Zamboanga City — Wounded marines say they had been chasing for a day and night the Abu Sayyaf bandits, however they only learned after the one-hour clash that they hit jackpot.
After the gun battle on Sunday morning, bodies of the six men they had killed were identified. One was Albader Parad, the “ruthless leader” of a bandit group linked to a worldwide terror network.
The gun battle however, has claimed the life of one marine, and wounded two others.
Manila, Philippines — Nearly two million ballots for voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have been printed without the security markings off the National Printing Office (NPO). An NPO source confirmed that the ARMM-bound ballots for the May 10 elections had no NPO security features.
The NPO employee said there was a plan to put NPO markings, but the machines encountered problems at the start of the printing for the ARMM batch. The NPO source also noted that the ones printed after the ARMM batch, the 8.5-inch by 25-inch ballots that will be used for the rest of the country, were given NPO marks.
However, NPO Director General Servando Hizon said he did not know of such reports. According to him, all questions about the printing should be directed to the COMELEC. “Everything about the printing, you should ask the COmelec. That’s the rules given to us.” Hizon said in a phone interview.
Smartmatic-TIM company could also not be interviewed as their officials’ phones could not be reached.
THE International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday said that it was preparing for an explosion in election-related violence in the Philippines as the country gears up for the 2010 national polls.
The ICRC is working to identify dozens of “hot spots” where violence is feared ahead of the May 10 elections for a new president and thousands of lower positions.
Of particular concern is the southern island of Mindanao, where 57 people were killed in November in the country’s worst election-related violence. Elsewhere, at least seven others have been killed in vote-related violence.
Jean-Daniel Tauxe, country head of the Geneva-based ICRC said the Red Cross ‘first responders’ as well as key emergency supplies, including blood, will be deployed in places where there the ‘presence of armed elements’ could trigger violence.
Police have also said they were racing against time to crack down on some 100 private armies known to be in control of politicians across the country and to account for over a million unlicensed firearms in circulation. (PIA-Bohol)
THE Philippine Embassy in Spain reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs an illegal recruitment operation that is currently being perpetrated by a syndicate using Spain as a destination for Filipino workers.
The embassy named the company allegedly recruiting Filipino workers under this scheme as Previsto Ferrocariel Guiscoanagin, with address at Calle Placentinos 18B, 32005, Barcelona, Spain.
The syndicate is using the email address espanolconsulate@europe.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to communicate with Filipino workers and lead them to believe that this is the email address of the Philippine Embassy in Madrid.
The Philippine Consulate-General in Barcelona has verified that there is no such address in Barcelona. There is a Calle de los Placentinos in the province of Salamanca, while the zip code 32005 corresponds to the province of Ourense, not Catalonia.
The public is advised to be wary of job offers from this company and to first check the veracity of any job offer and company with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in the country concerned, the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), or the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). (PIA-Bohol)
SPARE the schools from the dirty politics of elections.
This as the Department of Education (DepEd) has banned posting and distribution of campaign materials in public schools during the election period.
On this, DepEd has reminded politicians of Order No. 10, or the “Clean Schools, Clean Elections” program, which runs from election campaign until results of the May national and local elections are released.
DepEd through Secretary Jesli Lapuz has noted that even before February 9 start of election campaigns, posters and stickers have been posted on school walls and gates all over the country.
Earlier, the Commission on Elections issued Resolution No. 8758, Section 29 of which said “the posting of campaign materials in public places outside of the designated common poster areas such as streets, bridges, public structures or buildings, trees, electric posts or wires, schools, shrines, main thoroughfares and the like is prohibited.”
