BCDA: SEA Games venue to be ready as scheduled
Amid concerns that the New Clark City (NCC) in Bamban, Tarlac may not be completed in time for the upcoming 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) announced that the venue would be completed by Oct. 15. BCDA chair Vince Dizon said the project was already near completion and would be inaugurated on Nov. 6, three weeks ahead of the games set to begin on Nov. 30. Dizon said construction would be completed by Aug. 30 while the remaining one and a half month will be used to prepare the sports complex for the games. NCC, a 9,450-hectare former military base located at the Tarlac part of the Clark Freeport Zone, is a P607-billion township project touted as the country’s first smart and climate-change resilient city. Included in the development is the sports complex to be used in the games: a 20,000-seater Athletic Stadium, an Aquatic Center and Athletes’ Village where the contestants will stay, Dizon said. The Clark economic zone is one of the venues of the games, along with Metro Manila, Subic, Batangas, Cavite and La Union. It will be the fourth time for the Philippines to host the games, after 1981, 1991 and 2005. —KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING
Korean fugitive arrested in Angeles City
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) arrested on Thursday a fugitive Korean wanted in his country for a 200-million-won investment scam. BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said Kim Woo was arrested in his home at Barangay Balibago, Angeles City, upon the South Korean Embassy’s request. The 38-year-old Kim fled to the Philippines last Aug. 5 after a Korean court issued a warrant for his arrest. Morente said Kim would be deported and barred from returning to the country. —JOVIC YEE
Police bust drug ring at Makati City Jail
Seventy-three sachets of crystal meth, worth about P28,000 and concealed inside instant noodle packages, were seized from three suspects outside Makati City Jail on Thursday afternoon. Vanesa Claudio, Rogelio Pagulayan and Marcelo Gonzales were arrested in a Makati police sting operation. The Makati police chief, Col. Rogelio Simon, told the Inquirer that the 35-year-old Claudio, who sells food inside the jail, meant to sell the instant noodles with the “shabu” to jail inmates for P1,000 a piece. She is known to be the partner of one of the cell bloc leaders in the jail. The two other suspects, Pagulayan and Gonzales, worked as parking attendants near the city jail. —NIKKA G. VALENZUELA
Barangay watchman killed while directing traffic
A barangay watchman was shot dead by unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen in Navotas City on Thursday afternoon. Ronilo Sison was directing traffic at the corner of Lapu-Lapu Avenue and Dalag Street in Barangay North Bay Boulevard South when unidentified assailants shot him in the neck at 12:15 p.m., said Navotas chief of police Col. Rolando Balasabas. Witnesses said Sison had an earlier altercation with an unidentified motorist who allegedly violated a traffic sign. According to the report, homicide investigators of Navotas City Police are reviewing footage from a closed circuit television camera to verify if the gunmen were the same motorists who argued with Sison. —NIKKA G. VALENZUELA