Police seize 1,596 loose guns in Masbate
By Jonas Soltes, Mar Arguelles
The government crime drive went full throttle in Masbate as the campaign for local positions began in the province notorious for election violence.
The government crime drive went full throttle in Masbate as the campaign for local positions began in the province notorious for election violence.
After spending Sunday in Masbate, President Aquino stayed overnight to oversee the resumption of the search-and-rescue operation for Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo and two pilots starting 5 a.m. Monday.
President Benigno Aquino on Sunday took the lead in the search for Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, a day after a light plane carrying the local government chief and three others crashed in waters off Masbate.
The light plane wobbled for several minutes before it dropped into the sea. It then stayed in the water’s surface for about 10 minutes before it completely sank.
Helicopters and divers were searching Sunday for one of the most powerful Philippine Cabinet officials, who was missing after a light aircraft he was travelling in crashed into the sea.
A pillow used by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo was dropped at the site where his plane went down in the hope that it will help in finding him.
Interior and Local Government Secretary was able to call his wife, Leni, before the small aircraft carrying him and three others crashed in Masbate Bay.
Two children, a suspected rebel leader and a man were killed while a girl was wounded inside a house on Saturday afternoon in Barangay (village) Malaya in Labo town, Camarines Norte, during an encounter between suspected communist rebels and soldiers, a Philippine Army official said on Sunday.
The regional police said it has started investigating a complaint filed by a 21-year-old woman against seven Army soldiers, whom she had accused of gang-raping her inside the camp of the 9th Infantry Battalion in Aroroy town in Masbate last week.
At least three towns were isolated from the rest of the provincial center by a landslide triggered by rains brought on by typhoon Pedring (international name: Nesat).
Elements of the Philippine Coast Guard in Bicol are still scouring the portion of the Sibuyan Sea off Masbate province to search for 19 persons who went missing at sea when the fishing boat they were riding capsized early on Tuesday.
CAMARINES NORTE, Bicol – THERE IS no doubt that Camarines Norte province is poor. Why this is so is a sore point to local officials who lament that the province—the other half of the affluent Camarines Sur—has been cut off from its wealthy neighbors, literally placing it so near yet so far to progress. The [...]
The Philippine Coast Guard has suspended civilian maritime operations in various ports in the Bicol region, stranding at least 603 passengers as tropical depression “Ëgay” entered the country’s area of responsibility.
