 20 units; Maximo Hernal of District III, 21 units; and Rodolfo Ramos of  District IV, 15 units.

Mrs. Arroyo turned over three Bagsakan Center certificates to Mayor Marivic Belena of San Jose City, one to Mayor Amelia Gamilla of Bongabon, two to Mayor Nerito Santos of Talavera, and one certificate each to Mayor Romeo Borja of Pantabangan, Mayor Lydia Pagaduan of Zaragoza, Mayor Marcial Vargas of Aliaga  and Mayor Marvin Pariñas of Sto. Domingo.

As additional help to farmers, she distributed 500 packets of BIO-N Fertilizer and 20 sacks of hybrid corn seeds to Talavera farmers.

The President said that livelihood assistance is the government's answer to help small farmers in Nueva Ecija maintain the province's status as an important rice granary of the country. ###
 
 

Arroyo inaugurates Antonino Bridge

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited Nueva Ecija for the second time this month last September 12, this time to inaugurate the Cabiao Bridge, renamed the Sen. Gaudencio Antonino Bridge.

The original Cabiao Bridge was destroyed by a great flood in 1990. Its reconstruction started the same year but wasnot completed until 2007 with the intercesession and funding assistance of P45,507,769 from the office of 4th District Rep. Rodolfo W. Antonino, son of Sen. Antonino.

The bridge connects barangays San Carlos and Santa Isabel, and provides an alternative route to the adjacent towns of Jaen, San Antonio and Zaragoza.

Paying tribute to the late Sen. Antonino, Mrs. Arroyo said he was not an ordinary statesman but regarded by Novo Ecijanos as a hero because of his contibutions to the economic development of the province.

The President's inauguration of the bridge was timed with the 57th birthday celebration of Rep. Antonino which was held in his family home in Baranglay Langla, Jaen.

There, Mrs. Arroyo distributed P1,000 in cash to each of 1,000 farmers from then Fourth Congressional district, after she approved the release of a P1 million fertilizer subsidy.

"One thousand peso subsidy sa bawat isa sa 1,000 magsasaka. Iyan ang dagdag na regalo natin sa distrito ni Rody [the congressman's nickname]," she said.

She said that this is a part of the national government's efforts to help farmers increase their earnings and for them to lessen the impact of rising prices of fertilizer.

Earlier, the President awarded scholarship certificates to two beneficiaries of the PGMA Taining for Work Program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

She gave 12 PhilHealth cards to 12 indigent recipients, and turned over a P100,000 check to Jaen Mayor Santiago Austria as her administration's contribution to the public safety program of the town and for the benefit of daily income earners like balut and cigarette vendors. ###
 
 

Accident trails GMA in Ecija: one dead, one hurt

An Army truck loaded with a K-9 unit in the convoy of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during her visit to Jaen and Cabiao, lost its brakes and rammed a motorcycle and a tricycle.

The victims were Leopoldo Odulio, 60, of Barangay Santo Cristo, who was riding at the back of the motorcycle driver, and Ronel Tecson, 20, of Barangay Alua, a tricycle driver.

The two were rushed to the Good Samaritan Hospital in Gapan City, where Odulio died two days later.

The accident happened at about 10:30 AM when the presidential convoy was nearing Barangay Alua in San Isidro, on its way to Jaen from Cabiao.

Police investigators said that the truck driver, Staff Sgt. Joel Sumahid of the Philippine Army, assigned at Fort Bonifacio, upon sensing that his vehicle had lost its brakes, tried to drive over to the highway embankment but hit a moving tricycle driven by Tecson which, in turn, bumped a motorcycle driven by Pedro Sortiz of Barangay Putlod, Jaen and a parked tricycle driven by Victoriano Santiago.

Sumahid was detained in the San Isidro police station.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo who was with the President's party, said that Malacañang would underwrite all the expenses of the accident victims. 

It was the second time in one week that the presidential convoy got involved in an accident.

During the President's earlier visit to Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya last September 10, one of the vehicles in her convoy hit a 19 year old girl who had fallen from a tricycle. ###
 
 

6 arrested for illegal guns, grenades

Six alleged members of a robbery gang were arrested and four pistols and two fragmentation grenades were recovered from them during a police operation in Barangay San Anton, San Leonardo last September 4.

Sr. Supt. Ricardo Marquez, provincial police office director, said that three of the suspects carried identification cards as civilian security unit members of a local politician.

Those arrested were  Manolito Abergas, 35, of Barangay San Anton; Jose Dexter Dela Cruz, 32, of Barangay Diversion, San Leonardo; and Roberto Bautista, 30; Melencio Tagle, 37; Narciso De Guzman, 30; and Fernando Roque, 31 -- all of Santa Rosa, Nueva Ecija.

They were nabbed at about 2:00 PM in Barangay San Anton, adjacent to Santa Rosa.

Recovered from them were three caliber 45 pistols, one caliber 38 revolver, two grenades, 25 rounds of ammunition, two motorcycles and ID cards.

Police said the group could be members of the so-called riding-in-tandem gang.

Charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives have been filed against the suspects. ###
 
 

22 students face charges for hazing

For beating four neophytes during the initiation rites of the Delta Phi Omicron fraternity two months ago, 22 students of Gloria D. Lacson Foundation Colleges in Barangay Castellano, San Leonardo face charges for violating Republic Act 8049 or the Anti Hazing Law.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also filed charges of violation of Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Discrimination and Exploitation Act against the suspects. 

Pedro Roque, Jr., officer-in-charge of the NBI Cabanatuan District Office, said that the charges arose from the complaints of two Criminology freshmen, both minors from Barangay San Lorenzo, Gapan City.

The hazing incident allegedly happened last July 5 in the residential compound of one Cris Evangelista in Barangay Mallorca, San Leonardo.

The victims -- a male and a female -- narrated that they were not allowed to eat lunch and the suspects made them kneel and took turns hitting them with wooden paddles in the buttocks and thighs. They were also slapped in the face, hit with chains and dried branches, and their palms burned with lighted cigarettes. One victim said he was hit with a belt and electric cables while the suspects laughed and taunted them with "Mamatay na kayo".

After gong through the ordeal, the victims said they were told they had become members of the fraternity and brought back to school.

The victims related their experience to their teachers who advised them to temporarily skip classes to evade possible reprisals from their tormentors.

The two were able to obtain medical certificates from Dr. Genesis Cruz of the Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Center in Cabanatuan City last July 7, showing that they suffered wounds, cigarette burns and swelling. ###
 
 

Cabanatuan residents protesting chicken farm fired at

Some 200 residents of Barangay Cabu,Cabanatuan City who were holding a vigil to protest the continued operation of five poultry farms in their area were allegedly fired at by armed men in fatigue uniforms.

The gunfire reportedly came from the compound near the poultry houses of one Hazel Navarro, a chicken raiser whose harvest was being barred by the protesters along the barangay road.

Navarro said that her house was also hit by bullets from nowhere.

Alfredo Talania, barangay kagawad, said the protesters were lying on the roadside when the shots were heard. The protesters, instead of being scared away, opted to stay.

On the fourth day of the protest last September 8, several armed men in fatigue uniforms appeared from the eastern side of the road and demanded that the protesters allow the container trucks laden with chicken from the Navarro farm to pass through.

One resident said the men refused to identify themselves.

Supt. Eliseo Cruz, Cabanatuan police chief, said the tense situation abated in the afternoon when Navarro signed an agreement with the leaders of the protesters that she would not raise a new batch of chicks until a memorandum of agreement to solve the problem between her and the barangay residents is forged at the city council.

Cruz earlier sent a SWAT team and two mobile patrol cars to the barangay to maintain peace.

Barangay officials are proposing that an agreement with Navarro contain provisions for improving the sanitary condition of her poultry farm and for her workers who come from far places to register with the barangay. ###
 
 

British pedophile to be deported

A convicted British pedophile arrested by the Bureau of Immigration in Llanera, Nueva Ecija is set to be deported to his own country where he is a wanted man.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan identified the suspect as Kriss McCord, sentenced by a  court in Nottingham, England to a  nine year prison term for three counts of rape and four counts of indecent assault nine years ago.

He was arrested by joint operatives from the immigration bureau and the Philippine Center for Transnational Crimes in Llanera in December 2006.

At the time of his arrest, he presented a  passport containing fake Balikbayan and immigation arrival stamps and was found to have overstayed in the country.

Libanan said that McCord would be banned from returning to the country for being an undesirable alien. ###
 
 

San Jose road accident kills 2

A 17 year old motorcycle driver and his 22 year old backrider died after their bike collided with a bus before dawn last September 11.

Investigatin showed that the accident happened at about 2:00 AM along the national highway in Barangay Abar, San Jose City.

Only the motorcycle passenger was identified -- Jennylyn Dorosa.

Ernesto Madinasel, driver of the Florida passenger bus bound for Manila, insisted that it was not his fault as the motorcycle suddenly swerved into his lane.

Police filed charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and damage to property against the bus driver. ###