DEATH TRAPS

Cagayan Valley’s ‘bad’ roads tagged crash hazards

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Motorists have assailed the “horrendous” road conditions and the ongoing road repairs and bridge construction projects on the national highway in Cagayan Valley region, which were supposedly blamed for a number of deaths and crashes in recent days.

The national road, also known as Maharlika Highway, has been the subject of endless complaints from travelers who have suffered from crashes, near-mishaps, long delays and inconvenient travel due to bad road conditions and frequent repairs.

On Friday morning, one Joan Mendez, 31, was killed after she was pinned to death by a trailer truck that went wayward as it ran over a bumpy portion of the asphalt road in Barangay (village) Baretbet in Bagabag town.

DEADLINE

Cops told to stamp out illegal gambling in Cagayan Valley

CAMP ADDURU, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan—The top police official in Cagayan Valley on Thursday ordered all local police offices in five provinces here to stamp out all forms of illegal gambling until Aug. 9, or face immediate relief.

Chief Supt. Robert Quenery, Cagayan Valley police chief, also warned operators of Small Town Lottery (STL) in the region to strictly comply with the terms of their gambling permit, as local officials have expressed doubts over the legitimacy of their operations.

“Those [whose performance] are found to be wanting will definitely face sanctions. [Stopping illegal gambling operations will] give chance to the authorized [STL] agents to have a smooth flow in the conduct of their operations,” he said.

Acid test

PNP dared: Stop ‘jueteng’ to regain public trust

SANTIAGO CITY–If the Philippine National Police were serious in instituting reforms in the organization to bring back the trust of the public, it should start by eliminating illegal gambling.

Officials and residents here gave this challenge to the PNP leadership in reaction to pronouncements from PNP Chief Dir. Gen. Jesus Verzosa that his administration will try to win back the trust of the public, following the latest scandal to hit the police organization.

Gov. Grace Padaca said Verzosa’s statement comes as a positive sign, especially in times that people have grown wary about the sincerity of the PNP to live up to its mandate as the country’s primary law enforcement agency.

Hazardous

Quirino health workers decry unpaid benefits

CABARROGUIS, Quirino–Health workers in this province are up in arms against the non-payment by the provincial government of their hazard pay, while denouncing local politicians for their supposed reckless spending of public funds.

The provincial chapter of the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) here on Monday slammed the alleged apathy shown by the provincial leadership for their failure to settle unpaid benefits of about 300 health workers.

Dr. Reynald Narbarte, president of AHW Quirino said their members are demanding the hazard pay that they are supposed to receive, as mandated by Republic Act 7305 or the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers.

Taking a stand

N. Vizcaya, Quirino, Ifugao law studes blast GMA, join ‘resign’ calls

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya–Law students from this province and Ifugao have joined calls for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, expressing exasperation over the “growing wanton acts of large-scale corruption” allegedly committed under her government.

Law students said the people have grown weary and frustrated, so that the only solution is to change the leadership that has been perceived to be either “an active party, an accomplice of or a passive onlooker” on anomalous deals in government.

“It is now high time for us to take action. The Arroyo regime has been duping us for a long while now. We cannot just stand here and let all these to go on,” said Dr. Bernard Balangatan, law student and university professor.

Leaving RP made easier

Arroyo OKs move to bring POEA closer to Cagayan Valley

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has approved the establishment of a satellite office of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in Cagayan Valley, Catholic Bishop Ramon Villena said Friday.

Villena, who heads the regional development council (RDC) of Cagayan Valley, said Arroyo, over lunch on Monday, ordered Labor Secretary Arturo Brion to immediately consider putting up a POEA office in Tuguegarao City in Cagayan.

“I am sure many of our people in Cagayan Valley will be pleased with this development. They have been longing that the POEA be brought closer to them,” Villena said.

He said he brought the matter to Arroyo following discussions with RDC officials on the difficulty faced by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Cagayan Valley in transacting with the POEA.

“The POEA office in San Fernando City [La Union] is the only one that attends to the needs of OFWs in Cagayan Valley, Ilocos and Cordillera regions. Going there has been more expensive and tedious for our OFWs, who are mostly from poor families,” he said.

POEA records showed that for 2006, 40,068 Cagayan Valley residents left for abroad as overseas workers.

Of the five provinces in the region, Isabela deployed the biggest number of OFWs with 18,851 workers, followed by Cagayan with 13,845, and Nueva Vizcaya with 5,708.

The number, however, does not include undocumented overseas workers who traveled overseas as tourists.

According to Villena, the difficulty of travel from the Ilocos region to San Fernando City in La Union has forced Cagayan Valley OFWs to go to the POEA central office in Pasig City, instead.

“During our last RDC meeting, one of the appeals of the council members was the POEA office, so I have made the commitment to directly ask the President about it. We are grateful that she acted positively on it,” he said.

The soon-to-be-opened office is expected to cater to the needs of OFWs from Region 2 and the provinces of Kalinga and Apayao in the Cordillera, Villena said.

Grace Ursua, regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) here, said however, that her office has not yet been officially informed about the President’s directive.

“DOLE Region 2, Owwa [Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration] and Tesda [Technical Education and Skills Development Authority] have recommended that to Undersecretary [Romeo] Lagman during his Sept. 6 visit to Cagayan,” she said.

Capitol in the dark

Quirino capitol loses power over P8M debt

CABARROGUIS, Quirino–Power supply at the provincial capitol on Thursday was cut off due to the failure of the provincial government to settle more than P8 million unpaid bills, officials of the local cooperative here.

Lawyer Eleazar Balderas, legal counsel of Quirino Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Quirelco), said power supply to government buildings in Barangay Capitol Hills here has been disconnected after the province failed to comply with the cooperative’s long-standing demand for payment.

Three provincial government-run hospitals–the Quirino Provincial Hospital here, and the district hospitals in Aglipay and Maddela towns–were, however, spared.

Balderas said the Quirelco board ordered to cut the power off after the provincial government did not abide by the agreement they had with Quirelco last year that it would pay the cooperative P500,000 monthly until the balance is fully settled.

“The refusal of the provincial government to settle its obligation is causing great loss on the cooperative. We are constrained to resort to this measure because if we will not do this, the whole province of Quirino will be without power very soon,” he said.

The National Power Corp. has threatened to cut off Quirino’s power supply if the cooperative failed to pay its power bills, Balderas added.

The controversy revived the conflict between the provincial government and the cooperative last year, which began when Quirelco cut off electricity at the capitol over unpaid bills amounting to P6 million.

Power was restored two weeks later after then Gov. Pedro Bacani ordered the payment of P1.4 million to Quirelco, and entered into a settlement that the province would pay the cooperative P500,000 monthly.

Moot

It was learned that Thursday’s power outage came barely 30 minutes before Quirelco officials received a copy of the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by Executive Judge Moises Pardo of the Regional Trial Court here prohibiting them from cutting off the capitol’s power supply.

“The TRO became moot and academic because what was intended to be restrained already happened,” Balderas said.

This prompted the provincial government, through lawyer Roldan Ubando, to amend its petition to one that asked the court to order Quirelco to restore power to its offices. The amended petition was granted by the court on Friday afternoon.

Still, Quirelco did not comply with the court order because its issuance was “highly irregular because we we’re deprived of procedural due process”, Balderas said.

“Our office received the summons two hours before the scheduled hearing. The judge issued the order supposedly due to our absence,” he said.

Contacted for comment, Gov. Dakila Carlo Cua assailed disconnection of power as “politically motivated”.

“Although these debts were inherited by my administration from the previous one, I, as the new governor, nevertheless assured (Quirelco officials) that my administration will settle these obligations,” Cua said.

He said the provincial government was looking at entering into a compromise with Quirelco so that the P8-million unpaid bills will be offset by the estimated P13 million in taxes that the cooperative owed the province.

Cua said he issued a manager’s check for P500,000 on Thursday morning, in an effort to avert the imminent power loss at the capitol. However, the Quirelco collection office reportedly refused the payment for undisclosed reasons.

“This is grave injustice committed against our people. (Quirelco officials) should be held liable for the damages,” Cua said, citing the failure of the provincial government to inform the public about the extended period of registration for the Sangguniang Kabataan.