Egay cuts destructive path through Luzon

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte, Philippines — Fierce howling winds and heavy rains spawned by Typhoon Egay (international name: Doksuri) left at least five dead in Batangas, Rizal, and Ilocos Sur provinces, as the typhoon barreled through Luzon on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to reports gathered by the Inquirer.

More than 12,000 people in the hard-hit regions of Ilocos and Cagayan Valley huddled in temporary shelters while thousands of households were left without power, as Egay burst riverbanks, uprooted trees, ripped roofs off houses, and pounded coastal communities, including isolated villages tucked away in forests.

While the Inquirer verified the deaths of five persons due to Egay from local official sources, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported only one fatality and two injured on Wednesday afternoon.

It said Egay affected a total of 309,909 persons, or 93,109 families from 460 barangays in Ilocos, u PAGE 2

18 PNP officials linked to drugs shown the door

by dexter CabaLza, nestor CorraLe Inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines — A day after he announced in his second State of the Nation Address that he would let go of “unscrupulous law enforcers and others involved in the highly nefarious drug trade,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. accepted the courtesy resignations of 18 officials of the Philippine National Police, including three generals, for their alleged involvement in illegal drug activities.

A statement released on Tuesday, July 25 by Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil identified two of the three officials as Brigadier Generals Remus Medina and Randy Peralta.

Both served as chief of the PNP’s primary anti-drug unit, the Drug Enforcement Group (DEG), under the previous administration. Medina headed the DEG from April 2021 to February 2022 and was succeeded by Peralta who served until July 2022. Both belong to the PNP Academy’s Tagapaglunsad Class of 1993. The third official was Brig. Gen. Pablo Labra II, who was among the Top 3 graduates of PNPA Class of 1993. He served as Caraga regional police office