One Dead, Two Injured in Rifle Grenade Blast in Aurora

BALER, Aurora, March 17, 2013-One person was killed and two others wounded in Saturday’s rifle grenade explosion at Purok 5, Brgy. Pingit.

Police Senior Inspector Noel Palmero, Baler PNP Chief of Police, said that the incident happened inside the house of PO1 Rommel C. Gonzales while they were having drinking spree together with Joel M. Querijero and Jay N. Cuento when Jeffrey P. Mercado (with him is a rifle grenade) came inside for a drinking spree and placed the alleged grenade in front of the group around 4:30 in the afternoon.

Mr. Cuento, 37, died due to shrapnel wounds and Joel was in critical condition while Rommel sustained minor injury, he added.

Police initial investigation report stated that Jay was accidentally dropped the alleged grenade when it exploded.

Palmero said they’re investigating the incident. The wounded victims are being treated at a local hospital. (Jason de Asis)

 

Fort Magsaysay hosts second leg of 4X4 off-road challenge

FORT MAGSAYSAY, Nueva Ecija, March 17, 2013-Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation (FMMR) recently hosted the second leg of Colt45 4X4
Extreme Series that was participated by Luzon members of the National Association of Filipino Off-Roaders (NAsFOR).

“This event seeks to promote Fort Magsaysay as a tourist destination where they can do various activities such as climbing, hiking, downhill mountain biking, camping, motocross riding, 4×4 off-road driving, zip-line, and horseback riding as well as water sports in our coastal areas in Dingalan, Aurora namely kayaking, scuba diving, windsurfing, jet ski, and para-sailing,” said 7ID Commander Major General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr.

“Now that we are seeing the death of insurgency and birth of peace and prosperity in Regions 1 and 3, it’s high time that we transform certain parts of our camp into a place of leisure where families and friends can bond. We want them to say that you haven’t been to Nueva Ecija if you haven’t visited Fort Magsaysay- the home of Kaugnay troopers,” Catapang added.

Participants had to go through three stages one of which was to go through rugged terrains.

In the end, JR Angeles of Nueva Ecija topped the leg with Edison Dunca of Pampanga ending second, and Red Diva of Isabela placing third.

The Reservation, with a total land area of 44,970 hectares, was created by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No.237 dated December 19, 1955. It consists of the Cantonment area, Training Circuit, Kalinga sa Kawal off-based housing for military personnel, Jethropa Plantation, National Training Center (Balikatan area), and the Libingan ng mga Bayani. (Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu)

15,000 NEW CLASSROOMS SHOULD BE CONSTRUCTED YEARLY – EDGARDO “SONNY” ANGARA

Team PNoy senatorial candidate Edgardo “Sonny” Angara today said that only a crash classroom building program that would build as many as 15,000 new classrooms a year could solve the perennial classroom shortage in five years.

“And this is the precise number that Team PNoy is pushing for, under an inspired classroom building program that would fill up the inadequacy within five years,” Angara said.

Angara said that he already drafted a proposed law that would push through with the crash classroom building program, which he estimates to need an initial funding of P15 billion from the national budget.

Angara said that complementing the crash classroom building program is another education infra program aimed at two things :

• Building an elementary school in all barangays without one

• Building a high school in every town without one

Angara said he has asked the Department of Education (DepEd) to update its national inventory of public schools so the infrastructure program he is proposing could identify where “all the gaps are.”

Angara said that infrastructure development is one of the major components of his education agenda , which is focused on the theme of building smart schools for r the 21st century.

Angara, a Harvard-trained lawyer, was the author of the Free Kindergarten Law and is the main proponent of upgrading the salary to public school teachers to a minimum of around P33,000 a month .

EDGARDO “SONNY” ANGARA PROPOSES THREE POLICY ACTIONS ON 4Ps

Team Pnoy senatorial candidate Edgardo “Sonny” Angara today proposed three policy action to make the more than P40 billion-a-year Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the country’s conditional cash transfer program, to make it more effective in addressing poverty.

Angara said the 4Ps, has been found to be an effective life-changer for millions of Filipinos by multilateral review institutions and policy reforms.

“First, we should institutionalize the CCT. Second, we should shield it from partisan politics. Third, we should beef up the administrative support,” Angara said.

The World Bank, the Asian Development Banka and the Australian Agency for International Development have said the 4Ps is on track to achieve its objectives of promoting investments in the health and education of children while providing immediate financial support to poor families.

The findings of the recently completed assessment of the 4Ps titled “Philippines Conditional Cash Transfer Program, Impact Evaluation 2012” confirmed that children of 4Ps beneficiaries are enrolling and attending schools, with improved health due to regular visits to health stations, and pregnant mothers getting proper care. The report was the first in a series of evaluations being done on the program.

Angara said that he has drafted a bill that seeks to institutionalize the 4Ps and make it a permanent fixture of the government’s social safety net programs.

The bill, he said, will plug up all gaps in the implementation of the 4Ps to enhance its effectively.

Angara, a Harvard-trained lawyer, is focused on reining in massive urban and rural poverty. He said the improving metrics on health and education among young kids from the poor families is proof of the effectiveness of the 4Ps.

“The vetting of the CCT as an effective, life-changing program came from unbiased sources – multilateral institutions that give the pass or fail mark,” Angara said. “And the CCT was cited for its positive impact on the educational and health needs of the poor, young Filipinos.”

ANGARA LAMENTS ALLEGED SUICIDE OF UP STUDENT, CALLS FOR MORE EFFICIENT SCHOLARSHIP SYSTEM

Team PNoy senatorial candidate Edgardo “Sonny” Angara today lamented the alleged suicide of a freshman student from the University of the Philippines-Manila over her inability to pay her tuition.

“It’s very depressing that an incident like this has to happen, more so that it happened in UP,” Angara said.

“The government and state universities should show more compassion and leeway especially to students who come from poor families and experiencing financial constraint,” he said.

Reports said that Kristel Tejada. Kristel, a 16 year old freshman studying BA Behavioral Sciences was forced to take a leave of absence for failing to pay her tuition on time.

A daughter of a taxi driver and a housewife, Tejada was said to have been applying for a student loan and extension of the deadline for payment of  financial dues since the start of the semester but had been repeatedly denied.

“Our Constitution guarantees the right of every Filipino youth to quality and affordable education. We should make sure that policies are implemented to fulfill this provision,” said Aurora, a representative from Aurora.

Angara, chair of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, is one of the authors of the proposed comprehensive and unified student financial assistance system that will fund quality education to benefit more financially deprived students.

The measure shall harmonize all government scholarship and grants-in-aid programs to promote greater efficiency, coherence, synchronization, rationalized access, effective funding and improved coordination among implementing entities.

It also provides for the implementation of the unified student financial assistance system to be known as the Unified Financial Assistance System for Higher and Technical Education (UniFASTS).

The lawmaker explained that the bill seeks to address problems related to access, equity and distribution of student financial assistance slots, targeting of beneficiaries, allocation and utilization of government resources, tracking of the whereabouts of beneficiaries, the payment recovery rate on student loans and compliance system on scholarships and management, as well as program administration and oversight concerns.

“Today, a life has been wasted for a reason we cannot tolerate. We should continue our efforts so that financial constraint will not be a hindrance anymore to attaining quality education. We should urgently address this issue so that unfortunate incidents will never happen again,” Angara said.