Happy pensioners of the Social Security System (SSS) trooped to various banks yesterday and withdrew from their respective accounts the P1,000 additional benefit for the month of January 2017 following the approval of the authority to release the said amount by President Rodrigo Duterte last Feb 22. Above photo shows pensioner Erlano M. Wenceslao queueing and withdrawing his additional benefit increase at the Philippine National Bank at the SSS head office at East Avenue, Quezon City. Mr. Wenceslao, 74, has been a pensioner since September 2004. The P1,000 additional benefit differential for the months of February and March, meanwhile, will be available for withdrawal on March 10 and 17, respectively.

By Paulo DS. Papa NAGA CITY--- After a month-long hiatus, the dreaded Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign, otherwise known as “Tokhang” is now back in harness. Dubbed “Oplan Double Barrel, Reloaded,” the re-launched anti-drug campaign under the stewardship of the Philippine National Police nationwide, kicked off last Monday, March 6, that purports to exclude the participation of rogue policemen in their operations. Here in the city, SPO2 Tobias S. Bongon III, spokesperson of the Naga City Police Office (NCPO) confirmed in an interview conducted last Monday afternoon the reactivation of Oplan Double Barrel, or more popularly known as Tokhang. He clarified, however, that there are initial requirements given to their office concerning drug operations in order to ensure that: 1) drug enforcement units of the police should always coordinate with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency; 2) only the members of the drug enforcement units are allowed to conduct anti-illegal drug operations; 3) participating members or operatives must be cleared from derogatory records; and 4) during the Tokhang operations, the barangay officials and religious leaders (such as parish priests or pastors) and other private organizations should be present. The involvement of the religious sector, according to Bongon, is required due to the pronounced opposition of the Church against extra judicial killings as deadly offshoot of the anti-drug campaign. Bongon further elaborated on the religious sector’s participation: “Nagdududa kaya an simbahan sa pulis.” “The role of the religious sector is to witness, and at the same time encourage or influence individuals to fight against drugs because of their influential role in the community” he added. He also admitted that the city’s barangays are not yet 100% drugs-free although the local government unit and its barangays are continuously offering training, education, employment, and most importantly, rehabilitation, to erstwhile drug peddlers and users.” SPO2 Bongon warned that if drug suspects remain not to have mended their ways, the police will surely come up to them. President Rodrigo Duterte in late January this year ordered the PNP to stop its anti-illegal drug operations after policemen allegedly involved in an extortion racket kidnapped South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo, killed him right inside Camp Crame, and had his body cremated in a funeral parlor and his ashes flushed down the toilet.

By Jorge Hallare LEGAZPI CITY --- Six people died on the spot and three others were injured when the driver of a 22-wheeler truck lost control of the wheels and the vehicle collided with a motorcycle running on the opposite lane before smashing onto two houses alongside the national highway in Tabaco City, Albay, according to a report that reached the headquarters here of the Police Regional Office (PRO5)-Bicol on Monday morning. Sr. Insp. Ma. Luisa Calubaquib, PRO5 spokesperson, said their investigation showed the driver of the motorcycle identified as Albert Barogo, 37, was decapitated and his upper torso was severed due to the impact of the accident that occurred at the national highway at the boundaries of Barangay Estancia in Malinao, Albay and Barangay Quinastillojan in Sabloyon Road, Tabaco City around 2:45 p.m. on Sunday. She said Barogo’s back-riders -- his wife Jasmin, 36 and son Clark Camiro, 2, -- all residents of Barangay Soa,Malinao town also died on the spot. Investigators said the truck was cruising the highway from Ligao City to Tabaco City when the driver lost control of the steering wheel, took the opposite lane and collided with the motorcycle before hitting the two houses on the roadside. The truck driver and his two helpers also died on the spot after they were pinned down by their own cargo of tons of steel sheets that were supposed to be delivered to Tabaco City. Police identified the driver as Orlando B. Campo, 49, a resident of Naga City, and the two truck helpers as Rommel M. Nantes, 27 and James L. Romero, both residents of Camalig, Albay. It took hours for the rescue team from the Bureau of Fire Protection of Tabaco City to retrieve the bodies of the truck helpers. The bodies of the six fatalities were brought to the Ziga Memorial District Hospital in Tabaco City around 6:10 p.m. Three members of a family living in one of two houses rammed by the truck were also injured and rushed to the same hospital. They were identified as Daniel Bonganay, 57, Jeffrey, 36 and Jazon, 28. Police said the family members suffered injuries in the head and body. Probers said their initial investigation showed the brakes of the speeding trailer truck malfunctioned causing the vehicle to go out of control.

FRIENDLY ENVOY. Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Osla Jr. (foreground, left) coursed the shelter assistance to Typhoon Niina victims to the Center for Community Development of the Ateneo de Naga University which benefits 337 families. JUAN ESCANDOR JR. By Juan Escandor Jr. NAGA CITY---For P1.9M that the Czech Republic donated through the Center for Community Development (CCD) of the Ateneo de Naga University (AdeNU), the shelter assistance for the victims of Typhoon Nina goes a long way in providing construction materials to 337 families whose houses were totally destroyed in three villages in three Camarines Sur towns. Lilia Bomalay, 50, could hardly hold back her tears when she received the shelter assistance from the Czech Republic, consisting of six galvanized iron sheets, six pieces of plywood, eight pieces of coconut lumber and two kilos of assorted nails. Bomalay, a resident of the village of San Miguel in Bula town in Camarines Sur, narrated she and her two children had been living in a makeshift shelter since Typhoon Nina destroyed their house on Dec. 25 last year. “We could now at least sleep under better roof made of galvanized iron sheet than the floppy plastic canvass we had been using after the typhoon wrecked our home,” she said in the dialect. Sustresgracia Eres, 70, wore a big smile when finally, the building materials worth P4,000 for each family were distributed to them on Thursday afternoon in the presence of Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Olsǎ (pronounced Yaroslav Olsha) Jr. and AdeNU President Primitivo Viray Jr. After the distribution of the shelter assistance in Bula town, Olsǎ, Viray and the AdeNU group proceeded to the village of Villaflorida in Ocampo town where the inhabitants are the indigenous Agta minorities. Repeating the formal distribution of the shelter assistance to Agta families whose houses were totally destroyed by Typhoon Nina, the AdeNU group was joined by some of the local town officials who thanked the ambassador for the help the Czech Republic extended. In both occasions in the towns of Ocampo and Bula, Olsǎ, a Catholic, also gifted the villages with a miniature statue of Sto. Niño de Prague for them to pray on. Elmer Sto. Domingo, CCD director, said the three villages given shelter assistance were community partners of AdeNU in their development work which included the village of Sta. Cruz in the town of San Fernando. Sto. Domingo said they initially asked the local government units for the list of families whose houses were totally destroyed by Typhoon Nina and then the students validated them which ensured that those included in the final list had actually lost their houses to the typhoon. He said through the initiative of the CCD they will also mobilize the community to undertake ‘bayanihan’ to help families rebuild their houses after the distribution of the building materials. Olsǎ, who came to AdeNU for the launching of the Bikol-translated book of Czech writer Franz Kafka on his first visit in Naga City last year, kept his contact and maintained his friendship with the academic community of the AdeNU. He said that even though he was in Prague when Typhoon Nina struck Bicol on Christmas Day last year he was communicating with Viray on the Facebook. Viray said Olsǎ was monitoring the situation in Bicol and the ambassador told him he felt sorry about the situation here and pledged to ask the Czech government for help. The AdeNU president said he asked Sto. Domingo to conduct survey of communities where the government had not been to in providing assistance for the victims of Typhoon Nina. From there, Viray said, they submitted an application to the Czech embassy seeking shelter assistance for the families whose houses were totally destroyed. “Since we have a good relation with the Ateneo de Naga when the typhoon struck and I was in Prague on my holiday, and I came to my ministry and said, okay let’s do something for those people from the region I have been, we have friends there,” Olsǎ narrated. He said his ministry approved the “small symbolic amount” of less than P2M because there will be a couple of hundreds families which will be given a new home and new hope.

By Bobby Q. Labalan SORSOGON CITY --- Sen. Francis Escudero urged justice and judiciary officials to dispense justice equally to everyone and anyone who may ask and seek the protection of the law. Escudero made the remarks as he led the blessing and inauguration of the newly renovated Hall of Justice here Wednesday (March 8), together with Court Administration Midas Marquez and Deputy Court Administrator Raul Villanueva. The senator reminded his audience, composed mostly of lawyers, judges, prosecutors, court employees, police and local officials of the famous statement of US Chief Justice Wendell Holmes which says that “the business of a law school is not only to teach law and to produce lawyers, but to teach law in a grand manner and to produce great lawyers.” Escudero stressed that the purpose of the prosecutors is not to ensure that the accused gets incarcerated and neither is it the main goal of public defenders to ensure that their clients are freed but to ensure that justice is done to whomsoever deserves it. Marquez lauded the efforts of Escudero in securing the funds for the renovation of the building which had deteriorated since it was constructed in 1990 during the administration of then Pres. Cory Aquino. The SC official said the improvements done on the building would greatly help in the efficient and effective dispensation of justice. Marquez urged the court officials to remain independent in their dispensation of justice but to work inter-dependently with the two other co-equal branches of the government- the legislative and the executive. He assured the judiciary officials that his office would provide the necessary equipment like tables, chairs and computers which are greatly lacking in the various courts housed in the building. Escudero sought funding for the building’s immediate repair after visiting it and saw for himself its sad state. Aside from renovating the original building, an annex building was added which now houses the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, effectively decongesting the main hall. Executive Judge Rofebar Gerona said the renovation had restored the dignity of the courts which, for so long, had endured the sorry state of the building. Aside from housing the regional trial courts, the “Bulwagan” also houses the city prosecutor’s office, the Parole and Probation Office, the mediation office, Public Attorney’s Office, clerks of court office and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines office. (Mediaworks Communication)

By Sarwell Q. Meniano TACLOBAN CITY --- The government needs at least P193.58B to build cable-stayed long span bridges that will link Leyte Island to Mindanao and Samar Island to Luzon. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) came up with project cost as they seek endorsement of the five-year mega projects from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) for the kick-off of the feasibility study. The study will be done by Chinese experts through funding grants from Chinese government, said Ernesto Octaviano, chief of NEDA regional office project development investment programming and budgeting division. “After the approval of technical assistance, the study will run for six months and hopefully construction will start early next year,” Octaviano said The official is optimistic that budget for the study will be included in the availment of Chinese government financing in accordance with the 2016 Philippine-China Development Framework of Cooperation. Of the P193.58B budget, P101.35B is intended for Leyte-Surigao Link Bridge Project and P92.23B for Luzon (Sorsogon)-Samar Bridge Project. The two projects along with Panay-Negros-Guimaras Link Bridge are listed as priority under the “Nationwide Island Provinces Link Bridges for Sustained Economic Growth and Development.” The Leyte-Surigao project involves the construction of cable-stayed bridges with a length of 23 kilometers connecting San Ricardo, Southern Leyte and Lipata in Surigao City, crossing the Surigao Strait. The Sorsogon-Samar project has a combined length of 25.4 kilometers. It consists of three long span bridges – Allen to San Antonio in Northern Samar (4.9 kilometers), San Antonio to Capul in Northern Samar (8.5 kilometers), and Capul, Northern Samar to Matnog, Sorsogon (12 kilometers). Both projects are four-lane cable-stayed bridges, a permanent solution to the perennial problem of stranding during weather disturbances and port congestion during peak season. A cable-stayed bridge has one or more towers, from which cables support the bridge deck. Distinctive features are the cables, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern or a series of parallel lines. The Regional Development Council executive committee approved the resolution by referendum this week. The project is expected to bring more economic opportunities between the country’s three island groups – Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. For decades, roll-on roll-off (RoRo) ferries cross the San Bernardino Strait, transporting passengers and vehicles to and from Allen Port and Matnog Port in Sorsogon. With a distance 28 kilometers, the average travel time is one hour and 30 minutes. In the southern part of Leyte Island, RoRo ships have been transporting passengers and vehicles to and from Benit Port in San Ricardo town and Lipata Port in Surigao City, crossing Surigao Strait. The distance between the two ports is 23 kilometers. Buses, cars and trucks from various provinces of Mindanao bound for Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon pass through Allen and San Ricardo ports to get to Luzon.

By Juan Escandor Jr. NAGA CITY---After being hooked into drugs for 29 years, Edward Yosores Jr., 40, has been sober for two years now and the responsibility of running a rehabilitation facility called Facenda da Esperança (Portuguese phrase: Farm of Hope) rests on his shoulders. In a seven-hectare farm donated by the Catholic Church in the outskirts at the foot of Mt. Isarog looking over this city, Yosores runs the rehabilitation facility in partnership with his wife, Joan, overseeing nine drug addicts who had voluntarily committed themselves for rehabilitation. The farm-cum-rehabilitation-center situated in Sitio Caromatig in Barangay Carolina was established in this city in 2009, two years after the same facility was opened in Masbate. Without any psychologist nor doctors to give them professional guidance, Facenda’s philosophy of rehabilitation and healing is founded on what they call three pillars of work, spirituality and community. Originating from Brazil 33 years ago, founded by a certain Nelson who was inspired by Focolare Movement to help drug addicts change their ways through spirituality and work, Facenda has spread in different parts of the world including the Philippines. The Focolare Movement, founded by Chiara Lubich in 1943 in Italy as a means to survive the World War II, promotes the ideals of unity and brotherhood that has spread in 182 nations. Focolare, an Italian word that means fireside, was the movement’s name because during World War II, Lubich’s group read and studied passages from the Bible to live with by the fireside. Yosores said they believe that addicts understand each other regarding their dependence on drugs notwithstanding the different personalities and characters they have. He said what is important is for them to become open about what are inside of them so that they can help each other. Yosores said the daily routine of residents here include at least eight hours of work in the farm, prayer and reflection and exchange and sharing of what is in their minds regarding their relations with each other and their learnings. He said the belief in God and Jesus Christ is the center of everything they do inside the rehab. But Yosores revealed that only about 10 percent of residents complete the one-year rehab program inside the Facenda da Esperança. “Because your number enemy inside the (rehab) is yourself. You overcome yourself first since this place has no fences to confine you.” He said that to complete the one-year rehab program the residents decide for themselves to follow the regiments inside the farm. They wake up at 4 a.m.; take their breakfast at 5:30 a.m.; meditate and reflect on the Bible passage to live on for the day at 6:15 a.m.; then work at the farm until 11:45 a.m. with a break at 9:00 a.m. Yosores said that after lunch the residents take their siesta at 2:00 p.m. after which they start working again until sundown. He said on Mondays, they have sharing activities in the evening about how they practiced the three pillars of Facenda for the past days. On Tuesdays, the Franciscans come to teach them Catechism, he added. When Wednesday comes, they share “the word of life” or the selected passage from the Bible that they have chosen to practice early in the week. “For example, if we have chosen “act of love” a resident can share how he practiced it like if one resident took care of other’s laundry being dried when the rain came,” Yosores narrated. He said on Thursday, they do the same regular routine and when Friday comes, they watch movies together, usually inspirational movies. “But we don’t watch news By Saturday, Yosores said, it will be a half-day work and then on Sunday they attend the mass together. He said the residents’ age range from 23-55 years old who came from Baguio, Dumaguete, Quezon City, Surigao and Masbate but residents coming from Naga City and other nearby areas are not accepted. Yosores said for one year relatives and friends of the residents are not allowed to visit them but they can communicate through letters and can send them food and other necessities through courier services. Joan, who had been recruited by Facenda to help her husband, quit from his factory job in Cebu City, where she and her husband hail in Barangay Lorega. She said the Facenda is self-sustaining from the monthly contribution of residents of P5,000 for their food, basic needs and utility expenses. Joan manages and administers the finances of the Facenda.

By Jam Madrid NAGA CITY --- “Building Bigger Milestones” will be this year’s theme for the most anticipated staging of Bicol Business Month (BBM) in July which will also coincide with the 30th foundation anniversary of the Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI). The event, which scaled up from week-long to a month-long lineup of activities, used to be staged in November but for its third year, the MNCCI decided to hold it on an earlier date this year. This was announced by last year’s BBM chair and MNCCI Vice President for Chamber Management Jose B. Perez during a press conference held late last month at the Board Room of the Avenue Plaza Hotel, this city. “November is a typhoon month and it’s hard to get sponsors since it’s almost towards the end of the year. Since July is a lean month for business, there is a need for an intervention within this period, so the holding of the BBM is timely. Besides, the traffic of people is back to welcome another season right after the summer”, Perez explained. This year’s BBM chair is Ferdinand ‘Dondon’ Sia who was recently inducted as MNCCI’s VP for Finance. He promised to present more colorful and significant events this year. Naga City Mayor John G. Bongat expressed his full support to the local business chamber’s decision affirming that there is indeed a deviation in the business cycle which usually happen before the year ends. The MNCCI and the City Government of Naga are co-presentors of the annual local business month. He reiterated that the city government will continue to support all the programs and activities of MNCCI as he sees how all of these activities have impacted on local as well as regional businesses. Regional Governor for Bicol Clarine P. Tobias of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said she is excited about BBM 2017’s perfect timing especially that results of the rankings of LGUs in the National Competitiveness Index that determines the year’s most competitive cities, municipalities and provinces throughout the country will be released this July. “One of the indicators for the competitiveness is the influx of tourists or visitors, as well, as vibrant business organizations in a particular place. Naga City always wins because of the support of the private sector. If we get the award this year, it will be a grand slam for Naga. So, this year is very critical because if this happens, it will be a first for Naga and in the Philippines [since the search for most competitive LGUs was launched in 2014,” Tobias shared. According to Sia, this year’s BBM boasts of an array of exciting activities. Lined up are the Agri-Aqua Best of Bicol Exhibits & Trade Fair, ICT Week, Travel Mart, Naga Palooza, DRR/A-PAD Expo, Directors and Presidents’s Night, Culinary Festival, Women’s Congress, Beauty and Wellness, Car and Motor Show, Bingo, Natural Healing, and Taxation Seminar, and the colorful Halyao Awards. PIA5/Camarines Sur

LOUD MESSAGE. Students of Universidad de Sta. Isabel get out of their classrooms for a noise barrage to protest the passing of House Bill seeking to reimpose the death penalty. JUAN ESCANDOR JR. By Juan Escandor Jr. NAGA CITY---With the approval of death penalty bill at the Lower House on Tuesday, three Catholic schools in Naga City conducted their protest by holding a 30-minute noise barrage on Wednesday. Primitivo Viray Jr., president of the Ateneo de Naga University, said the protest means “yes to life, no to death penalty’ which he said is the core of the Catholic belief and teachings. Viray said the five Ateneo schools all over the Philippines will continue to protest against the approval of the death penalty bill. He said they will also try to encourage the Senate not to approve the death penalty bill which had been voted in the Lower House. “This (noise barrage) is our initiative to express our stand against the death penalty. As a Catholic institution, we firmly stand against the death penalty,” said Dr. Natalie Ranin, executive officer for public relations of the Universidad de Sta. Isabel. She said there are about 4,000 students and faculty members participating in the noise barrage who lined up along the street of the university at 12:00 noon. Jacky Baysa, participant of the noise barrage, said she joined the noise barrage because she believes that everyone, criminal or not, must be given a second chance to reform themselves. The students and faculty of the Ateneo de Naga University, Universidad de Sta. Isabel, and Naga Parochial School joined the noise barrage along the streets near the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral. The bill seeking to reimpose the death penalty on drug-related offenses has been approved on third and final reading at the House of Representatives. The lower house in a session on Tuesday passed House Bill 4727 -- with 217 congressmen/women voting yes, 54 no and one abstention—seeking to reimpose capital punishment for heinous drug-related offenses. The bill was approved on final reading just a few days after its second reading approval last Wednesday. "I am here to make sure that the voice of my constituents in the third district of Camarines Sur is heard in Congress. In our scheme of things, I am an agent; my constituents are my principals. A problem arises when an agent no longer represents the interests of his principals,” Camarines Sur third district Rep. Gabriela Bordado said. Bordado is one of the 54 congressmen who voted against the death penalty bill.

RAGAY, Camarines Sur --- Camarines Sur-based Teatro Ragayano, a finalist in the Best Cultural Group category of the 2016 Aliw Awards, will stage an environmental play to commemorate World Theater Day, artistic director Eilyn Nidea announced. Panaghoy ng Kalikasan, an adaptation of the Palanca Award-winning play Dalawang Mukha ng Kagubatan by Emelina Gagalac Regis, will be staged at the Multi-Purpose Hall of the Ragay National Agricultural and Fisheries School on March 16 and 17 at 9:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. during those playdates. Artist-in-residence Carlos A. Arejola directs the play topbilled by Virna M. Asence, Allana Paulene D. Mien, Mark Joseph H. Quintana, Rosaville G. Arietta, Althea A. Llegue, Ella Llanita, Denise D. Calindas, Jaynard M. Benosa, John Rodnel B. Brillantes, Owen S. Manalo, Francis P. Mandalihan and Jaymar De las Alas. The production comes on the heels of the company’s debut productions Hawla and Gamgam, that were staged back-to-back last year in the towns of Ragay and Pili, in Camarines Sur and in Naga City. The latter was Arejola’s Bikol adaptation of Susan Glaspell’s Trifles. This American classic was premiered in 1916 or over 100 years ago in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Completing the Panaghoy ng Kalikasan production staff are Anabel A. Haber, assistant director and production manager, Kate C. Gomez, co-assistant director, Christy G. Ranola, co-production manager, Georgette R. Imperial and Nilda Fuerte, costumes and props directors, Mario Candelaria, documentarian, Mary Ann P. Lait and Katheren Lea Nicolas, lights and sounds directors, and Nino Felipin Madridano, stage manager. Re-runs of the play are scheduled in August this year, back-to-back with An Kuwintas ni Gloria, Carlos A. Arejola’s Bikol adaptation of Linda T. Casper’s canonical short story in English, The Translucent Sun. Also lined up for the company’s 2017 theater season is the staging of The Pronoun I, monologues on HIV/AIDS awareness scheduled in July, this year. The World Theater Day was first celebrated by the Paris-based International Theatre Institute (ITI) in 1962. It has since been annually celebrated on the 27th of March through various theater events worldwide.

By Jagel Mae S. Escandor NAGA CITY----In a two-day workshop held February 28 and March 1 at Avenue Plaza Hotel in this city, business groups drafted a disaster resiliency roadmap known as business continuity plan (BCP) conducted by the Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management, Citizens Disaster Response Center and Tarabang para sa Bicol, Inc. or TABI. Rhiza R. Nery of the Philippine Disaster Resiliency Foundation (PDRF) facilitated the conduct of the workshop and helped the participants draft plans for their businesses to guide them in what to do before, during and after the disaster. Nery said that mainstreaming business continuity plans plays important role in business as no business is immune from disruption. She added that most Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) would claim that they do not have business continuity plans when in fact, they do have existing procedures that can be considered as BCP. “With this workshop, Naga City business sector can complement their existing policies into the BCP and create a more concrete roadmap,” she further said. Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Gilbert Albero shared that mainstreaming the BCP will help them in having a guide in times of disaster and crisis like what happened during the onslaught of typhoon Nina which paralyzed primary business establishments in Camarines Sur including Naga City last December 2016. He also said that having the BCP workshop further ignites everyone’s desire to go on with the initiatives even when the plans seemed complex. “We, Bicolanos are known to be resilient. But we need to grow up and put the word resilience into the right track. We need to build back better. We need to have BCP in order to help better and collaborate,” Albero added. The output of the workshop will be presented to their respective companies and organizations for further review, approval and implementation. Participants come from different stakeholders which include the Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the local government unit of Naga City through the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Metro Naga Development Council, Metro Naga Water District, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, Inc. (PLDT) – Naga, Compagnie de Catalina, Mariners Polytechnic Colleges – Naga campus, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas – Camarines Sur chapter, Philippine Information Agency – Camarines Sur and Tarabang Para sa Bicol, Inc. The stakeholders signed a memorandum of understanding in February last year that gave birth to the local alliance of A-PAD Philippines in Naga City. A-PAD is a trans-national disaster aid alliance that works for collaboration, cooperation and pooling of efforts, sharing of resources between humanitarian organizations, civil society organizations, private sector, and government units in delivering emergency response and early recovery services, and in undertaking projects for rehabilitation, disaster risk reduction, and addressing the vulnerabilities of peoples and communities. CDRC and PDRF are co-conveners of A-PAD-Philippines. The activity was supported by the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

By Bobby Q. Labalan SORSOGON CITY --- This city will be declared “cleared” of illegal drugs in formal ceremonies to be attended by Chief Supt. Melvin Ramon Buenafe, director of Police Regional Office in Bicol (PRO5), at the Bibincahan Gymnasium here Friday. Sorsogon City is the last local government unit to be declared as drug-cleared in the province of Sorsogon since the intensified anti-narcotics drive of the government that was aimed at both high-profile and street level drug personalities started in July 2016. The Sorsogon City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (SCADAC) came up with the declaration as contained in its Resolution No 1-2017 dated February 27. According to the resolution, all of the city’s 64 barangays have been declared as “drug-cleared” villages based on the declaration of their respective barangay councils and Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils (BADAC). It also stated that the intensified operation of “Project Double Barrel” resulted in the total eradication of the presence of drug personalities and illegal drug activities in the city of Sorsogon. City Mayor Sally Lee lauded the declaration as she attributed it to the relentless efforts of the community stakeholders, especially the Philippine National Police, barangay officials, schools, women, senior citizens, students and youth organizations. In January, PRO5 cited the Sorsogon Provincial Police Office (PPO) headed by Senior Supt. Ronaldo Cabral for recording the lowest crime rate among the six PPOs and one city PPO in Bicol for 2016. Cabral attributed this to the various community relations program of the PPO that proved effective in engaging various sectors in curbing the drug scourge that has been seen as contributing to the high incidence of crime in the province. Lee said the government remains steadfast in its commitment to maintain the city free from the perils of illegal drugs. “We will continue all programs and activities that have brought about this declaration even as we assure those who have surrendered that the city government will assist them in the best ways possible,” she stressed. PRO5 officials said their assessment of the performance of the PPOs in Bicol with regards to the government’s drug war uses the term “drug clear” as only the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has the authority to declare a local government unit as drug-free. Last Monday, the PNP reassumed its leading role in the illegal drug campaign after the PNP was temporarily suspended from administering “Operation Tokhang” nationwide in the wake of controversy that hounded the killing of a Korean businessman last month. The suspension prompted the government to hand over to PDEA the major role in the campaign with the PNP taking a supporting role.