2 firms shut down

CAGAYAN VALLEY, Philippines ?The Bureau of Internal Revenue shut down two business establishments in Cagayan Valley in its renewed drive against tax evaders.

Thelma Milabao, regional internal revenue director, said the Ecstacy Drive-in Hotel in Barangay Tagaran here and the Quirino Prime Hardware in Cabarroguis, Quirino, were ordered closed for under declaring their taxable income.

Milabao said the two establishments owed the government P10 million accumulated in the past five years. She said the BIR national office issued the closure order on Aug. 17 after investigations showed that the firms under declared their taxable sales and receipts by at least 30 percent.

Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon

6 suspected thieves slain

LAGUNA, Philippines ?Six persons suspected to be members of a robbery and holdup group were killed in an encounter with policemen in Biñan City on Wednesday.

Laguna police director Senior Supt. Gilbert Cruz said the suspects, on board a tricycle, were slain in a gun fight with patrolling police at around 8:30 p.m. at the Irene Ville Subdivision in Barangay San Francisco.

Police Officer 1 Webster Ortiz of the Biñan police also suffered bullet wounds in his right leg and left shoulder, and was recuperating at the University of Perpetual Help System Hospital.

PO1 Anthony Linsasaginat, case investigator, said the suspects held up a man in Barangay San Antonio earlier that evening. Maricar P. Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon

Ninoy honored in Biñan

Binan City in Laguna pays tribute to the martyrdom of Benigno ?Ninoy? Aquino Jr. by displaying the former senator?s portrait at the city government?s session hall throughout August.

Through a resolution passed by the city council, the city government every August hangs the 2 x 3 feet framed tarpaulin photo of Aquino ?to remind (everyone) and commemorate the heroism and sacrifices of Ninoy,? said Biñan Councilor Gat Alatiit, who authored the resolution filed in 2008.

Aquino, father of President Aquino, and a known hard-hitting critic of Martial Law, was assassinated at the tarmac of the Manila International Airport on Aug. 21, 1983.
Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon