PGMA wants drainage systems project in
ROXAS CITY, Dec. 7 – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Monday ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to work 24/7 to fast track the construction the P40-million drainage systems project here.
President Arroyo Monday led the lowering of the time capsule for the project in Brgy. Banica to address the more than eight-year flooding problem in the area.
An P10-million fund was initially released for the construction of two priority works to include the drainage systems at New Road Banica to
The President also announced that the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) for the additional P20-million was released today.
DPWH regional director Rolando Asis, who did the briefing in behalf of Secretary Victor Domingo, said the bidding for the project will be in January as he assured that it will be fast tracked upon the instruction of President Arroyo.
Meanwhile, Leonila "Leny" Suan, a student from the Capiz State University–Dao campus in an interaction with President Arroyo shared that she also experienced knee-deep flooding during her high school days.
She hoped that the project would address the problem and prevent the diseases caused by flooding.
On the other hand, Roxas City Mayor Vicente Bermejo said that the drainage project is just one of the many supports that President Arroyo has extended to Capiz and this city.
Bermejo said that “
“I believe now is the right time for us to thank the President for her continuing concern to us,” he added.
He said the drainage project is the President’s legacy.
“If you visit the house of your friend you will leave something behind that your friends can treasure and will remember. This project intends just like that,” he added. “By July next year our President will no longer be president but she has leave behind a legacy that will make us remember her and her administration; a real memento not only of friendship but also of a genuine concern for our people.”
Village head extols President Arroyo’s legacy project in Roxas City
This was the expectation raised by Banica Brgy. chairman Frederick Agrazada as he expressed gratitude to President Arroyo in behalf of his close to 9, 000 constituents for the drainage systems project.
President Arroyo today led the lowering of the time capsule marking the start of the construction of the drainage systems from New Banica to
She was assisted by Public Works and Highways Regional Director Rolando Asis and Roxas City Mayor Vicente Bermejo.
An initial amount of P10-million out of the P40-million was allotted for the two priority works.
Agrazada said his constituents, especially some 42 households residing at the Mendoza Subdivision, have been experiencing knee-deep flooding for the past eight years every time heavy rain occurs.
“We are very happy with the realization of this project with the help of Mayor Bermejo. My constituents are very happy,” he said. “Economic activities here are always put on hold everytime there’s flooding.”
Aside from households, those expected to benefit from the project are students and employees who are forced to skip classes and office works once heavy rains occur causing the knee-deep flooding.
In addition to addressing the flooding concern, Agrazada is looking forward for more jobs to his people once the construction commences.
He said he has already talked with Engr. Julius Abela of the Capiz 1st Engineering District to tap his jobless residents should they need manpower during the construction.
“Madame President the entire city of
Elite PNP forces clash with Ampatuan followers in Datu Unsay town
MANILA, December 7 – For the first time after the gruesome massacre of at least 57 people in Maguindanao province last Nov. 23, elite forces of the Philippine National Police (PNP) clashed with suspected followers of the powerful Ampatuan clan in Datu Unsay town on Sunday.
Reports reaching Camp Crame showed elements of the PNP’s 4th Special Action Battalion, led by Supt. Fernando Ortega, encountered more or less 20 heavily-armen militia along Barangay Meta at around 8:15 p.m.
Reports said the armed men offered stiff resistance against the government security forces in a 10 minute firefight and withdrew only upon the arrival of two V-150 armored fighting vehicles sent to reinforce government troops.
The SAF unit was on a routine security mission in search of illegal weapons and massing members of the local militia when they figured in the encounter.
No casualties were reported on both sides.
This encounter was the first reported armed confrontation between government troops and armed followers of the Ampatuan clan following the massacre of at least 57 people, including members of Ampatuan’s rival clan Mangudadatu, in Ampatuan town last November 23.
On Saturday, Malacanang declared martial law in Maguindanao province after reports that some 3000 armed militia are massing in different towns of Maguindanao in a defiant stand to resist government takeover of the province and arrest of their leaders implicated in the Ampatuan massacre.
Following the declaration, successive raids were conducted by police and military personnel against known residences of the Ampatuans that resulted in the confiscation of nearly a hundred high-powered firearms, armored vehicles and nearly a million rounds of ammunition which are enough to arm a battalion of troops.
More or less 5,000 soldiers and PNP personnel are now deployed in the troubled Maguindanao province, including adjacent
Members of the powerful Ampatuan clan were implicated in the gruesome massacre, in fact at least five of them are now under custody, among them are Datu Unsay town Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., who was tagged as the leader of the more or less 100 armed men that committed the massacre; his father and namesake incumbent Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr.
Ampatuan Jr. is presently detained at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters in
Ampatuan 'warlordism' started during Aquino regime -- Remonde
In a television interview on Monday, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde explained that President Gloria Macapagal--Arroyo decided to issue Proclamation No. 1959 declaring martial law in Maguindanao last Friday night to quell a looming "rebellion and invasion" in that province.
According to Remonde, the 20-page written report on the imposition of martial law in Maguindanao was submitted by President Arroyo to the House of Representatives and the Senate on Sunday night.
”It was based on judgment call to give justice to the victims of the November 23 Maguindanao massacre and to keep the peace and order in Maguindanao,” he said.
Remonde noted that all the elements in the declaration of martial law were present in Maguindanao. He also said the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao is very much different from the martial law imposed nationwide in l972 by then President Ferdinand Marcos.
The human rights of everyone is guaranteed now, even those who have been arrested must be charged within three days, and media is allowed to cover the events in Maguindanao, which would not be allowed during the old martial law days, Remonde said.
The Palace official also explained that the judicial system in Maguindanao had not functioned that delayed the issuance of warrants of arrest and search warrants against the suspects in the Maguindanao massacre.
Remonde further said that the implementation of martial law is confined only in Maguindanao, while the state of emergency remains in effect in Sultan Kudarat and
He also noted that under the implementation of martial law in Maguindanao, combined elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) confiscated several high-powered firearms and ammunition from warehouses owned by the Ampatuans.
Aside from Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., Datu Unsay town Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and Autonomous Region in Mulim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, the authorities also arrested some 60 other personalities to be charged with murder in connection with the Maguindanao massacre and for rebellion and for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, in a separate media interview, stressed that the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao underwent a rigid study and consultation before President Arroyo signed Proclamation 1959.
Razon: Maguindanao ML nothing to do with peace talks with MILF
MANILA, Dec. 7 – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s declaration of martial law in Maguindanao has nothing to do with the forthcoming peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, according to a former senior Cabinet official on Monday.
Former Presidential Adviser for Peace Process Secretary Avelino Razon said in a text message that the two-day formal peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and MILF will go on as scheduled in Kuala Lumpur with the opening ceremony on Tuesday, December 8.
Razon said the national government should pursue filing a case against the Maguindanao massacre suspects by charging them with illegal possession of firearms, presence of war lords and loose firearms.
“We should not let this happen again and we should advocate for the return of peace and unity in
Razon said the two-day negotiations will discuss the reactivation of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), the establishment of the Ad Hoc Joint Civilian Component of the IMT.
And the renewal of the guidelines of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) whose task is to coordinate the interdiction and isolation of criminal and lawless elements operating near or within the MILF communities.
The reopening of formal talks will be the first time that full panel-to-panel members from both sides will be present.
The talks bogged down August last year after the aborted signing of the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).
A five-man peace panel of the GRP led by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael E. Seguis is flying to
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Annabelle T. Abaya has been invited to attend the opening ceremony on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the MILF has been cooperative with the enforcement of military rule in Maguindanao.
MILF said in its website www.luwaran.com said that guerilla forces in Maguindanao have been ordered to stay put in their camps to prevent undue encounters with soldiers who are after 100 gunmen who slaughtered 57 people in Ampatuan town last November 23.
“The martial law is not intended for the MILF, but complications might arise in the course of its implementation,” a MILF rebel commander said in its website.
Toks Ebrahim, chairman of the MILF’s Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), said he and his government counterpart, Major Gen. Reynaldo Sealana, have been discussing since Saturday the implications of martial law on the ceasefire between state and rebel forces in Maguindanao.
“We are in close contact with our counterparts in the government,” Ebrahim said.
“They assured us that this declaration is solely to contain the effects of the massacre.”
Ebrahim said the anti-crime mechanisms of the ceasefire, which enjoins the government and the MILF to cooperate in addressing security concerns in areas covered by the ceasefire agreement, are intact and functioning.
Number of newborn deaths to drop soon --- DOH
The Department of Health (DOH) expects a sharp cut on infant deaths in the future as it launched the Essential Newborn Care (ENC) Protocol today.
“We believe that this protocol will pave the way for the solution on the problems we have on neonatal deaths. We are very positive that its adoption will directly reduce the count of newborn deaths in the country,” Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said.
Health authorities said that the
“Although childhood death rates in the country showed a downward trend from 1993 to 2003, the decline slowed down in the last 10 years,” Duque said, noting that the under five mortality rate decreased to only 32 per 1000 livebirths in 2003 from 52 per 1,000 livebirths in 1988.
“The infant mortality and child death rates have also exhibited similar trend over the same period,” the health chief noted.
Secretary Duque said that neonatal and post-neonatal deaths declined the slowest over the past 20 years with the reduction of only 9 percent and 7 percent, respectively, from 1988 to 2003.
“Our analysis showed that 50% of these deaths occur during the first 2 days of life with the following as causes: birth asphyxia (31%), complications of prematurity (30%) and severe infection (19%),” Duque explained.
“Now, we are launching this Protocol, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, to help solve this newborn mortality problem because if it is not reduced by at least half, the goal of reducing childhood mortality by two thirds by 2015 would not be met,” Duque said. The Medium Development Goal target is 6 per 1000 livebirths by 2015.
Secretary Duque explained that ENC is a comprehensive strategy to improve the health of the newborn through interventions before conception during pregnancy, at and soon after birth, and in the postnatal period.
“But for this Protocol, we are focusing on the 1st few hours of life of the newborn with the manual guiding the health workers and medical practitioners in providing evidence-based essential newborn care,” Duque said.
The health chief said that the guidelines categorize procedures into time-bound, non-time bound, and unnecessary procedures.
“Time bound interventions should be routinely performed first and include: immediate drying, skin to skin contact followed by clamping of the cord after 1 to 3 minutes, non-separation of the newborn from the mother, and breastfeeding initiation,” Secretary Duque said.
The health chief said that non-time bound interventions include immunizations, eye care, Vitamin K administration, weighing and washing.
“There are also the so-called unnecessary procedures and these include routine suctioning, routine separation of newborns for observation, administration of prelacteals like glucose water or formula, and footprinting,” Secretary Duque said.
The health chief signed the new Protocol as the government launched the UNANG YAKAP Campaign today.
