Pope names new Kidapawan bishop

COTABATO CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop Romulo T. Dela Cruz as head of the Diocese of Kidapawan, which covers North Cotabato, part of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat.

Dela Cruz, currently the bishop of Antique, will succeed Bishop Romulo Valles, who has been reassigned to the Archdiocese of Zamboanga in January last year. Edwin O. Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao

Plan for PNP, AFP training camp pushed

DIGOS CITY -- Digos City Mayor Arsenio Latasa has announced that the establishment of a police and military training camp on a 100-hectare site in Sitio Sabwag, Barangay Kapatagan, will push through despite threats from the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

The NPA warned village officials that they would face a “punishment” similar to that imposed on Paterno Intes, a sub-village leader of Kapatagan. Intes was killed on May 6, a day after he signed a memorandum of agreement allowing the setting up of the training camp. Orlando B. Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao

NPA says it got 10 firearms during raid

KIDAPAWAN CITY --A leader of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) announced that the rebels took 10 firearms from the security headquarters of a banana firm in Calinan, Davao City, in a raid on May 12.

Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesperson of the NPA’s Merardo Arce Command, said his group had seized 36 firearms since it renewed offensives in Southern Mindanao in April. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao

60 tons of mineral coal seized by cops

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Police seized about 60 tons of mineral coal from Zamboanga Sibugay while being transported to Zamboanga City on May 14.

Supt. Ludimer Detran, commander of the Police Regional Mobile Group in Western Mindanao, said the two truckloads of coal were suspected to have been illegally extracted.

Senior Insp. Hado Edding, Ayala police chief, said charges had been filed against owners of the shipment. Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao

3 ex-cops get life terms for murder

DAGUPAN CITY -- A former police superintendent and two former policemen were sentenced to life imprisonment on May 14 by a regional trial court in San Carlos City in Pangasinan for robbing and killing a bank manager and a security guard seven years ago.

Judge Anthony Sison of the RTC Branch 57 found former Supt. Artemio Lamsen, PO2 Anthony Abulencia and SPO1 Wilfredo Ramos guilty of robbery with double homicide and attempted homicide.

The case stemmed from the slaying on Feb. 19, 2001, of Equitable Bank manager Fernando Sy and Arturo Mariado in Barangay Coliling in San Carlos. Witnesses identified Lamsen, then Malasiqui police chief, and the two other officers who were with the Traffic Management Group, as those who shot Sy and Mariado. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon