Las Piñas mom wins P25M
A MOTHER of three who owns a store in Las Piñas City has just become the latest addition to the country’s millionaires club. The 38-year-old woman won the P25.5 million jackpot in the Feb. 28 draw of the 6/42 Lotto by placing a P30 bet on a favorite number combination, mostly based on the birth dates of her children, of 35-30-25-20-14-13. The winner went to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) on Thursday to claim her prize and make good on her promise to donate some of the money to a government hospital in Las Piñas. She told PCSO general manager Ferdinand Rojas II that one of her reasons for betting on the lotto every day for the past 13 years was her desire to help the ailing kids she saw confined in the city’s public hospitals. “The [services] may be free but they don’t have money to buy medicines,” she said as she added, “So I made a wish to win the lotto so that they would be the first I could help.” Her other plans for her money, she said, include putting some of it away for her children’s education and donating a portion to her church. Her siblings also stand to benefit from her winnings as she said she was planning to build houses for them. Jaymee T. Gamil
Woman killed in jeepney holdup
A 20-YEAR-OLD call center agent died after she was shot in the face by a robber when she refused to give up her bag and cell phone before dawn Wednesday on Rizal Avenue in Manila. Chief Insp. Steve Casimiro of the Manila Police District homicide section said Khristine Dawn Concepcion, a Caloocan City resident, was in a passenger jeepney bound for Blumentritt when the suspect boarded the vehicle on R. Papa Street around 4 a.m. Casimiro said Concepcion was shot with a .45-caliber pistol in front of other passengers, after they had all handed their valuables to the armed robber. “The victim was the only one who refused that’s why she was shot in the left side of her face,” Casimiro said. Nancy Carvajal
3 int’l ‘drug mules’ charged
THREE foreigners were charged with illegal transport and possession of dangerous drugs at the Manila Regional Trial Court after they were caught with more than a kilo of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” in a Malate apartelle. Assistant City Prosecutor Francisco Salomon recommended the filing of the nonbailable charge against Indonesian couple Fitri Wiji Utami and Radityo Chusnul Fariz, and Ghanaian John Nana Brown, who were arrested by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation on Feb. 26. NBI special investigator Joel Otic said the agency received information that two Indonesian couriers then staying at Stonehouse Apartelle on Mabini Street would receive illegal drugs from a member of the so-called West African drug syndicate before leaving for Malaysia. The Indonesians reportedly arrived in the country three days before the pickup, while Brown received instructions from another Ghanian to deliver a bag to the former. After a surveillance operation, NBI agents accosted the three foreigners who first denied being drug couriers and even “invited” the agents to inspect the room at Stonehouse where the Indonesians were staying. The agents said they found a bag in the room containing 20 plastic sachets and five rolled holders packed with shabu. Erika Sauler
DPWH sets 4-day road works
EXPECT traffic to slow down on 17 major roads in the metropolis from March 8 to 11 due to repair works, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said Thursday. In an advisory, the DPWH-National Capital Region office said the following national roads will be affected: Road 10, Herbosa Street and C-2 Road, all in Tondo, Manila; Nicanor Reyes Street and Claro M. Recto Avenue, in Sampaloc, Manila; Mindanao Avenue, Cattleya Street, North Avenue, Quirino Highway, Regalado North, Fairview Avenue, Mindanao Avenue Extension, Midland Drive, and Mindanao Avenue, all in Quezon City; and Ortigas Avenue, Lanuza Avenue and Corinthian Street, all in Pasig City. For complaints and suggestions, the public may call 165-02, 536-3477 or text ‘’DPWH (space) message” and send to 2920. Jerry E. Esplanada