LGUs
Davao mayor to help druggies
LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS
By Pearl Gajunera DAVAO City—Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has vowed to fully support the desire of drug personalities here to reform and live a life away from illegal drugs, a social menace her father President Rodrigo Duterte promised to eradicate within his six-year term. Carpio made the statement through her chief of staff and Davao City legal officer Raul Nadela during the 13th anniversary of the Davao City Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Drug Dependents in Bago Oshiro. “I assure you that the city government will always give priority to intervention programs and initiatives for the rehabilitation of the citizens who are using drugs,” the mayor said. Carpio also told the 110 residents of the rehabilitation center not to waste their chance of overcoming dependence on drugs through the city’s program. “Help us to help you,” she told them. “We earnestly hope that you overcome this problem, live a life away from drugs, and reunite with your families who truly love and care for you.” She also stressed the importance of family support for drug reformists, short of saying how many were thus listed in the city. “We need your help so they do not relapse and their stay here would not be wasted,” she said. “So that in time, they may return to our society not just proactive citizens, but also as individuals that are enthusiastic about life, pursuing their dreams and contributing to nation building and development,” she added. As the center entered its 14th year, the city also opened its new two-story facility inside the compound which cost P6.6 million. Perla Redulosa, assistant manager of the rehabilitation center, said the new facility, which sits on a 1.2-hectare compound 17 kms from the city center, will accommodate more reformists. Officials said patients of the center are mostly shabu and marijuana addicts, although some would get high on elastomeric sealan or contact cement, with only a few there for injected drugs. The center was established in 1985, three years before Rodrigo Duterte first became mayor and at the time run by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2016
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Top brass to man CCTV By Joel Zurbano
T
OP officials of the Metro Manila Development Authority will go full throttle and personally man the monitors of closed-circuit television cameras on major thoroughfares in the National Capital Region.
This is to ensure, they said, that traffic schemes and other traffic regulations would be enforced effectively. “In our Metro Base, the top 10 officers of the MMDA, including me, will [each] take turns two hours to stay there every day to [ensure traffic] efficiency,” said MMDA acting chairman Thomas Orbos. He said the top officials would be valuable in monitoring traffic incidents on the road or traffic vi-
olations committed by motorists. “Every two hours, there will be two officers a day beginning 6 a.m. up to 8 p.m. but there will be a break [from] 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.” Orbos said officials came up with the new measure also for the MMDA to respond immediately during emergency situations such as stalled vehicles, traffic accidents, unauthorized road works and other activities on major thoroughfares where a quick management decision is needed.
“Sometimes our [monitoring] personnel didn’t see the urgency to act, and this is to respond immediately [to] certain things they see on camera, immediate decision the regular personnel cannot make and this has to be management decision,” he said. The 10 officials designated to man the Metro Base Monitoring Center office are Orbos, assistant general manager for operations Julia Nebrija, deputy chairman Frisco San Juan Jr., Traffic Engineering Center chief Noemie Recio, Traffic Discipline Office head Cesar Ona; Chief planning officer Josefina Faulan, chief legal officer Rochelle Ona, council secretariat Crisanto Saruca, Rescue Office head Edward Gonzales and Road Emergency Group head Manny Gonzales.
The MMDA has 45 personnel manning the Metro Base— five persons per shift in charge of monitoring footbridges for vendors, road incidents, traffic video wall operations and 10 persons per shift in charge of monitoring the operations of the no contact policy. “We’d like it to be more intense, more concentrated especially now that we’re entering the Christmas season. We took it upon ourselves,” said Orbos. There are to date 250 CCTV cameras in strategic areas in Metro Manila. Meanwhile, the MMDA caught more than 5,000 motorists since it began in April implementing the no contact policy in arresting traffic violators in the metropolis using the CCTV cameras. Most of those apprehended
were drivers of public utility jeepneys, and city and provincial buses. They were caught loading and unloading passengers in prohibited zones. Other violators were caught overspeeding, beating the red light, violating the number coding scheme, swerving, blocking intersections, disregarding traffic signs, making illegal turns, illegal overtaking, entering the yellow lane, defying the closed door policy and bus segregation scheme, among others. The no contact policy was first implemented during the time of then MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando in 2007. But the agency discontinued the practice following numerous complaints from motorists who claimed they were penalized without their knowledge.
TRAFFIC MONITORS. With the Yuletide expected to roll in heavy vehicular traffic in Metro Manila’s major thoroughfares, MMDA officials have taken steps to watch through CCTV cameras—250 in strategic areas in the national capital—the traffic logjams and the behavior of drivers and pedestrians for quicker and more efficient action. Manny Palmero
2 suspects dead in drugs buy-bust operation in Cavite Priest
ROSARIO, Cavite—Two persons were confirmed dead in an illegal drugs buy-bust operation following an armed confrontation with members of the local police here assisted by agents from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. The PDEA is the lead antidrug law enforcement agency, responsible for preventing, investigating and combating any
dangerous drugs, controlled precursors and essential chemicals within the Philippines. PO2 Rogelio Pico Raquin Jr. identified the slain suspects as Kenneth Green, a tricycle driver, and Alvin Buendia, part-time beauty parlor employee, both of barangay Wawa here. The operation was in line with project Double Barrel-Project
Tokhang of the Philippine National Police, headed by Director General Ronald Dela Rosa. This was first implemented in Davao City where President Rodrigo Duterte served as Mayor for several years. Oplan Tokhang is a Visayan word which means Tok-tok Hangyo, where police knock at the doors of an alleged drug user
or pusher, asking him/her that he/ she will surrender to the police in order that they will be monitored for further assessment. Police said their men, in coordination with Drug Enforcement Agency authorities, conducted the buy-bust operation on Wednesday in barangay Wawa. Police said the two suspects, both listed in the Barangay Anti-Drug
Abuse Council list, exchanged fire with law enforcement authorities. Initial investigation suggested one of the suspects at the time sold and delivered a sachet of suspected shabu to a police poseur-buyer. The Rosario police station sought the assistance of the Scene of the Crime Operatives from the Cavite PNP Crime lab office. Benjamin Chavez
Yolanda survivors still in high risk zones By Mel Caspe TACLOBAN City—Only days to the third year anniversary of the deadly typhoon “Yolanda,” members of Uswag Este-Katarungan marched to the Regional Office of the National Housing Authority to demand the permanent shelter promised them by the government. According to NHA data, as of Sept. 5, some 7,573 families are in the “High-Risk Zones” who are due for relocation from Eastern Samar alone. However, three years running, residents in the area are still left to reside in transitional shelters and even bunk houses. This runs counter to the NHA claim the housing projects for “Yolanda” survivors are “almost complete.” Lita Bagunas and other residents from the towns of Lawaan, Balangiga, Giporlos, Gen. MacArthur, Hernani, Llorente and
Maydolong—tagged as living in the “High-Risk Zones”— held dialogues with their respective local officials in the hope of confirming the status of their relocation. Bagunas said two factors emerged as the causes of the delay in the construction of their permanent shelters. These were lack of titled lands available and high cost of land found suitable for housing. According to the NHA, the lands that should be acquired for housing should be titled in compliance with the Commission on Audit requirement. This poses a problem as an estimated 60 percent of the lands in Eastern Samar are documented only by tax declaration. Bagunas said the exorbitant asking price for private lands, said to have caused the delay, could have been solved if only the local government units exercised their power of eminent domain.
PEACE FORUM. The Katungod Sinirangan Bisayas human rights group and the Ecumenical Bishops Forum,
launch a peace forum Thursday at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas Tacloban College to discuss basic issues in Philippine society, the roots of armed conflict and how to attain just and lasting peace. Mel Caspe
marks 25th with 9-day Masses
By Honor Blanco Cabie
ANTIPOLO City—Fr. Gerardo Evarola is marking this week 25 years as a Catholic priest with nine Thanksgiving Masses in parishes he had served in five towns in the capital and in Pampanga. The 62-year-old Angeles Cityborn Evarola, a chemist at the now defunct Clark Air Base in Pampanga, erstwhile home of the US 13th Air Force, before entering the priesthood, began the nine-day 6 p.m. Masses at the Holy Cross Parish in his birthplace in Sapang Bato, Angeles on Wednesday. With him was his Baguio Citybased sibling, Sister Agnes, SPC, of the Roman Catholic religious congregation for teaching, nursing, visiting the poor and taking care of orphans, the old and infirm and the mentally ill. Others included Rosie Marie Katanyag, Amy Vicencio, Willie Imperial and Maria Rosa Cabie of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Brookside, Cainta where Evarola has been the parish priest since October 2009. At 6 p.m. tonight, he takes his 25th sacerdotal caravan of celebrating Thanksgiving Masses to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Antipolo, also known as the National Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, which attracts millions of pilgrims annually.