by admin | Jul 6, 2016 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, Major Events
TAGBILARAN CITY, July 6, (PIA)—The world is shrinking literally for drug personalities and their protectors as the government anti illegal drive shifts to high gear, even in Bohol.
This too as the biggest success in police drive gets to Candijay town, where 431 drug personalities composed of 6 pushers and 425 users heeded to the calls to come out and swear in “Oplan Tokhang” to stop of be at the end of “Oplan double barrel.”
Even without Candijay’s success, Bohol has so far reported close to a thousand drug personalities showing up in police stations to stay clear of upcoming police operations aimed at those who still thrive on the illegal trade.
With two of the four exposed police generals allegedly protecting the drug industry in the country assigned sometime in the region, attention shifts here as people start to string the connection between them and identified Bohol and Cebu drug lords.
Observers start to piece through police generals PNP Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo Jr. (2012 at PRO7) and retired police general Vicente “Vic” Loot (2015 at PRO 7) to Cebu based drug lords Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz whose operations stretch to Manila and Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria, who operates both in Bohol and Cebu.
This too as police operatives here increases the heat in the campaign to bring out the drug pushers and users in a bid to issue the last and final warning against the continued drug trade.
Upon the mandates of the newly installed Chief of the Philippine National Police Ronald dela Rosa, Bohol police commanders in the town cascade “Oplan Tokhang.”
A strategy employed by then Davao police chief dela Rosa, Tokhang or “Toktok-Hangyo” employs police officers and anti-drug advocates in the barangays into identifying and knocking on the houses (toktok) of alleged drug personalities to talk to them about permanently stopping (hangyo).
“We implement Oplan Tokhang to identified drug personalities as out effort to combat illegal drugs,” explained Bohol Police chief PSSupt Dennis Agustin.
By not heeding to Tokhang, police have been mandated to implement “Oplan Double Barrel,” explains Candijay town police chief Police Inspector Gerald Luna.
“By double barrel, we go after high value targets and low value targets in intensive police operations and we hope it does not come to that,” Ubay town chief PCInspector Roland Desiree Lavisto said in an interview.
The other day, Ubay police operatives in a buy bust, neutralized Mario Ramos, Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration #9 in the list of drug personalities in Bohol, in a buy-bust operation Purok 3, in Barangay Tapon.
Ramos, accordingly sensed the presence of the police operatives upon consummation of the buy-bust that he drew his gun and fired at the police officer, causing the operatives to fire back.
Ramos suffered three gunshot wounds: two between the ribs exiting the shoulder blades and a stomach shot near the navel, the bullet lodged inside, which may have caused his instantaneous death, according to Dr. Elaine Aurora Castañares of the local Don Emilio del Valle Hospital, who certified the suspect as dead on arrival.
Immediately the following day, Ubay police station posted 58 drug personalities who voluntarily surrendered and availed of the Oplan Tokhang.
Chief Inspector Lavisto, who has just assumed as town police chief since July 1 said, 90% of those who surrendered that day came from Barangay Tapon.
The day earlier, Ubay also reported 58 surrenderees.
In nearby town Candijay, PInspector Luna who expected around 200 drug personalities from its 21 barangays coming out and swearing before Mayor Christopher Tutor, parish priest representing the church and members of the academe in formal ceremonies today.
Inspector Luna said police have rounded up the 21 barangays and knocked on the houses of those in the list which the Barangay Anti Drug Abuse Councils (BADACs) submitted.
The BADAC list is fairly validated list as the council members and not just the barangay chairmen who put in the names.
This list, we also match with the list police from their intelligence operatives keep and classify them according to their degrees of depth in the illegal industry, Luna, who enjoys full LGU support clarified.
We are just lucky, Mayor Tutor is serious about this campaign, dispensing his personal funds to reward police in successful operations, Luna said.
The reward money, he said goes to his operatives as well as boost local capacities to operate in buy-busts, raids mobility and intelligence infiltrations. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)
by admin | Jul 6, 2016 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, Major Events
TAGBILARAN CITY, July 6, (PIA) –Candijay town posts the largest drug personalities who surrendered to authorities and swore to permanently stop today, July 6, or face the consequences.
This as 431 drug personalities, the biggest so far from Bohol towns, surrendered today and took their solemn oaths before town Mayor Christopher Tutor, Rev. Fr. Paulito Amplayo, PInspector Geral Luna and local officials and representatives of the academe.
Local police authorities ushered the surrenderees to the St. Joseph Parish Church, where church and state leaders accordingly received them, reports netizen Jeryl Lacang-Fuentes.
In an interview at his station, PInspector Luna on Tuesday said they were set to finish rounding up the 21 Candijay barangays by late afternoon, the day after he announced the police implementation of Oplan Tokhang.
Of the total number of drug personalities who surrendered, six admitted to pushing while the 425 said they are or were users and several have stopped years back.
Owing to the seriousness of the police campaign initiated by the Chief of the Philippine National Police (CPNP) Ronald dela Rosa himself, Bohol police stepped up its operations and have neutralized top drug personalities.
Several of those in the police list were also shot to death, probably by other drug personalities who were allegedly competing in their turf wars, Camp Dagohoy police officials said.
Of the surrenderees, and based on their affidavits, 49 have stopped using drugs since 2012, 58 stopped since 2013, 79 since 2014 and 103 stopped using drugs since 2015.
Among them were 136 active users who promised to stop using drugs, as attested by their signed affidavits.
Among those who surrendered, Cogtong owns the biggest number of drug personalities with 76, followed by Poblacion at 53, Can-olin at 42 and Boyo-an at 39.
Inspector Luna also revealed that in his town, there are still some barangays who are not drug affected, but they still await for more drug personalities coming out anytime soon.
Other barangays with surrenderees include Lungsodaan 34, Panas 35, Tugas: 30, La Union: 25, Mahangin: 25, Tambongan 16, Abihilan 15, Anoling: 13, Canawa: 11, Tawid: 9, Tubod: 6 and Panadtaran 2.
PInsp Luna also reported that in the past year, Candijay Police implemented 38 buy-bust operations and hailed suspects to court with violations of anti-drug law, specifically section 5.
He also considers his station lucky as the local chief executive himself is personally supporting the drive with cash incentives to police operatives.
As the operations go on, Luna appeals to drug personalities who remain in hiding to surrender or be implemented with “Oplan Double Barrel.”
After Oplan Tokhang, we are to implement Double Barrel and would pursue operations against hard and soft targets, he said.
At the swearing in rites inside the St Joseph Church, Mayor Tutor advised the surrendered personalities to seriously keep their promise.
Even with the sworn statements and affidavits, police operatives bared that any indication of reverting to drugs would be a ground for intense police operations, which might end up not as desired. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)
by admin | Jul 5, 2016 | Headlines, Major Events, National News
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) regional director Asteria Caberte urges the public to be vigilant when buying portable fire extinguishers.
“This means that the consumer has to look for the Philippine Standard (PS) quality or safety certification license issued to manufacturers,” she said.
Caberte added that consumers should also ensure that the packaging or product has an authentic PS Mark affixed on it.
“To ensure the safety of Filipino consumers and prevent untoward incidents, DTI has put in place measures to monitor compliance by manufacturers and importers,” Caberte said. “These include such measures as the sharing of data of the department’s regulating agency Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) with the DTI field offices to verify licenses it has issued and, when appropriate, sanctions shall be slapped on the offender.”
Director Caberte underscored that the DTI, through the BPS, issues Product Standard Certification licenses to manufacturers but does not endorse any brand or establishment.
She reiterated that “the PS Mark on the product and the Philippine Standard (PS) quality or safety certification license issued to manufacturers shall ensure quality and safety of the product.”
As the National Standards Body of the Philippines, the BPS is tasked to develop/adopt, implement and promote Philippine National Standards (PNS) as mandated in the Republic Act (RA) 4109 Series of 1964.
Under the BPS Product Certification Scheme, fire extinguishers are among products under mandatory certification and must bear the Philippine Standard (PS) mark.
Any retailer or wholesaler found selling uncertified products will be seized of such products and will pay a penalty that can range up to a maximum of P300,000, without prejudice to the filing of criminal or civil actions under applicable laws.
To ensure that only inspected and approved products are found in the market, regular monitoring activities are performed by the DTI Provincial Offices.
For more info on standards and standardization activities, call the DTI-BPS at 751.4730 or visit the Standards and Conformance Portal – www.bps.dti.gov.ph.
by admin | Jul 4, 2016 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, Major Events
TAGBILARAN CITY, July 4, (PIA)—Be honest in responding to the questionaires, pleaded Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Bohol Statistician Jessamyne Anne Alcazaren during the recent Kapihan sa PIA.
This as the PSA embarks sometime between July 11 to August 2, the Labor Force Survey-Annual Poverty Indicator Survey (LFS-APIS) with trained enumerators extracting the data from heads of families or their spouses as respondents.
“No one in the household is more knowledgeable in the family’s spending patterns,” she explained.
The PSA is primarily responsible for the implementation of the provisions of R.A. 10625, especially in planning, developing, prescribing, disseminating and enforcing policies, rules and regulations and coordinate government-wide programs governing the production of official statistics, general-purpose statistics, and civil registration services, the PSA website states.
At that, it is primarily responsible for all national censuses and surveys, sectoral statistics, consolidation of selected administrative recording systems and compilation of national accounts.
The APIS is a nationwide sample survey designed to provide information on the different indicators related to poverty.
“APIS aims to provide inputs to the development of an integrated poverty indicator and monitoring system which would enhance timely, accurate and consistent production of poverty-related data that can be used at the national levels,” the website states.
APIS supplements identification of the poor families through the use of non-income indicators, providing information on the socio-economic profile of families and other information relating to their living conditions.
According to the PSA, the data from the survey are demographic and economic characteristics, health status and education of the family members; awareness and use of family planning methods; housing, water and sanitation condition of the families; availment of credit to finance the family business or enterprise; and income and expenditures of the family.
In survey enumerations like the APIS, PSA knows that many respondents find it inconvenient to respond to the questions thinking it entails income and expenditures.
“It is not for taxation purposes,” assures PSA Bohol, shutting respondent’s fears about taxation.
In fact, the PSA chief assured that their enumerators would treat survey responses with a high degree of confidentiality.
“This treatment also puts enumerators in the risk of imprisonment should they be proven to have shared vital information,” Alcazaren advanced the information.
“These people are bound by law to maintain strict confidentiality,” she said as she presses on the right information to generate useful data. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)
by admin | Jul 4, 2016 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, Major Events
TAGBILARAN CITY, July 4 (PIA)—In the serious drive against drugs, is there really a need for Bohol to purchase special equipment to test illegal substances immediately after raids and busts?
The purchase in question is an expensive special drug test implement that can accurately tell even the qualitative content of a drug sample.
The question surfaced over the most immediate need to confirm if the bust haul was indeed drugs and not any other adulterating substance, that the quality is indeed high and that the quantity remains unquestionable in after operation reports.
An incident over a huge drug haul during a raid on a suspected drug personality in Tagbilaran causes so much stir as later laboratory tests results showed the haul was nothing but alum.
This raised eyebrows as accusations of reduced weight and volumes of illegal substances before these evidence get to the crime laboratory have compounded the reasons to test and helped push members of the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) to determine if, aside from the PNP Crime Laboratory set up, buying special equipment to test drugs is necessary.
Bohol police crime laboratory operatives helping the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in enforcing anti drug operations however said the equipment present now that the PNP Crime Lab in Camp Dagohoy suffices.
The equipment which police authorities propose would be used to determine the purity and degree of adulteration for confiscated methamphithamine hydrochloride otherwise called shabu.
“It can cost millions,” PSupt Nicomedes Olaivar however said.
Wanting to weigh the necessity of the equipment, council members asked how the current tests are done.
Accusations that authorities could have something to do with a possible swap of the confiscated items into something useless, or deducting sizable quantities of drugs from confiscated volume to allow suspects to post bail are rife.
But as to the drugs being adulterated, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Commander Supt Olaivar admitted that due to the street value of drugs, adding alum to shabu is a usual practice.
Meanwhile, PDEA Bohol agent Maria Chona Egam as well as PDEA 7 Deputy Director Wardley Getalla reported that drugs here are sold as low as P300 per small pack.
Adulterating these with alum increases the weight and simultaneously increases the price, heaping profits, PSuperintendent Olaivar shared to the council.
The SWAT head hinted that the equipment may be needed to perform confirmatory tests [on drugs] prior to a major buy-bust.
As such, he said a gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) test on the purity percentage of a confiscated shabu can help police authorities determine the quality of the illegal substance confiscated.
The GC/MS testing methodology is used to confirm presumptive drug screen specimens by providing the molecules identification and their varying degrees, says LabCorp.com.
But, Bohol prosecutor Macario Delusa clarified that the degree of purity of a substance is not any obstacle to generate a case worth prosecution in courts.
This also means that even if the volume is adulterated, as long as it tests positive for illegal substances, it already warrants the filing of suits.
Meanwhile, PDEA Bohol agent Egam explained that operatives leading the buy busts or the raids are held responsible for the custody of the evidence gathered and are responsible for bringing these to the crime laboratory immediately.
She added that the crime lab does the initial confirmatory tests through re-agents and issues chemists’ findings sufficient for the filing of appropriate cases.
With this, the PPOC believes the acquisition of a GC/MS is not yet a priority, thus the council sidelined the proposal. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)
by admin | Jul 4, 2016 | Headlines, Major Events, National News
MANILA, July 4 (PIA)–Buksan karong bulana sa Comission on Elections (Comelec) ang rehistrasyon aron makabotar sa nagsingabot nga barangay ug Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) election karong tuig.
Matud pa ni Comelec Commissioner Luie Guia, sa Hulyo 15 hangtud 31 mahimong magparehistro ang mga buot mobotar sa eleksyon sa Oktubre ning tuig.
Kini matud pa ni Guia aron mahimong andam tulo ka buwan sa dili pa ang piniliay sa umaabot nga Oktubre.
Giingong dili na usab i-uswag ang rehistrasyon tungod kay apiki na ang Comelec sa oras.
Gihatagan usab og 15 ka adlaw nga mopasang-at og bisan unsang protesta ang gustong mobabag sa gitakdang registration.
Niadtong 2013 election, gipahigayon ang rehistrasyon gikan Hulyo 22 hangtud 31 diin kapin sa duha ka milyong indibidwal ang naka-parehistro aron mobotar sa Barangay election samtang adunay 3.1 milyiong kabataan ang nagpa-rehistro aron makabotar sa SK election. (ecb/PIA7-Bohol)
