Day: June 15, 2023

Two more barangays in Negros Oriental were declared as ‘drug-cleared’, bringing to 267 out of 557 villages in the province that have been placed under this category, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said Thursday. These two barangays are Malalangsi and Sta. Agueda in Pamplona town, PDEA-Negros Oriental provincial chief Elmer Ebona told the Philippine News Agency (PNA). Crisanto Ybañez, chair of Barangay Malalangsi and Glenn Monterona, chair of Barangay Sta. Agueda, received their respective ‘Drug-Cleared” certificates during a simple ceremony on Wednesday afternoon at the PDEA office in this capital city. Ebona said the Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug Clearing declared these barangays as ‘drug-cleared’ recently following evaluation and the completion of requirements. ‘A barangay is declared ‘drug-cleared’ once the PDEA has identified and inventoried the users and pushers in the village and interventions are already in place,’ Ebona said. More or less twenty of them from the two barangays have undergone the community-based drug rehabilitation program, he added. Meanwhile, Pamplona town is aiming to be declared a ‘drug-cleared’ municipality once its two remaining barangays have reached the same category, Ebona said. Out of its 24 barangays, only Poblacion and Simboria are not yet declared as cleared although they are already heading in that direction, the PDEA provincial chief said. Once all its barangays are declared as drug-cleared, Pamplona will be the second municipality after Basay to be tagged in that category, he added

Source: Philippines News Agency

This city’s number one most wanted person, Antonio Macasa Uy, who is facing a murder case, was arrested by operatives of the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) in Barangay 2 here on Wednesday afternoon. Capt. Paul Vincent Pendon, officer-in-charge of Police Station 2, said on Thursday they were able to track down the 49-year-old suspect at his house in Purok Kagaykay with the assistance of the BCPO tracker team and 65th Special Action Company personnel. ‘Recently, our confidential informant told us about a certain person that has a warrant of arrest. When we validated the information, we found out he is the same person that we have been pursuing since last week,’ he said in a press conference. Uy, who has been tagged in a shooting incident in Barangay Sum-ag about a year ago, has eluded the authorities since he was issued a warrant of arrest by Presiding Judge Phoebe Gargantiel-Balbin of the Regional Trial Court Branch 45 on Aug. 31, 2022. Pendon said previous information had led them to pursue Uy in Leon town, Iloilo province and Roxas City, Capiz. ‘We will transfer the suspect to Police Station 8, which handled the case,’ he added. Pendon said that based on police records, no other case has been filed against Uy. ‘In the area of Police Station 2, information indicates that he is not involved in illegal drugs but we still have to determine the extent of his personality. We will check his background through the City Drug Enforcement Unit and City Intelligence Unit, if he is involved in illegal drug transactions in Bacolod,’ he added

Source: Philippines News Agency

Cash inflows from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) rose by 3.7 percent year-on-year to USD2.48 billion last April, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Thursday. The central bank attributed the rise in cash remittances, coursed through banks, to strong growth of remittances both from land-based and sea-based workers. Data released by the BSP showed that cash inflows from land-based workers rose by 4 percent year-on-year to USD1.94 billion, while those from sea-based workers rose by 2.7 percent to USD55 million. In the first four months this year, cash remittances reached USD10.49 billion, 3.2 percent higher compared to the USD10.17 billion same period last year. Bulk of these inflows came from the United States, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia. Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort said cash remittances last April is lower than the nearly USD2.4 billion in the same period last year. He attributed the lower inflows partly to the risk of recession in the US and its impact on global growth and employment opportunities. ‘The continued slowdown in OFW remittances data may also have to do with the still relatively higher prices/inflation/cost of living in major host countries for OFWs that fundamentally reduced the remittances sent back to the Philippines,’ he added. Ricafort said weakening of the Philippine peso against the US dollar likely contributed to the decline in cash remittances in the fourth month this year. Despite the decline in cash remittances last April, Ricafort continues to consider inflows from Filipino workers overseas as among the bright spots for the economy given its robust growth despite the challenges. Remittances from OFWs are among the main drivers of domestic growth since these allow more Filipinos to have spending capacity. ‘Going forward, any further recovery in OFW remittances in the coming months would also largely depend/be a function of the further/faster recovery of the economies of the major host countries around the world from Covid-19 lockdowns, for some OFWs to be able to work again, as well as the pace of restoring/regaining jobs lost by some adversely affected OFWs in the same or different industry/host country,’ he added

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) has called on members of the local media to report any threats concerning their work for appropriate intervention. PRO-6 spokesperson Maj. Grace Borio initially called for dialogue with members of the Iloilo Police and Defense Press Corps at the regional headquarters Wednesday afternoon in compliance with the order of Acting PRO-6 director Brig. Gen. Sidney N. Villafor to document any threat for possible police intervention. ‘This is to avoid the same incident that happened to a media practitioner in Mindoro,’ she said in a follow-up interview on Thursday. Borio added that all information officers and chiefs of police in the region have been designated as focal officers on media security and will be responsible for managing any threat that the media will receive. ‘We will try to work out within the week, give them schedules when to reach out to other members of the local media so that we can also assist them on how to do it,’ Borio said. Once the threat is confirmed, the case will be referred to the Regional Intelligence Division to determine the source of the threat. Depending on the situation, the chief of police of the station where the threat was reported will decide on what assistance to provide. The last reported threat against a member of the media in Western Visayas was two months ago involving a radio personality in Kalibo, Aklan, she said. Borio added that the practitioner reported to the local police six pieces of ammunition placed on a table inside the house where he was staying

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is partnering with the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the conduct of voter education among beneficiaries of the DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). While in a consultative meeting here with Comelec regional directors across the country, Comelec chair George Erwin Garcia reiterated at a press conference on Thursday the need to educate more voters, particularly among the 4Ps as priority recipients of integrated and enhanced voter education programs. ‘There are over one million 4Ps who are voting this year and they need to be oriented about the process of voter registration as well as the essence of democracy through responsible, educated, and accountable voting,’ he said. As recipients of the government’s national poverty reduction strategy, 4Ps regularly receive cash grants after they comply with a set of conditions required by the agency. To ensure that they are not exploited during elections, the poll body is conducting voter education seminars highlighting the importance of being a voter, the step-by-step process of voter registration, the qualifications and duties of elected officials in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan, and the fight against disinformation, among others. Meanwhile, the Comelec chair said poll workers who will be serving as Electoral Boards (EBs) during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) this October will receive a higher honorarium ranging from PHP8,000 to PHP10,000 compared to the last BSKE’s PHP6,000, PHP5,000, and PHP4,000. ‘The higher honorarium is meant to compensate their efforts as early voting is being considered,’ he added. Comelec records show that more than 605,000 teachers who will be serving in the BSKE 2023 elections even as EBs and their training will start in August. An EB is composed of a chairperson, two members, a Department of Education supervisor and support staff

Source: Philippines News Agency