Reports of toxic toys sold in Marikina to be probed

Marikina Mayor Del de Guzman has ordered the local health office to look into an environmental group’s claim that some stores in the city were selling toy tops contaminated with lead. Paul Sison, the city’s public information officer, said De Guzman issued the directive yesterday, a day after EcoWaste Coalition said it found “the highly toxic substance” in wooden tops sold in stores at the Marikina Public Market and near Sto. Niño Elementary School. The toxics watch group said it also discovered contaminated tops in shops near Doña Josefa Elementary School and the Murphy Public Market in Quezon City. Based on the results of a portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer, the group said the 19 “unlabeled” toys that were sold  from P15 to P20 each in some shops in Marikina and Quezon City contained “up to 7193 parts per million (ppm) of lead.” Lead, the group said, is a neurotoxicant or a “poison that harms the brain and the nervous system.” It added the substance was an “endocrine-disrupting chemical” that “may interfere with the body’s natural hormones, causing adverse developmental, neurological, reproductive and immune effects in humans as well as wildlife.” According to Sison, the city health office will send samples of toy tops from the Marikina stores to the Bureau of Food and Drugs so that their chemical content can be determined.  If the environmental group’s findings are validated, he said the stores selling the tops may  be shut down through the city’s business processing and licensing office. “At the very least, the items will be confiscated,” Sison added. Kristine Felisse Mangunay

Tricycle driver killed, 2 hurt in Navotas

A tricycle driver was killed while his passengers, including a 5-year-old child, were injured after a man attacked them in Navotas City on Sunday evening. The Navotas police identified the victims as Lhorie Hermosora, the 33-year-old tricycle driver who died in the attack, and James Masangkay, a 26-year-old security guard, together with his five-year-old son, Christian James, who were both injured. The incident happened at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday on Dalagang Bukid corner Halaan Streets, Barangay (village) North Bay Boulevard-South, Navotas City. Masangkay and his son came from Malabon and had asked the driver to take them to the place where the incident happened. However, as they were about to leave the tricycle, a still unidentified suspect approached them and fired repeatedly at Hermosora, killing him on the spot.   Nathaniel R. Melican

Robbers take P30,000 from remittance center

Armed men posing as customers robbed a branch of a money remittance company on Sunday afternoon in Quezon City and made off with more than P30,000 in earnings. The LBC Suki Market branch in Barangay Sta. Teresita lost P35,704.35 in remittances to the two robbers following the heist. Case investigator PO1 Nathaniel Nonato said the robbery happened at 4:20 p.m. on Sunday in the establishment at the corner of Mayon and N. Roxas Streets. One of the suspects who carried a gun was described as 5’3” tall, of small build and clad in a gray jersey jeans and a black cap. Julie M. Aurelio