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Marcos panel okays bill to name streets for Aquinos By Macon R. Araneta The panel of Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, chair of the senate committee on public works and highway, on Thursday approved bills which seek to name two roads after the parents of President Benigno Aquino III. Approved at the committee level were hBN 4400 naming as “President Cory C. Aquino Avenue” the circumferential road at the junction of the Iloilo-Dumangas Coastal Road in Balabago, Jaro District, Iloilo City and hBN4398, naming a stretch of the national highway along the Iloilo Diversion Road as “Senator Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. Avenue”. The Marcos panel also gave its nod to house Bill No. 4400 which asks to call diversion road in Tacloban City, Leyte as Gov. Benjamin T. Romualdez Diversion Road. The three bills were among the nine proposed measures which originated from the house of Representatives that seek to name or rename roads in various parts of the country. Marcos’ panel likewise agreed to the committee’s omnibus action to hBN 1247—Naming the diversion road in Sorsogon City, Sorsogon as Salvador h. escudero III Diversion Road and hBN 4215—Naming the Camiguin Circumferential Road in the Province of Camiguin into the Pedro P. Romualdo Circumferential highway. The other approved measures were hBN 5204—Naming “St. Paul Avenue” the road beside the St. Paul College of Ilocos Sur (SPCIS) high School Department Bantay, Ilocos Sur and SPCIS College Department in Bayubay, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur; hBN 1140—Naming the national road from Barangay Abangay to Barangay Poblacion, Dingle, Iloilo as ‘Board Member Rufino A. Palabrica, Jr. National Road’; hBN 4013—Renaming the Acop Tublay, Kapangan - Kibungan - Bakun - Sinipsip, Buguias Secondary National Road in Benguet to Gov. Bado Dangwa National Road and hBN 4012—Renaming the Gurel - Bokod - Kabayan - Abatan Road, Benguet to Cong. Andres Acop Cosalan Road.
Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos (right) exchanges plesantries with (from left) Leyte (1st Dist) Rep. Ferdinand Martin “FM” Romualdez, Ilocos (1st Dist) Rep. Ronald Singson and Iloilo (2nd Dist) Rep. Arcadio Gorriceta during the deliberation of House Bill 1042 naming the Diversion Road in Tacloban City, Leyte as Gov. Benjamin “KOKOY” T. Romualdez Diversion Road authored by Cong. Romualdez. The late Gov.Romualdez is the father of Cong Romualdez VeR NoVeNo
Ombudsman dismisses cases filed by Stradcom By Francisco Tuyay The Office of the Ombudsman dismissed the graft and criminal case filed by an Information Technology (IT) firm, Stradcom Corporation, against 47 people, including former Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Secretary Virginia Torres in connection with the alleged illegal takeover of its office five years ago. Also exonerated from the charges were LTO head executive Assistant Menelia Mortel; Assistant Solictor General Renen Ramos; Police Supt Constante Agpaoa and former police Sr. Supt Rodrigo D. Bonifacio, president and chief executive officer of the Unilateral Se-
curity and Safety Solution, Inc. The others were those claiming to be the new officials of Stradcom Corp: Bonifacio Sumbilla, president and CeO; Dolney Sumbilla, Treasurer; Aderito Yujuico, board chairman; Rodolfo Millare, assistant corporate secretary; board directors
Ronnie Bilang, enrico Bilang, and egy Geron; Jer Samson, corporate secretary and Narciso Inlong. The 34 other respondents were security guards of the Unilateral Security & Safety Solutions. Stradcom filed the graft case against the respondents for violation of Section 3 of Republic Act 3019 (AntiGraft and Corrupt Practices Act), but the Ombudsman dismissed it due to insufficiency of evidence. In a 40-page joint resolution approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, the administrative cases of grave misconduct and Conduct Prejudicial to the best Interest of the Service against the respondents were also dismissed. The finality of the resolution was
dated July 14, 2014. The cases stemmed from the complaints of Cesar Quaimbao and Ric Gene Pilapil of Stradcom Corp. who alleged that the respondents conspired with each other in trying to take over on Dec. 2 and 9, 2010 the Stradcom IT office inside the LTO compound. The complainants claimed that in the early morning of Dec. 2, 2010, the Sumbilla group attempted to enter the Stradcom compound to take control of the company but were prevented from entering the said facility. The Sumbilla group then went to respondent Torres informing her and introduced themselves as the new officers and directors of Stradcom and that they were prevented from taking over the IT facility.
Shabu-carrying commuter arrested in Cagayan Valley By Florante S. Solmerin
Call to resign. Members of the Alliance and Concerbed Teachers (ACT) demand for the resignation of President Benigno Aquino III as they claimed that the Aquino government’s poorly-planned K to 12 program only resulted to more complicated problems for the students during a press conference held recebtkt at the Vinson’s Hall University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. MANNY PALMeRo
A 28-year-old man who just arrived from Manila on board a passenger bus was arrested Tuesday after a kilo of shabu worth P5 million was found in his possession at the terminal of Barangay Lbertad, Abulug, Cagayan, a late report from the Philippine Drug enforcement Agency (PDeA) said Thursday. The suspect was identified as Francisco Torres, a resident of Gonzaga town, which is located more or less 70 kilometers from Abulug. In a phone interview, Cagayan provincial police director Senior Superintendent Ronaldo Olay said Torres was arrested by the elements of the anti-illegal drug units of the Police Regional Office 2 and
provincial police with the support of the regional office of the PDeA. he said the police received tips from anti-illegal drug assets on the arrival of Torres who was allegedly in possession of an undetermined amount of shabu on board RCJ Bus Lines with terminal in Abulug. “True enough, the bus passed 6 o’clock in the morning when Torres was caught red handed with shabu,” Olay said. PDeA director Arturo Cacdac Jr. said the recovered shabu from Torres has a street value of P5 million. “Torres, who reportedly arrived from Manila, was at the waiting area of RCJ Bus Lines in Barangay Libertad, Abulug, Cagayan carrying the contraband when intercepted by the operating team,” Cacdac said.