News Briefs: Sept. 15, 2018

Calabarzon cops’ drug haul: P7.8M

Police in Calabarzon region recovered more than a kilogram of “shabu” (crystal meth), in two weeks of operations in Batangas province and Metro Manila.

Chief Supt. Edward Carranza, police director in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon, said the total haul was worth about P7.8 million, recovered in a series of buy-busts that resulted in the arrest of five people.

In a statement on Friday, Carranza said the operations followed the arrest of Norhaya Mamantal, an alleged drug courier, who was arrested on Aug. 29.

Mamantal was caught carrying 150 grams of shabu worth P1 million in Batangas City. —Maricar Cinco

Name correction sought for ‘Hukbong ng Pagbabago’

The political party of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte may have been too excited to take part in next year’s midterm elections that it got its name wrong when it filed in July its accreditation with the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

In the Comelec’s Minute Resolution No. 18-0726, Duterte’s Davao-based regional party was ordered to file by Sept. 28 its updated information after the poll body found that it “inadvertently” misidentified itself.

Instead of Hugpong ng Pagbabago, what was filed with the Comelec was Hukbong ng Pagbabago. —Jovic Yee

De Lima lauds Church campaign vs corruption

Detained Sen. Leila de Lima on Friday lauded the information campaign of several Catholic schools in Metro Manila aimed at boosting the awareness of schoolchildren on corruption.

In a statement, De Lima cited Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (Ceap) for its “Huwag Kang Magnakaw” campaign in Catholic schools.

The initiative aims to teach schoolchildren how to fight corruption even at a young age.

“With corruption running rampant under the Duterte administration, I salute these Catholic schools,” she said.

Ceap’s National Capital Region advocacy committee, led by Fr. Atilano Fajardo, launched the information campaign this month.

Fajardo had said the information drive would also allow Catholic schools to contribute to advancing change in the Philippines. —Julie M. Aurelio

Pimentel: Sotto will have to produce poll witness

Senate President Vicente Sotto III would have to present his witness from Smartmatic on alleged high-tech fraud during the 2016 elections at the next hearing of the joint congressional oversight committee on the automated elections system. committee cochair Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, who was ousted by Sotto as Senate President, said Sotto would have to produce the witness so that the panel would not have to debate endlessly on Sotto’s claim about the existence of a “queue” server. Sotto had refused to accept the denial of the Commission on Elections about the existence of the queuing servers. —LEILA B. SALAVERRIA