PMS defends exec

MALACAÑANG

MANILA, Philippines--The chief of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) stood by a Palace official castigated by a governor for refusing to accept a check donation for victims of Tropical Storm “Ondoy.”

Hermogenes Esperon, former Armed Forces Chief and now PMS head, said the PMS official, who has not been identified, was correct in refusing the check from Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado.

The payee in the check was listed as an office in the PMS. Esperon said all check donations should be payable to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“The DSWD is the agency that receives donations for that purpose,” said Esperon.

“If you donate it to PMS, it will enter our books. Withdrawing it is not as easy as transferring it from my pocket to your pocket. It will take long,” he said. TJ Burgonio

Another NPA camp

LEGAZPI CITY

CATANDUANES, Philippines--The Philippine Army said Friday it found another rebel camp in Catanduanes, which Army officers said was being used to train rebel recruits.

A team of soldiers, led by 1Lt Edmar Gambot, discovered the camp in Barangay Maysuram, Caramoran in Catanduanes on Thursday, according to Army officials.

Capt. Razaleigh G. Bansawan, spokesperson of the 901st Infantry Brigade, said the camp yielded eight huts, a toilet and two water supply systems.
Bansawan said soldiers also found bloodstains near one of the huts, indicating an injured rebel was brought there following a clash with soldiers last Sept. 23.

Bansawan said a resident tipped off the camp’s presence in the village. It was the third NPA camp found by soldiers since the middle of the year, said the Army official. Rey M. Nasol, Inquirer Southern Luzon

2nd CamSur university

NAGA CITY

CAMARINES SUR, Philippines_--Camarines Sur now has two state universities after President Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act No. 9717 on Oct. 12.
The new law converts the Camarines Sur State Agricultural College (CSSAC) in Pili town into the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA).

The law was sponsored by Rep. Luis Villafuerte Sr. and other legislators.
Its Senate version was supported by Sen. Francis Escudero, who is from Bicol, and Senators Mar Roxas and Edgardo Angara.

The new law said Congress could strip the school of its university status if it failed to comply with requirements to keep it, among them requiring Commission on Higher Education approval for any degree program.

Escudero said modernizing the agricultural sector in Bicol was key to the region’s progress.

CBSUA started as an elementary school for boys during the American occupation.

The other state university in Camarines Sur is the Partido State University in Goa town, which was incorporated in 2001 through RA 9029.
Jonas Cabiles Soltes, Inquirer Southern Luzon

Napocor vows help

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines--The National Power Corp. has promised to cooperate with Western Visayas congressmen in a campaign to lower electricity rates in the region.

Froilan Tampinco, Napocor president, said in a letter to Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson (Negros Occidental, 3rd district) that the state-owned power generating firm would help bring down electricity costs through various means.

The Church is at the forefront of opposition to a petition filed at the Energy Regulatory Commission that seeks to recover the P471 billion that would lead to an increase of at least 30 centavos per kilowatt hour in electricity costs in Western Visayas. Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas