Punto!PANANAW NG MALAYANG PILIPINO!

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CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – It could have passed off as an authen-tic solicitation message from Pampanga Archbishop Emeritus Pa-ciano B. Aniceto, more popularly known as Apu Ceto, if not for its

audacious persistence.

WARNING TO THE CATHOLIC FAITHFUL

Solicitation scam using Apu CetoAC dad nearly victimized

Cover photo of the facebook account: “Abp Paciano Aniceto (Apu Ceto).”

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ANGELES CITY- A uni-versity here has an-nounced the publica-tion of a “major work” on Kapampangan language featuring its prehistor-ic root words and sylla-bles derived from Asia languages, in a scholarly book expected to be pa-tronized by Kapampan-gans all over the world.

Robby Tantingco, di-rector of the Center for Kapampangan Studies of the Holy Angel Uni-versity (HAU) here, said the 950-page book titled “Capampangan Roots: Primitive Words and Syllables from Polyne-sian-Austronesian, San-skrit, Chinese and Baha-sa Languages as Roots

First book onpre-historic roots of Kapampangan

language outof the Capampangan Language.”

“It is the result of long years of research by Macau-based poet-art-ist-cultural advocate Os-car Balajadia a.k.a. Papa Osmubal, native of Ma-galang, Pampanga and alumnus of HAU,” Tant-ingco said.

He said “the book is part of a two-book series that complements Bala-jadia’s earlier four-book series entitled ‘O Jo, Nu Ca Menibat’, also pub-lished by HAU.”

“Balajadia dissect-ed and broke Kapam-pangan words down to their basic syllables and discovered similari-ties to syllables of other Asian languages in form

GOURMET’S DELIGHT. Green Kitchen, Pampanga’s emerging premier food destination, is now open at SM City Clark. P!"#" $% B"&' L()*"&

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CLARK FREEPORT - The Commission on Au-dit (COA) has released a report indicating that Bulacan was the top earner among all prov-inces in the country in 2015, generating an in-come of P3.8 billion that year.

Bulacan provincial treasurer Belinda Bar-tolome said the COA re-port cited 10 top earning provinces in the coun-try with Bulacan being number one.

The COA report also cited Negros Occiden-tal coming second with earnings worth P3.58 billion, Rizal with P3.31

COA REPORT SHOWS

Bulacan top earner among provinces

billion, Pangasinan wth P3 billion, Cavite with P3.08 billion, Laguna with P3.03 billion, Que-zon with P3.02 billion, Batangas with P2.6 bil-lion, and Bukidnon with P2.5 billion.

Bartolome said Bu-lacan’s income was mostly derived from its high-quality marble minerals from the Sier-ra Madge mountains in the areas of San Rafa-el, San Ildefonso, and San Miguel.

Records from the Bulacan Provincial Planning and Develop-ment Offi ce indicated

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LIMAY, Bataan -- The coal power plant here has stopped dumping bottom ash in any site inside the oil refi nery com-plex, following orders from the Environmental Management Bureau, a consultant of Petron and San Miguel Corp. said Monday.

Engr. Jaime Santos, SMC & Petron consultant for refi n-ery & plant operations, made this announcement during the multi-partite monitoring team (MMT) meeting in Limay pre-sided by EMB Region 3 direc-tor Lormelyn Claudio.

Attending the MMT special meeting were Bataan Gov. Al-bert Garcia, Limay Mayor Lilvir Roque, representatives from the Department of Environ-ment and Natural Resources, non-governmental organiza-tions, Petron and SMC, among some others.

Claudio issued the or-der stopping the dumping of coal ash Friday on two sites – Petron Limay Terminal and SMC site - after residents complained of ash fall.

The director said the coal plant can only dispose its waste in an area approved by the DENR after mixing it with soil to lessen corrosivity.

“Inilalabas ang bottom ash at dinadala sa Northen Cement factory sa Sison, Pangasinan matapos haluan ng lupa upa-ng bumaba ang ph level,” San-

Coal plant stops dumping bottom ash, following EMB order

LIMAY, Bataan -- Light rains washed the alleged ash-fall off trees and plants and the soil at a sitio adjacent to the 600-megawatt coal pow-er plant undergoing fi nishing touches here, villagers said Thursday.

Traces of what residents claimed as bottom ash com-ing from another smaller coal power plant of 150 MGW which is already operation-al were still visible in some leaves of mango trees.

“Dati puting-puti ang lupa pero nawala dahil sa ulan. Kaya lang kahit pansaman-talang walang alikabok, ang problema hindi naman naaa-lis ang baho na masakit sa ilong at ang mga bata inuu-bo,” Flaviano Wenceslao, 68, resident of PEX site said.

Bad odor from unknown source/sources depending on the direction of the wind is experienced by residents in the surrounding areas of the refi nery complex and by even travellers.

Anita Boletres, 52, voiced

tos said. He said that the pow-er plant had stopped dumping in the two sites.

Santos said that as long-term solution, they will build an ash pond in the company’s 27-hectare private property in Limay.

Limay Mayor Lilvir Roque said that while no dump site approved by DENR is in place, all wastes of the coal plant will not be permitted to be dumped in the town.

Alvin Pura, one of the af-fected residents, said since 2012 they were already voic-ing opposition against the coal power plant. He said that they were thankful that their prob-lem in the dumping of bottom ash was given solution.

He, however, voiced an-other problem. “Paano naman kaya ang long-term? Pag-an-dar ng planta paano kami, ano gagawin sa community? Hindi nga sa amin ang lupa pero tao kami na dapat bigyan ng im-portansiya,” he said.

DENR Undersecretary Ar-turo Valdez said they have or-dered the stoppage of dump-ing. “Sec. Gina Lopez is very strict. In any development, she wants it founded on social jus-tice. Kapakanan, reklamo ng maliliit na tao, agad inaaksi-yunan ni Secretary,” he said.

“Madaling solusyunan naman ang ash fall. Gumawa muna ng temporary pero im-mediate intervention tulad ng sprinkling with water ang alik-

abok na kayang-kaya ng SMC. Saka na yung long-term,” the undersecretary said.

On the alleged health problems of villagers, Mayor Roque said studies are being made to determine the cause of the sickness complained by residents. “In three to six months, malalaman ang resul-ta ng pag-aaral,” he said.

The mayor said that cer-tainly, the municipality will help the aff ected residents as to their health needs.

“Pinag-aaralan pa kung ang mga sinasabing sakit ng mga residente ay galing sa coal ash,” said Dr. Rosanna Bucca-han, provincial health offi cer.

Gov. Garcia said a medical team from the provincial and local governments and Petron are out to help residents.

Derek Cabe of the Coal-free Bataan movement said an estimated 500 residents are aff ected by pollution in the area, almost half of the num-ber affl icted with illness like fe-ver, cold, headache, asthma, skin rashes and hypertension.

Before the MMT special meeting, Cabe, a ranking member of Kilusang Pamban-sang Demokratiko, led a group of anti-coal activists and af-fected villagers of ash fall in a short rally in front of the Limay municipal hall.

Wearing face masks and carrying placards, the dem-onstrators, some children, de-nounced the coal plant.

Rains wash off ashfall but foul odor remains

CITY OF SAN FERNAN-DO – Through the orders of Governor Lilia “Nanay” Pine-da, Provincial Administrator Attorney Andres Pangilinan, Jr. inspected the Pampanga Provincial Jail yesterday as part of the provincial govern-ment’s regular inspection of the said facility.

Pangilinan, together with the General Services Offi ce (GSO) and Provincial Asses-sors Offi ce (PAO) also in-spected the drainage system of the jail to fi nd a solution to Pampanga Philippine Na-tional Police Compound res-

Provincial Administrator Atty. Andres Pangilinan, Jr. together with General Services Offi ce head Engr. Nilo Pangan, Provincial Assessor Engr. Romeo Dizon, Provincial Jail Warden Edwin Mangiliman and Human Resources head Amelia Bondoc doing regular inspection at the Pampanga Provincial Jail. C"&#+,$-#/0 1!"#"

Provincial jail to improve drainage systemidents’ complaint of foul odor coming from the jail’s creek.

“We checked the creek and found out that it’s not as bad as how the residents de-scribe it. But nonetheless, we will still do some improvement with it. We might do a box cul-vert to minimize the foul odor coming from the creek,” he said.

He also did some in-terviews with inmates and checked on their status inside the jail. He said that the in-mates are treated humanely and there are no complaints from them.

He also said that the pro-vincial government will ask the Lawyers’ Group of Pam-panga to review some of the inmates’ cases especially the senior citizens and those with weak cases.

“It is the instruction of Governor Pineda to review the pending cases of more than 1,900 inmates here. This can alleviate the over-crowding of the jail. We must maximize all available re-sources just to give them a much decent and humane treatment,” he added. – Philip Ocampo/Pamp PIO

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MABALACAT CITY – The un-relenting campaign against il-legal drugs here has resulted in the clearing of 18 out of 27 barangays and declaring them drug-free.

The 18 drug free barangays include the most notorious vil-lages in the recent past when it comes to illegal drugs like Ba-rangay San Francisco where the infamous “Jopilan Street” is located, as well as Pobla-cion and San Joaquin where the former illegal drugs haven “Daang Bakal” is situated.

The other drug-free baran-gays are Bical, Mamatitang, Tabun, Dolores, Santo Rosa-rio, Sta. Maria, Mangalit, Para-layunan, Bundagul, Sapang Balen, Mawaque Resettle-ment Center, Santa Ines, Ma-capagal Village, Calumpang and Cacutud.

Declaring the 18 barangays drug-free are the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Vice Mayor Christian Halili.

Chief of police, Supt. Ju-ritz Rara, announced the drug-cleared villages during the fl ag raising ceremony at the city hall here last Monday.

Halili said the 18 villag-es passed the 14 parameters of the PNP and were each awarded a P1 million proj-ect-based incentive from the city government.

18 Mabalacat villages declared drug-free

According to Rara, the 14 parameters include the non-availability of drug sup-ply and absence of drug tran-sit and transshipment activity, clandestine drug laboratory, drug warehouse, clandestine chemical warehouse, marijua-na cultivation site, drug den, drug pushers, drug users, and protector/coddler and fi nan-cier.

To be declared drug free, a barangay must also have ba-rangay offi cials implementing the anti-drugs drive, and the active involvement of the SK to help maintain the drug-lib-erated status of the barangay.

The implementation of pro-grams like drug awareness, preventive education and oth-ers as well as the presence of a processing desk for surren-derees also qualify a barangay to be declared as drug free.

The PNP also presented 13 individuals from the third batch of surrenderees who complet-ed the program at the Bahay Pagbabago in Barangay Sa-pang Biabas from November 29 to December 18.

Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales lauded the PNP, Ma-balacat City Anti-Drug Abuse Council, Barangay Coun-cils, Mabalacat City Anti-Drug Abuse Movement, public offi -cials and city hall employees for their eff orts to rid the city of illegal drugs.

Infamous ‘Jopilan Street, Daang Bakal’ included

the same problem: “Pangu-long Duterte, sana maluna-san ninyo ang aming prob-lema. Walang oras na hindi mabaho rito na nakakasakit sa dibdib at inuubo ang mga anak at apo ko.”

The old woman claimed she has been residing in the area for 20 years. Her house sits in an upland area with mango and coconut trees near a creek that divides the community and the 600-MGW col power plant.

From a distance, mounds of soil were seen in the dumping ground for bottom ash in the SMC site, one of two sites ordered stopped last Friday by the Environ-mental Management Bureau.

EMB Region 3 director Lormelyn Claudio said that bottom ash can only be dis-posed in a dumping site ap-proved by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. No area has yet been approved within the oil refi nery complex.

–Ernie Esconde

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OLONGAPO CITY ---The use and sale of plastic bags and styrofoam food packag-ing products is now prohibited in this city as part of the local government’s eff ort to protect the environment and fl ood mit-igation program.

“Plastic bags and styro-foam are among the top trash collected during our year-ly citywide cleanup, it is also one of the main reason why our drainage clogs up, that is why we opt to ban plastic in the city,” Mayor Rolen Paulino said. He added that it is also the city’s way to help protect and care for the environment.

“Kailangan namin ang tu-long ng lahat, pag nakita sana nila na gumagamit pa rin ng plastic bags or styro yung tindahan, sabihan na nila, o mag-report sa aking opisi-na, hindi lang naman ang lo-cal na pamahalaan ang maki-kinabang dito, buong Olon-gapo lalong lalo na ang mga maliiliit na bata na maiiwan natin sa syudad, lahat tayo dapat maging miyembro ng task force,” Paulino said.

The mayor also formed a task force composed of se-lected personnel from the lo-cal government to monitor and implement the said ban.

The ban on plastic bags

Olongapo bansplastics, styro

and styrofoam started January 1, 2017 after a gradual imple-mentation last year.

Under City Ordinance No. 11, Series of 2015 violators will be fi ned P1,000 for the fi rst of-fense, P2,000 for the second off ense and P5,000 plus can-celation of business permit will be given to establishment for the third off ense.

The ban started 3rd quar-ter last year for one day, on Wednesdays; follow by a two-day ban during the 4th quarter of 2016 on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The ordinance encourag-es residents to use recycla-ble bag, bayongs, eco bags, biodegradable plastic, paper cups and paper food container as replacement for the banned material.

Paulino further explained that the gradual implementa-tion of the ban last year was the request of the establish-ments since they have already stocked on plastic bags for their use.

“But now the honeymoon is over, we need to adhere to the law and I am very positive that we can achieve this goal by helping each other,” Pauli-no said.

– Johnny reblando w/ Olongapo PIO

SPREE. One of the 57 winners of P100,000 shopping spree Ram Prasad Adhikari is SM City Olongapo’s winner in the “The SM Store’s Shop Your Way to a P100,000 Shopping Spree with Mastercard promo”. Every P3,000 single-receipt purchase using the Philippine-issued MasterCard gets a chance to win a P100,000 shopping spree at any branch of The SM Store nationwide! SM Advantage and SM Prestige cardholders double their chances of winning. The promo lasted December 31, 2016.

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SUBIC BAY FREEPORT----Hinikayat ni SBMA chairman Martin Dino ang mga local government units na saman-talahin ang mga tulong na bumababa mula sa national government partikular na ang usapin sa alternative fuels and energy technologies sa ginanap na forum sa Subic Holiday Villas dito.

Ang nasabing forum at may temang: Energy Sector Innovations thorough the use of Alternative Fuels and Ener-gy Technologies.

Ayon kay Diño, mas mal-awak ang lupain na sakop ng SBMA kung ikukumpara sa kabuuan ng Singapore.

Forum sa alternative fuel, energy tech ginanap

“Dapat buksan ng ating mga kababayan ang kanilang isipan kung paano tayo mag-karoon ng alternative source of energy, may mga kabun-dukan na tayong wala nang forest na pwedeng alterna-tive energy ang paglalagay ng Solar Power Energy at Wind Turbine dahil ang SBMA ay nasa path ng hangin at malaking tulong ito para ma-pagkukunan ng sapat ener-gy,” dugtong pa ni Diño.

Sinbi pa ni Diño ang pla-nong paglilipat sa Pandacan Depot ay malaking tulong kung itoy ililipat sa SBMA.

Tinalakay din sa forum ang auto-LPG program ng Department of Energy para sa clean alternative fuels for

transport.Batay sa statistics may

8,415 auto-LPG taxis na ang gumagamit nito at may 192 refi lling stations sa bansa.

Ayon sa DOE hindi pa ina-advice ang pagamit ng LPG conversion sa mga tricy-cke at wala pa itong standard for safety.

Batay sa RA 7638 (DOE Act of 1992) nakapaloob dito ang application for modern technology gaya ng natural gas, auto-LPG at electric ve-hicles.

Dumalo sa forum ang mga kinatawan ibat-ibang LGUs sa Zambales at Olongapo, transport sector, PNP at iba pang may kinalaman sa alter-native source of energy.

THINKGREEN

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E d i t o r i a l

TODAY IN PHILIPPINE HISTORYSource: www.kahimyang.info

LLL Trimedia Coordinators, Inc.Publisher

General ManagerEditor

Marketing ManagerLayout

Circulation

Atty. Gener C. EndonaCaesar “Bong” LacsonJoanna Niña V. CorderoDondie B. VenturaLacson Macapagal

Business & Editorial offi ce at Unit B Essel Commercial Center,McArthur Highway, Telabastagan, City of San Fernando

Tel. No. (45) 625•0244 Cel. No. 0917•481•1416puntogitnangluzon@yahoo.com or marketing@punto.com.ph

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acaesar.blogspot.com

Zona Libre Bong Z. Lacson

Opinion

Uninsured liabilityNotice to Business Owners/Representatives

Ordinance No. 398, S-2016Mandatory Public Legal Liability Insurance Coverage

All business owners with capitalization and gross income of P150,000.00 may secure the above coverage.

Except those within public markets, medical clinic, dental clinic, accounting offi ce and law offi ces and with existing insurance policy.

Mandatory is the operative word there. Taken to mean that the “public legal liability insurance coverage” is obligatory, compulsory, and required by law of “all business owners with capitalization and gross income of more than P150,000…”

The force of the mandatum however gets undue dissipation with the choice of may by which the insurance coverage is to be secured. As optionality is inhered in the modal verb may. The obligatory must would have been more authoritatively binding. More defi nitively yet, the may clause could have carried an or else proviso defi ning penalties for failure to secure the coverage. On pain of is as commanding, if terrifying, as an ordinance can ever get.

No pretensions of me lawyering here. Merely engaging my trade tools of semantics and syntax to, hopefully, eff ect a clearer comprehension of Angeles City Council Ordinance No. 398, S-2016 that is found only in its synopsis posted on that cork board at the lobby of city hall.

Clarity though comes last, and consequently, comprehension least in the succeeding single-sentence paragraph on exceptions, to re-paste: Except those within public markets, medical clinic, dental clinic, accounting offi ce and law offi ces and with existing insurance policy.

Did the ordinance mean “those within public markets, medical clinic, dental clinic, accounting offi ce and law offi ces” did not have to secure insurance coverage? Them, aside from others already “with existing insurance policy”?

Or they – in the fi rst instance above – comprise the exceptions because they are already covered? If so, the and should have been taken out of the sentence to read: Except those within public markets, medical clinic, dental clinic, accounting offi ce and law offi ces with existing insurance policy.

Were that the case, there would have been no need for the exception paragraph altogether. Succinct for the notice to have read: All business owners with capitalization and gross income of P150,000.00 are required to secure the above coverage, if they have not one yet.

Some redundancy there actually as, it goes without saying, that the conditional if clause does not apply to those already with the required

coverage prior to application for permits. Still, no harm in being doubly clear.

As the exception stands, it…well, stands on the dangerous, socially volatile ground of class legislation. Of favoring, in this case exempting, a group over others.

Why, specifi cally, those within public markets? Why not those in private markets, if any in the city, or those in talipapa and tiangge, or those into home industries or micro-enterprises like sari-sari stores, or those little kiosks in malls?

Why only medical and dental clinics? Why not wellness clinics? Or sports clinics?

Why accounting and law offi ces? Why not engineering offi ces? And yes, local media offi ces too?

Why? I cannot fathom why. Oh, why. Oh, why?

As often, in matters – moral, material, intellectual – of profound consequence, I leave it to the ever-astute Ashley Manabat to take the meta out of the physics and clear my understanding of things.

As though brimming with the Force, and smiling like Yoda himself, Ashley pointed to the principal authors of the ordinance, for starters. One, a dentist by profession. The other, a kid brother to a prominent lawyer.

So, there’s why. As to the question raised by one Mike

Enriquez in his facebook post: “Magkano ing komisyun da ring keng city hall para keng insurance bawat business permit? E ya business-friendly ing Angeles talaga (How much commission does city hall get from the insurance coverage for each business permit? Angeles is not really business-friendly),” I am in dearth of why’s to ask.

And the city council, particularly the ordinance’s prime pushers, has maintained a deafening quiet about it.

So, I just have to take the word of the city administrator Atty. Dennis Albert Pamintuan: “Ito ang magsisilbing proteksyon ng mga mamimili at proteksyon din ng namumuhunan(This will serve as protection to consumers and investors).”

No matter the city businessmen’s liability to believe him…well, uninsured.

Police visibilityBE AFRAID. Be very afraid.

The abduction of a South Korean businessman in Angeles City under the guise of “tokhang” or anti-drug police operation is a cause for alarm not only to the expatriate community but to us all.

For one, the nerve of the alleged ring leader – identifi ed in news reports as “an SPO3 assigned at the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group in Camp Crame – to go about his patently criminal intent in broad daylight, dismissive of even the CCTVs that can readily tag him, in a posh subdivision in the city. A sense of impunity, a feeling of invincibility even, written all over there.

Two. Despite the payment of the ransom, the victim has remained missing. Feared to be dead, according to the authorities. Hair-raising, spine-tingling horror that can just happen to anyone. Duterte, notwithstanding.

The terror multiplies with but a cursory assessment of the case incidents, so far missed in the published media reports.

Ick Jee Joo was forcibly taken from his house in Timog Park Subdivision. A police station sits some 100 meters from the subdivision’s gate to the busy Circumferential Road.

The drop-off point for the ransom was the parking lot of Central Town Mall, also along the Circumferential Road, some two kilometers from Timog Park. A low, thin concrete wall is all that separates the mall from a police station.

A policeman for principal suspect. Two police stations – some two kilometers apart – practically at the very scenes of the crime. Uncanny coincidences there that should readily ring a bell to even just to the amateur sleuth.

Come to think of it, why was the SPO3 suspect’s identity withheld, when others – plain citizens – implicated in some lesser crimes are routinely publicly tagged?

No, we are not implying anything here adverse to our PNP.

It’s just that police visibility – in a perverse sense – is all over this case.

And yes, we are praying for the safety of the victim.

ON JANUARY 14, 1899, Gen-eral Carlos P. Romulo, journal-ist, diplomat and the fi rst Filipi-no to become President of the United Nations General As-sembly (UNGA), was born in Camiling, Tarlac.

Romulo, who served as UNGA President for its fourth session from 1949 to 1950, was with the American forc-es when General Douglas MacArthur landed in Leyte on October 20, 1945 to liberate the Philippines from Japanese invasion.

Romulo served as Presi-dent of the University of the Philippines (U.P.) and Secre-tary of Foreign Aff airs, among other major posts.

In 1941, he won the Pulit-zer Prize for Peace for his pre-war evaluations of the military situation in the Pacifi c area. In 1948 he served as president of the United Nations Confer-ence on Freedom of Informa-tion in Geneva.

No longer satisfi ed with the politics of the incumbent Lib-eral Party, he decided in 1953 to run for the presidency of the Philippines on a third-party ticket, but he withdrew to be-come campaign manager for the successful Nacionalista Party candidate, Ramon Mag-saysay.

At the Bandung Confer-ence (Bandung, Indonesia) of Afro-Asian countries in

1955, he criticized the tyran-ny of both communist rule and Western colonialism.

In his later years, while serving under President Ferdi-nand Marcos, Romulo became less democratic in his views. He supported Marcos’s imposi-tion of martial law in 1972 and had by the mid-1970s evolved from a champion of a free press into an advocate of a con-trolled press, charging West-ern journalists with unfavour-ably reporting the problems of less-developed countries.

He was conferred the Na-tional Artist Award for Litera-ture in 1982.

Romulo died on December 15, 1985 at the age of 86.

General Carlos P. Romulois born in Camiling, Tarlac

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Halo-haloDing Cervantes

OpinionNapag-uusapanLangFelix M. Garcia

Will the Warning be soon?PROPHECIES are saying 2017 will not be less tumultuous.

In the Garabandal apparitions in Spain in the 1960’s, the Blessed Mother seemed categorical about two of three events an unrepentant world is headed to, namely, the Warning and the Miracle. Some even say the Warning might just happen in this year. The third prophesied event was the Chastisement, a punishment that will make Noah-era deluge a puny rehearsal.

It seems this has also become inevitable, but its magnitude can still be lessened, depending on the response to the Blessed Mother’s call for prayers, return to God, sacrifi ces, fasting, reception of the sacrament of Eucharist.

I, and many other people, fi nd Garabandal credible. In his time, Pope Paul VI gave his blessings to Conchita Gonzalez, one of the Garabandal visionaries. In his earthly lifetime, Padre Pio also confi rmed that the Blessed Virgin was indeed appearing in Garabandal. The Catholic Church, though, has not pronounced judgement on the apparitions.

Anyway, I am again fl oating interest in Garabandal, because I am convinced that its messages, nay, warnings have become most timely. I am anticipating the warning to happen, even as a large part of the world, as expected, is going about its businesses and leisures because “time is short” amid the fashionable gospel “love yourself.” Unlike in the time of Noah, people will be warned - the Warning as foretold in Garabandal.

Let’s read visionary Conchita in her own words: “The warning comes directly from God and will be visible to the whole world and from any place where anyone may happen to be. It will be like the revelation of our sins and it will be seen and felt by everyone, believer and unbeliever alike irrespective of whatever religion he may belong to. It will be seen and felt in all parts of the world and by every person.

Conchita also said: “It will happen in the sky, no one can prevent it from happening. We will even prefer to be dead rather than to pass through this Warning. It will not kill us. It

will be a ‘correction’ of our conscience. It will cause great fear and will make us refl ect within ourselves on the consequences of our own personal sins. It will be like a warning of the punishment to come. In this way the world will be off ered a means of purifi cation to prepare itself for the extraordinary grace of the Great Miracle.”

In Avola, Italy in our days, the Blessed Mother was also said to have appeared to Giuseppe Auricchia in 1990 and cited the Warning.

The following were the alleged words of the Mother of God: “There will come a day when you will see two stars clashing in the sky and the letter A at the side of them. This phenomenon will fi ll men with horror and will be seen and felt all over the world… Each one of you will receive a sign, a grace or a punishment, which is called a warning. At that moment, all of you will sense you are alone. Wherever you may be, you will feel alone with your conscience. God alone will be before you. Each of you will see your own sins and each of you will necessarily react in a diff erent manner. This will depend on your conscience. What is important is that you recognize your own sins and their evil consequences. You will experience an interior sentiment of sorrow and pain for having off ended God… You will feel no physical pain and unless you have a stroke, you will not die because of the event… I tell you, at that moment everything will stop, and the human race will come back to itself and will examine itself interiorly. There will reign a great silence and emptiness. …Thus, I invite you in earnest to give yourself to prayer, to penance, to fasting and to the recitation of the Rosary.”

Ing baletang matwa

ING BALE tang’ matwa

luma ne’t menutap at maka-baube

Maybug neng milagmak

at bisang sumukung king gabun mipase.

Ding kasangkapa’nang

mangatwa tang gamit ‘tilu pakalele

Lamesa’t luklukan,

supang mengupas na, ing papag at lande,

Bukud mu ing katring

malwat mung pigkeran yang e ku linele.

At ding kasangkapan

a sadya mung gamit king sidwa’ning bale,

Buri kong’ akakit

king sadya rang lugal kening paglalawe,

Uling anti ra mong

paganaka kaku ing e ka pa mete.

Kanitang minunang

bayu kata pamung inaptas ning lugud

Ikata pa’ing adwang

keti manuknangan miyabe king panirug,

Ing bale tang iti

bayu yang talakad, ala ya pang matbud,

A anti mo ngening

bagya mu ing angin ta’ne dudugarug,

Kanita kekata,

iti yang Parayso, matibe nang bakud

Ning pisumpanan tang

angga king kutkutan dalan tang mabaldug,

Ding kekatang anak

keti la mu naman maybe tang teguyud,

Inanad king mayap

at tirung kilala king Dios a malugud.

Keting bale iti

karin ya melabung ing kekatang sapni,

Inya mal yang kakung

e ku buring lakwan, gulutan, iwaksi,

Uling ing napun tang

sari king kasampat a ngeni mepawi

Keting bale iting

luma na’t menutap, ken ngan mipasari,

Inya maybug ya mang

king gabun misaldak at mikakawani,

E kiarin alakwan

at king bengi-bengi keti ku mumuli,

Uling king bale yan

itang ligaya tang ngeni mengalasi

Ababakas ku mu

at kening panamdam anting mabye wari.

Ngeni, keting bale

a sadyang pugad na ning pisulung tula

Aku namung diling

muling mamanintun king mewalang sigla,

Meko na ka kaku,

pati ding anak tang teguyud ning kalma

King bye talasawa

mepilit deng likwan ing bale tang luma,

Inya itang napun

a mitmung pakamal, sagakgak at saya

At mipanagawian

mangatning lawiwi, gale at tumayla…

Paninintunan ku…

ngeni nukarin yan? Mipdang anting bula;

Inya keting bale

ngening akung dili lalto kung mulala.

Diwa neng FELIPE F. ANGELESNing Siyudad ning Angeles (P)

THE LEAGUE of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) express-es its full support to the tough position of President Rodrigo Duterte against local offi cials involved in illegal drugs, which he articulated during a meet-ing with the country’s mayors yesterday (Jan. 11) in Mala-canang.

We at the LCP leadership believe that it is totally unac-ceptable for local offi cials to be into illegal drugs in any way, as user, protector or dealer. Local offi cials, particularly mayors, should in fact be at the fore-front of the war against illegal drugs.

We subscribe with the President’s position that any

League of Cities position paper on PRRD conferencewith all the Phil mayors yesterday in the palace

mayor or local offi cial involved in any activity related to drugs should be dealt with the full force of the law.

The LCP will not condone and will even help prosecute any of its members who are into drugs. Those who may be in the President’s list should immediately clear themselves or face the consequences that the President has stressed on during his meeting with the mayors.

We call on all our members to be pro-active in eradicating the menace in their respective areas, even as the LCP com-mits to implement its own pro-gram towards freeing our com-munities of drugs.

EDGARDO D. PAMINTUANPresident, LCP

League of Cities backs Duterte’s tough stand vs. narco mayors

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F��� ���! 1

NOTICE OF EXTRAJUDICIAL SETTLEMENTNotice is hereby given that the heirs of Spouses DIOSDADO SICAT and

CAROLINA G. SICAT who died intestate on April 19, 1994 and July 17, 2016, respectively, both in Mexico, Pampanga executed an Affi davit of Extrajudicial Settlement with Power of Attorney of their estate, more particularly described as parcels of land, to wit:

Transfer Certifi cate of Title 175139-RLot 2-A of the subd. plan Psd-03-004386, being a portion of Lot

2, (LRC) Pcs-6121, L.R.C. Rec. No. ), situated in the Barrio of San Antonio, Municipality of Mexico, Province of Pampanga;

Transfer Certifi cate of Title 56662-RLot 1 of the consolidation subdivision plan (LRC) Pcs-6121,

being a portion of the consolidation of Lots 1437-A, 1437-B and 1431-C, described on plan Psd-20807, LRC Rec. No. ), situated in the Barrio of San Antonio, Municipality of Mexico, Province of Pampanga;

before Notary Public Gener C. Endona as per Doc No. 405, Page No. 82, Book No. 55, Series of 2016.

Punto! Central Luzon: January 12, 19 & 26, 2017

NOTICE OF EXTRAJUDICIAL SETTLEMENTNotice is hereby given that the heirs of JUANITO C. PANLAQUI a.k.a.

JOHNNY PANLAQUI who died intestate on July 13, 2009 in San Vicente, Tarlac City executed an Affi davit of Extrajudicial Settlement with Deed of Sale of his estate, more particularly described as a parcel of land (Lot 5, Blk. 13 of the subd. plan (LRC) Psd-176795 being a portion of Lot 1, (LRC) Pcs-15135 LRC Rec. No. 132), situated in the Bo. of Dau, Mun. of Mabalacat, Prov. of Pamp. and covered by Transfer Certifi cate of Title No. 279401-R, before Notary Public Jerry C. Perico as per Doc No. 1721, Page No. 15, Book No. XXXVIII, Series of 2011.

Punto! Central Luzon: January 12, 19 & 26, 2017

that about 70 percent of the country’s marble exports are from Bula-can where 32 out of 60 known marble varieties are found.

Bartolome also cit-

Bulacan top earner among provincesed earnings from min-ing “marble limestone and another metallic limestone that serve as raw materials for the manufacture of cement, toothpaste, paint, fer-tilizer, soap and other products.”

“Bulacan’s iron ore is also of high quality as it is 62 to 75 percent iron. This is higher than the international standard of only 67 percent,” she noted.

Bartolome also said that the mining indus-

try growth was also coupled with progress in the cooperative sec-tor which, in 2015, had invested capital worth P9.18 billion.

She said Bulacan has been hosting over 30,000 micro, small and

and meaning. For ex-ample, the root word of Pampanga is pampang, whose root syllable is pang, which is Mandarin for ‘beside something,’” he noted.

First book on pre-historic roots...F��� ���! 1 Tantingco said read-

ers would be “surprised how interrelated lan-guages are all over the world, due to east-west, north-south and back-again waves of migra-tion.”

“For example, I

thought ‘catre’ which is Kapampangan for ‘bed’ came from Spanish. As it turned out, Spanish had borrowed it from San-skrit. So now I know ca-tre is Sanskrit but I don’t know if catre reached Kapampangan direct-

ly from Sanskrit or it if passed through Spanish before reaching Kapam-pangan,” he added.

The book is available at HAU and could soon be obtained in major bookstores in the coun-try, Tantingco also said.

The intended victim was Angeles City Coun-cilor Jesus “Jay” Sangil who got the surprise of his life because he had never interacted with Apu Ceto especially in a request for fi nancial as-sistance.

The messages were sent via Facebook mes-senger from the account: “Abp Paciano Aniceto (Apu Ceto).” They were in mixed halting and even faulty Kapampan-gan and English.

“Jay, mayap a ya-bak. Im a caling Max peru he is not answer-ing. Atin kung makisa-bi kung mayap. Malyari ya bang makapagsolic-it? Atyu ku keng Cebu ngeni mig attend Con-ference of Asian Emeri-tus Bishops. I am bring-ing Bishop Okado of To-kyo and Archbp. Ikenaga of Osaka there in Sn.F-do.. (Jay good morning. I’m calling Max but he is not answering. I am ap-

Solicitation scam using Apu CetoF��� ���! 1 pealing if he can make a

solicitation. I am in Cebu right now attending the Conference of Emeritus Bishops…)

We are raising for some amount for their fare ining huwebes (Thursday) Kung ma-lyari ya, (If he is able) please send your dona-tion c/o Sr. Alfi e H. Cru-sis Dominican House of Prayer, Lahug, Cebu City thru any money cou-rier pls E mu kakaling-wan (Please don’t forget) text me the details such as sender, tracking num-ber and amount at my number 09261519370. dakal a salamat. Pana-langin daka (Thank you very much. I’m praying for you).”

Sangil said he got this message at 9:26 a.m. on January 10 from the alleged Messenger account of Apu Ceto.

Sangil said he did not reply and received a second message shortly after at 10:10 a.m. from “Apu Ceto” but this time

directly requesting him for fi nancial assistance instead of Max (Sangil), his uncle who is a former city councilor.

“Mayap a abak Jay (Good morning Jay). Sorry to disturb this early. An kung makisa-bi kung mayap Malyari ya bang makapagsolic-it (I am asking you kind-ly, can I make a solicita-tion)? Atyu ku keng Cebu ngeni mig attend (I am in Cebu right now attend-ing) Conference of Asian Emeritus Bishops.

“I am bringing Bish-op Okado of Tokyo and Archbp. Ikenaga of Osa-ka there in Sn.Fdo..We are raising for some amount for their fare ining Domingo (this Sunday). Kung malyari ya (If he is able), please send your donation c/o Sr. Alfi e H. Crusis Dominican House of Prayer, Lahug, Cebu City thru any money cou-rier pls E mu kakaling-wan (Please don’t forget) text me the details such as sender, tracking num-

ber and amount at my number 09261519370. dakal a salamat. Pana-langin daka (Thank you very much. I’m praying for you).”

Sangil said he tried to call the cellphone number in the message where a certain Alfi e, who was a Kapampan-gan, answered.

Sangil said Alfi e told him in Kapampangan that he was from the seminary. Sangil asked him if he could talk to Apu Ceto but the con-nection was choppy so Alfi e decided to just text him.

At 10:41 a.m. this was Alfi e’s message: “Secre-tary pu ini ng Apo Ceto. Ika pu minaus keng sem-inary (This is Apu Ceto’s secretary. Did you call the seminary)?”

Sangil replied: “Opu pde ke pu akasabi apu ceto (Yes can I talk to Apu Ceto)?”

This is the reply: “Fr. John Paul Cabrera po ini. Atyu ya pung audito-

rium ngeni for a talk (This is Fr. John Paul Cabrera. He is in the auditorium now giving a talk). Do you want to leave any message pu?”

Sangil said he also got a text message from his other cellphone which he used in calling the number 09465961126 earlier.

“Minaus ku pung apo ceto (Did you call Apu Ceto) if he was really the one who messaged?.. he confi rmed it pu, regard-ing ya pu kanung for the fare ng mga mimisitang (of the visiting) bishops keni (here in) sn fdo… nino pu ulit ini (Who is this again)? Can’t hear you clear pu.” This was at 10:47 a.m. and resent text at 10:52 a.m.

But Sangil said he did not reply. Then at 2:45 p.m. Alfi e texted again: “gud pm pu ika pu ba ka-nung apadalang 10thou-sand keng mlhulier re-garding pung pakisabi ng apu ceto (Good af-ternoon were you the one who sent P10,000 to MLhuillier)? Salamat pu (Thank you).”

Sangil said he did not reply anymore and sought this newspaper’s help on Tuesday night.

But the following day January 11, the Fb mes-senger Abp Paciano An-iceto sent a photo of Apu Ceto’s letter com-plete with his signature with the offi cial heading

of The Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Arch-diocese of San Fernan-do formalizing the fi nan-cial request and men-tioning the Rural Bank of Cebu South, Inc. with bank account name Fed-eration of Catholic Asian Emeritus Bishops and bank account number 0363-4512-3654 as de-pository bank for the do-nation and money cou-riers: “Western Union , LBC, MLhuhilier etc. un-der the name of Sr. Alfi e H. Crusis (Chairman Fi-nance Committee).”

The letter also said a “second collection will be done in all Masses throughout the Archdio-cese starting today un-til Friday, January 13, 2017.”

DenialSister Lourdes “Lou”

Pamintuan, Apu Ceto’s only secretary at his of-fi ce at the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary, on Thursday said the archbishop was never in Cebu recently and nev-er left the seminary be-cause he was down with fl u since last week.

“We are not receiving visitors now because Apu Ceto is sick,” she said.

Sister Lou said she does not know any Fr. John Paul Cabrera or Sr. Alfi e H. Crusis. She also said they never asked for any donation or solicita-tion.

health. We are giving our partners, the PPC mem-bers and their depen-dents, the gift of good

TMC Clark, Pampanga media group...F��� ���! 10 health to help them make

2017 a more productive year,” said Yumul.

The community or as-sociation accreditation program is open to all,

not only to media groups. For inquiries, call

TMC Clark Customer Service hotline at 045-300-8888 local 80008 or 0916-4488046. Just

state the community or association you are con-nected with and a TMC Clark representative will visit you.

–Press Release

edged the assistance of economic managers and lawmakers who showed concern for SSS pen-sioners and members.

“This shows that the President truly cares for our elderly who have been waiting for the out-come of the proposed P2,000 increase. At the same time, his decision to implement the pen-sion increase with a cor-responding contribution hike and increasing the MSC limits supports the continuing reforms in SSS to consider the wel-fare of the greater popu-lation of over 30 million members, who look for-ward to their own SSS pensions at the time of their retirement.”

Duterte OKs SSS P2k pension hikeF��� ���! 10 Once implemented,

the combination of addi-tional contributions and increasing the MSC ceil-ing would put the SSS lifespan at 2040 as of 2017.

Dean Valdez con-curred with the Chief Executive’s pronounce-ment that the taxpay-er’s money should not be used to fund the SSS pension hike. “He is be-ing responsible when he said the government should not subsidize the pension hike because SSS is a private pen-sion fund by nature and it is unfair for taxpayers to shoulder increases in SSS benefi ts.”

To help fund the pro-posed pension hike, Dean Valdez said SSS will also intensify its col-

lection eff orts and im-prove its collection ef-fi ciency by going after non-complying employ-ers.

Another strategy to improve revenues is in the area of investments. Dean Valdez reiterat-ed SSS plans to diver-sify assets by direct-ly investing in up to 25 percent ownership in a wide range of industries, including infrastructure projects like toll roads, real estate and even lot-to operations.

On the issue of op-erating expenses, Dean Valdez said that SSS has cut down its operat-ing expenses in its 2017 budget by P1 billion as it seeks measures to im-prove its performance and address the existing

structural imbalance in funding.

Dean Valdez also re-sponded to issue of sal-aries and bonuses of SSS offi cials which have been the subject of criti-cisms in debates around the pension hike issue. He clarifi ed that the com-pensation and perfor-mance-based bonus of SSS have been capped not only for SSS but across all GOCCs with the enactment of the GOCC Governance Act and Executive Order 24 in 2011.

“We will make sure that compensation is performance-based. If all the targets we have set have been accom-plished, then I think it is just fair to give incen-tives for good perfor-

medium business enter-prises, the highest num-ber in Central Luzon..

Bartolome also re-ported that the Bulacan provincial government earned much from tax-es paid by some 2,000 jewelry establishments

in Meycauayan, 500 fi reworks factories, and 200 furniture makers whose products were exported to Europe, Middle East, South Ko-rea, Taiwan, Mexico and the US.

–Ding Cervantes

mance. This is, after all, is a practice in all gov-ernment offi ces and pri-vate corporations,” said Dean Valdez.

“There are a lot of in-

terventions that we are already doing to raise more funds for the SSS pension fund,” said Dean Valdez.

–Press release

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SpotlightRey Pineda

SM Shopping Spree winners welcome new year with a smile

A TOTAL of 57 lucky winners of the #SMShoppingSpree promotion welcome New Year with a big smile!

A big surprise came to Josefi na Sura from Pasig City (winner of The SM Store Megamall), Ma. Carmela Dela Cruz from Paranaque (winner of The SM Store MOA) and Melody Samudio from Lucena Quezon (winner of The SM Store Aura) as well as to Felipa Banda Sanlao from Baguio, Maria Lourdes Fe L. Mallari from San Fernando Pampanga (SM City San Fernando Downtown), Yvonne Allones from Bacolod, Orson Sargado from Davao, Rosalla Andal from Naga and to the other Shopping Spree winners as they were notifi ed by The SM Store representatives to be one of the lucky winners of The SM Store’s Shop Your Way to a Php 100,000.00 Shopping Spree with MasterCard promotion.

A joint project between The SM Store and Mastercard, every P3,000 single-receipt purchase using a Philippine-issued MasterCard at The SM Store entitled a cardholder to

one electronic raffl e entry that gave them a chance to win P100,000 shopping spree at any SM Retail Store! We are now here at SM City San Fernando Pampanga with our lucky winner, Maria Lourdes Fe Mallari,

who in a few minutes will enjoy a great shopping spree in the mall. What a great way to start the New Year!The #SMSHOPPINGSPREE promotion is one of the many exciting promotions of the SM Store. Watch out

for The SM Store’s more exciting promos for shoppers in 2017.q q q

ACTRESS Arci Munoz topbilled the latest fl ick of Star Cinemea’s “Extra Service”.Some netizens was asking the question why was she topbilled over Jessy Mendiola and Coleen Garcia?For this reason, Arci was asked to comment on this matter during the

January 6 bloggers’ conference for Extra Service.Arci answered in jest, “Ano ba yung billing, yun ba yung bayad

sa amin? Sinabi noong taga-Star Cinema, ‘Hindi, yun yung sa names kung sino mauuna.’’

The actress then turned serious as she answered, “Sabi ko, ‘Does it really matter? For me, it doesn’t.’

“We all gave our best here in the movie. Pantay-pantay kami. Lahat kami binigay yung part namin sa movie na ito.

“So I’m just really thankful pero for me it doesn’t matter kung ano man yun. I’m glad kung ano mang meron ako.”

She then quipped, “Mahalagang bagay ba talaga yun, yung ‘and?’

“May pentel pen ba kayo diyan? Para pantay pantay na lang! Binura! Ayokong bigyan kasi ng ibig sabihin talaga yun, e!”

In the movie, however, Arci’s character Aw takes the lead when it comes to their missions as masseurs who become spies at night.

She says about her character, “Tatlo kaming girls. Ako si Aw, ang aking codename, Kapitana.

“Siya ay very strong yung personality niya, independent woman and parang siya yung leader ng tatlong babae, para siyang ate.

“Mga dati kaming magnanakaw, e. Tapos nagbagong buhay, parang tinanggap kami ni Miss Tessie Tomas sa spa niya tapos naging masahista kami.

“Sa umaga mga masahista kami and then at night, mga spies pala kami so yun yung extra sa service.”

Since Arci played a spy in Extra Service, the role required her to do action stunts in the movie.

The 27-year-old actress proudly revealed that she did her own stunts in this fi lm directed by Chris Martinez.

She admitted, “Ako kasi, as much as possible, ayoko magpadouble. Gusto ko maexperience. Kung kaya ko naman di ba, gagawin ko.”

One of her favorite action stunts was when she had to do splits and show her fl exibility by bending.

She continued with a laugh, “Favorite ko sa ginawa ko, yung pumasok kami sa isang building tapos may mga laser lights so kailangan ko magbending, magsplit.

“On the spot namin ni-rehearse. At saka may mga kalaban kami na mga guards, kahit na medyo tinatanong ko, ‘Ano ‘to, stuntman ba talaga ‘to? Masasapak ko talaga siya!’

“Kasi minsan, sinuntok ko, pag sinuntok kong pag ganon, yung jerk ng ulo niya, kabila, mali! Lahat ng action scenes namin very exciting, it’s something new for me.”

Winner of P100,000 worth of purchase Ma. Lourdes Fe L. Mallari with husband and kids, Asst Branch Manager The SM Store SMSF Downtown Ma. Rita Pereyra, VPO For Operations The SM Store Ms Luisa T. Suniga

Arci Muñoz

SM CITY CLARK employees through SM Cares brought joy to at least 100 children at the Re-search Study Center for Children under DSWD in Lubao Pampanga last December 29, 2016. The project dubbed as “Bears of Joy” of SM Cares, the corporate social responsibility arm of SM Su-permalls which allows SM shoppers to purchase a pair of plush bears, one of which they keep and the other to give for donation to the less privileged children in the community.

The SM Bears of Joy will continue to give smiles to kids who seldom receive gifts during the Christmas season. Through this endeavor we’ve reached thousands of less fortunate kids nation-wide. –SMCC

Lubao kids get Bears of Joy

MABALACAT CITY -- A resident of Barangay Sa-pang Biabas here has topped the Agriculturist Li-censure Examinations (ALE) with an 85.83 per-cent passing rate.

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) said that Arriz Lansangan Cabigting, 21, topped some 1,790 ALE passers out of 5,795 ex-aminees.

With Cabigting on the fi rst place is Roselle Es-tera Madayag of University of the Philippines – Los Baños.

Cabigting, a former student leader, holds a de-gree in Agriculture Major in Animal Science and graduated with Latin honor as Cum Laude at Pampanga State Agricultural University (PSAU) in Magalang, Pampanga.

“Ang unang reason ko sa pagkuha ng agricul-ture as my profession ay dahil in demand ito here and abroad. However after I graduated and land-ed on my fi rst job as a researcher and extension worker sa Regional Field Offi ce ng Department of Agriculture ay nakita ko po na kailangan ng mga Filipino farmers ang tulong at gabay ng mga ag-riculturists upang mapaunlad ang kanilang antas ng pamumuhay,” he said.

Currently, Cabigting is working on an agricul-tural project with the Offi ce of the City Agriculturist headed by Lourdes Balatibat.

“Collaborative project po sya ng Internation-al Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippine Rice Research Institute at ng DA. Varietal trial (rice) po sya ng mga bagong approved na varieties sa Pili-pinas. Sinusubukan at pinagaaralan po namin sila sa mga iba’t ibang environments and ecosystem para malaman kung ano ang angkop na variety ang maaaring itanim sa isang lugar,” Cabigting added. –Press release

Mabalaqueño tops agriculturist licensure exams

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B� D��� C��!"�#�$

CLARK FREEPORT – The hybrid electric road train (ERT) project of the Department of Science and Technol-ogy (DOST), which was launched in 2015 as a possible solution to traf-fi c woes in Metro Manila, is ready to serve as alternative transport in the metropolis.

Engineer Rommel Dizon, member of the DOST staff for the ERT project, told Punto! that the ERT has passed the prescribed period for testing and demonstration since it was launched

DOST bus-trains pass tests, ready for Metro Manilain 2015.

He said two versions of the ERT, namely the “heavy version” for a max-imum of 240 passengers in Cebu and the “light version” for 160 passengers in this freeport, were found to have performed effi ciently and safely. The heavy version is 40 meters long.

Dizon explained that the fi re in one of the coaches of the ERT in Clark on Jan. 14 last year was found to have been caused by loose terminals in two of the seven batteries.

“Optimizations” have already been done to perfect the ERT, he added. He

said the DOST already met recently with bus operators whom it has en-couraged to invest in the ERT as alter-native public transport. “We are also engaged in talks with the M. Rail fi rm which has expressed interest in the project,” he said.

The ERT in this freeport has been serving students at the branch of the University of the Philippines here, transporting them from Clark’s main gate in Angeles City to their campus in the morning, and from the campus to the main gate in the afternoon, free of charge as part of the testing re-

quirement for the new vehicle. Dizon said the heavy ERT cost P45 million, including cost of conceptualization phase, while the light version cost P32 million.

He explained, however, that the ERT would need exclusive lanes in Metro Manila, with exclusive designat-ed points where it would board and alight passengers so as to lessen and not worsen the traffi c problem in Metro Manila. He noted this is being done in China, France and

Australia where similar bus-trains are also being used.

PARK INN by Radisson Clark hosts PBA players from NLEX Road Warriors and Tropang TNT last weekend

for a charity exhibition game dubbed Thrilla at the Arena at Angeles University Foun-dation.

Members from the ho-tel leadership team Nelson Lapuz, executive housekeep-er, Diane Figuerres, reserva-

tions and revenue manager, and Michelle Cortez, sales manager, welcomed the play-ers, coaches and other team

staff , who will be battling it out at the hard court for the benefi t of AUF scholars.

–Press release

Park Inn Clark hosts NLEX warriors, Tropang TNT for AUF Thrilla

CITY OF SAN FERNAN-DO ~ The Provincial Cap-itol through the Provincial Government Environmen-tal and Natural Resourc-es (PG~ENRO) distributed recently three brand new Honda motor vehicle units to Philippine Army.

According to PG~EN-RO Chief Art Punzalan the

Philippine Army gets brand new motorcycles from Capitol

vehicles will be utilized in monitoring the community as part of the Anti~Crime and Ilegal drugs.

Punzalan also mentioned that the motor vehicles will also aid in the proper waste transport and management.

2nd Lieutenant Robert G. Apellado Jr and Police First Class Keempee C. Cruz re-

ceived the motor vehicles in behalf of the 703 Bri-gade Philippine Army.

The Philippine Army stand by their commitment in helping the local police in combatting crimes and illegal drugs in the prov-ince.

– Ma. Reina Len Luna/Pampanga PIO

PG-ENRO chief Arthur Punzalan hands the certifi cate of award to 2nd Lieutenant Robert G. Apellado Jr during the turn over of the motorcycles. Also in photo are SWM Offi cer Jason Sambat and PFC Keempee C. Cruz.

P!"#" )"-+#/*% "3 R%(& M()(#-&", P(41 PIO

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OLONGAPO CITY--- Two drug pushers were arrested by op-eratives of Police Station 6 of the Olongapo City Police Offi ce (OCPO) during drug operation in Barangay Barretto in this City.

Senior Inspector Walter Primero, Police Station 6 chief, iden-tifi ed the suspects as Angelita Tagle y Citom, 37, resident of An-ingway-Sacatihan, Subic, Zambales and Orlando Barrantes y Yano, 42, resident of Upper Gabaya, Barangay Barretto, Olon-gapo City.

The suspects were nabbed selling shabu worth P200 to a police poseur-buyer.

Police recovered from their possession three sachets of sha-bu and the marked money. The suspects are now facing charges for violation of Section 5 and 11, Article all of RA 9165 before the City Prosecutor Offi ce.

2 nabbed for drugs

MABALACAT CITY – A drug pusher masquerading as a police-man yielded shabu and a pistol after he was nabbed by real cops in Barangay Dau here recently.

Supt. Juritz B. Rara, city police chief, identifi ed the suspect as Frederic Bacani alias “Bacani,” 40, of 3202 Villa Paz, Sta. Teresita, Angeles City.

Rara said he got a tip that a certain Bacani was posing as a police offi cer and selling illegal drugs in the business district of Dau.

Rara said he immediately formed a crack police team led by Sr. Insp. Melvin Florida Jr. to check on the illegal activities of the suspect.

Shortly after, the crack police team nabbed Bacani in a buy bust operation. The suspect was wearing a police uniform when arrested and was in possession of sachets containing shabu worth P10,000 and a .45 pistol with fi ve bullets.

The shabu sachets were taken to the Angeles City Crime Laboratory Offi ce for examination. – Ashley Manabat

Pusher posing as cop yields shabu, gun

PUNTO! CENTRAL LUZON • JANUARY 12 - 14, 2017 • THURSDAY - SATURDAY

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CLARK FREEPORT -- The Medical City Clark and the Pampanga Press Club (PPC) signed a memorandum of un-derstanding (MOU) Wednes-day to formally recognize the special affi liation of the mem-bers of PPC and their depen-dents with the health institu-tion.

The MOU off ers benefi ts to the PPC members which in-clude discounts on inpatient and outpatient services and coordination and facilitation of appointments with doctors and specialty centers.

Through this special affi li-ation, TMC Clark also aims to establish and sustain a stron-ger partnership with PPC members with the conduct of health promotion activities like Wellness events, mobile Blood Donation activities, preventive health checks, and other fu-ture programs.

“This is our way of welcom-ing the PPC as part of TMC Clark family,” says Dr. Cenon R. Alfonso, president and CEO of TMC Clark during the sign-ing ceremonies at the 2nd Floor Confrence Room of the freeport’s premier medical fa-cility.

“The main purpose of this affi liation is to let the PPC members and their de-pendents experience quali-ty healthcare without leaving the province. This is because TMC Clark, a world-class ter-tiary hospital, is capable of delivering the highest quality of patient care to cater to the medical needs of the commu-nity in the fastest and most convenient way,” adds Ms. Ev-elyn L. Yumul, sales and mar-keting director of TMC Clark.

It is also TMC Clark’s New Year’s gift to PPC members in appreciation of their support to the institution and expertise in delivering prompt, reliable, and balanced news.

“The best way to start the year is to take charge of our

TOWARD COMMUNITY WELLNESS

TMC Clark, Pampanga media group sign MOUPARTNERS.

Dr. Cenon R. Alfonso,

president-CEO of TMC Clark,

exchanges copies of

memorandum of

understanding with Deng

Pangilinan, PPC president with Evelyn L.

Yumul, TMC Clark sales

and marketing director, and Noel Tulabut,

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THE Social Security Sys-tem (SSS) has declared its support for Presi-dent Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to approve an across-the-board pen-sion increase of P2,000 that would benefi t the agency’s over two million pensioners, with the ini-tial P1,000 increase ef-fective this month and another P1,000 in 2022 or earlier.

However, the Chief Executive instructed the SSS to incorporate the proposal of the economic managers to ensure the sustainability of the pen-sion fund by implement-ing an additional 1.5% contribution rate and lift-ing the maximum month-

Duterte OKs SSS P2k pension hikeBacks continuing reforms for fund sustainability

ly salary credit (MSC) to P20,000 from the current P16,000 by May 2017.

Duterte said that “SSS should be seen as long-term savings and not an expense,” add-ing that actively-paying members enjoy six types of benefi ts and loan priv-ileges.

The President add-ed that legal enforce-ment of the SS Law will be strengthened through issuance of Executive Orders to ensure social protection of workers.

SS Chair Dean Ama-do Valdez thanked the President on his deci-sion to grant the pension hike. He also acknowl-

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