NEWSBRIEFS

There would be direct flights from the Incheon International Airport in Seoul, Korea, to the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City and vice versa in January and February next year, Silay Mayor Jose Montelibano said Monday.

Montelibano said he hoped the flights from Korea will be a boost to tourism in the province and lead to the opening of direct flights from China and the rest of Asia to Negros Occidental.

Timothy Jones Cabrero, Zest Air Bacolod station manager, said there would be additional flights of Zest Air Phils. effective Jan. 3 to Feb. 22, 2012, including flights from Bacolod to Incheon and vice versa.

At the Bacolod Silay Airport, chartered flights from Korea and back will be available every Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, according to airport manager Jun Madamba. Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas

LUCENA CITY

Holiday truce urged

A tribal leader in Sierra Madre appealed to the military and communist rebels to cease hostilities for the holidays following a military statement expressing willingness to halt offensives against the rebels during this period.

Ramcy Astoveza, executive director of the Tribal Center for Development Foundation Inc. based in Infanta town, said in a phone interview Monday that the New People’s Army, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, should reciprocate the military gesture. Delfin Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon