Angara wants AICS continued amid oil spill

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

SENATOR Sonny Angara is calling to institutionalize the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program of the Department f Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), saying this will help those affected by the recent oil spill in Oriental Mindoro Angara said most of the residents of the affected municipalities rely on fishing as their primary source of livelihood.

After a ban on fishing was imposed after the Mindoro oil spill, he stressed that the AICS provided fishers with emergency aid to help them while they are looking for alternative sources of income.

“Over the years, AICS has been a great help to many Filipinos who are dealing with various challenges,” Angara said.

While they are working to institutionalize the AICS, the chairperson of the Senate finance committee vowed to continue to push for the funding of the program in the GAA.

In filing Senate Bill 2032, Angara noted that there are still a significant number of Filipinos living in poverty, with families belonging to the lowest income decile making a mere P9,416 a month or P113,000 annually.

“With such meager wages, these families end up spending beyond their means and as a result, they are pushed further into poverty,” Angara said.

a void in the leadership of the CPP-NPANDF in Visayas leaving the group with no clear operation directions on the ground.

“With the death of Rogelio Posadas, the CPP-NPA-NDF in Western and

Central Visayas are now leaderless, with no clear operational direction on the ground. This will further contribute to the leadership vacuum that their aching organization continues to suffer,” Viscom said in a statement.

Posadas was a known rebel leader in the Visayas region and orchestrated numerous illegal activities in the area. He is wanted for murder with a warrant of arrest issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 60 in Cadiz City.

Posadas was also the top leader of

Komiteng Rehiyon - Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor and secretary of the Unified Regional Committee for Negros Island, Cebu, Bohol, and Siquijor.

“His death is a crushing defeat to the CPP-NPA-NDF, as this will clearly manifest the decimation of the terrorist group in the Visayas region and will send a strong message to their already demoralized ranks that they have no safe haven to hide, and that the government forces continue to gain grounds on them,” said Viscom.

Tolentino also said if the BSKE will be postponed, then the government’s peacekeeping “forces will have a stronger momentum.”

Degamo’s widow, Pamplona town Mayor Janice Degamo, welcomed Tolentino’s proposition, saying that it will definitely help calm the current political climate in her province.

Tolentino earlier asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to set-up a Special Prosecution Task Force in Negros Oriental which will help hasten the progress of violence-related cases pending before various trial courts in the said province.