Newsbriefs

TACLOBAN CITY

12 workers rescued

Twelve residents of this city, two of them minors, were rescued from a hacienda in Negros Occidental where they had been working for P35 in daily wages since October.

The Department of Labor and Employment in Eastern Visayas was preparing to file charges against the recruiter who brought the 12 to La Castellana town and made them work under exploitative conditions.

Imelda Codilan, regional senior labor officer, said officials would send a notice to the recruiter and order him to answer a complaint for violation of labor standards such as nonpayment of correct wages and overtime pay to the victims.

Aside from violation of labor practices, the recruiter would also face charges of human trafficking because he recruited the victim using fraud and deceit, said Carmela Bastes of the City Welfare Office in Tacloban.

“All the elements of the crime were present. There was deceit and fraud,” Bastes said.

According to one victim, they were recruited to work in a hacienda in La Castellana last Oct. 16. They were promised P150 in daily wages.

“He also gave us an initial amount of P1,000 just for us to accept his offer. But when we arrived there, we were informed that the money he gave us would be deducted from our salary,” the victim said, referring to the recruiter.

When the workers arrived in the hacienda, the promise was not fulfilled. Instead of P150 in daily wages, their pay was reduced to only P105 daily. But the workers actually received just P35 per day because their employer deducted P70 from their wages for their food.

Their job was to cut sugar cane and load these on a truck. Their work starts from 3 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The victims lived in a small bunkhouse inside the hacienda. Joey A. Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas

DUMAGUETE CITY

Comelec exec ordered sacked

THE OMBUDSMAN for the Visayas has ordered the dismissal of an election officer for an attempting to extort P300,000 from a congressional candidate during the 2007 elections.

Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol also ordered the perpetual disqualification of provincial election supervisor Manuel Advincula from public office and the cancelation of all his benefits.

In a nine-page decision dated Aug. 26, Apostol ordered the Commission on Elections to dismiss Advincula from the service after finding him guilty of grave misconduct.

He approved the findings and recommendations of graft investigator and prosecution officer Portia Pacquiao-Suson and Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Palanca-Santiago.

The dismissal came following the complaint of Edgar Y. Teves who claimed that Advincula demanded P300,000 from him on April 2, 2007, to settle a disqualification case filed against him by his uncle, Herminio G. Teves.

Edgar ran against Herminio’s grandson, Henry Pryd Teves, in the third district congressional race in Negros Oriental in the 2007 elections. Henry later defeated his uncle Edgar and is now serving a second term.

Advincula denied demanding money from Edgar, branding the case as baseless.

He added that he did not have the authority to rule and decide on the disqualification case.

Advincula also denied demanding money from the candidate.

Alex Pal, Inquirer Visayas

ROXAS CITY

Capiz folk welcome new bishop

THE PEOPLE of Capiz have welcomed the appointment of a town mate as new leader of the Archdiocese of Capiz.

They expressed confidence that Bishop Jose F. Advincula would be able to serve the faithful well because as a Capiz native, he knew the sentiments and aspirations of the people of Capiz, said Capiz Sangguniang Panlalawigan provincial secretary Zoe Herrera Jr.

“I expect great things to happen to our Archdiocese through Advincula’s appointment,” said former Roxas City Councilor Mark Ortiz. Felipe Celino, Inquirer Visayas

BATANGAS CITY

18 Batangas drug suspects held

EIGHTEEN members of a suspected drug syndicate, including four women, were arrested in Nasugbu, Batangas, on Friday.

The suspects, in their late 20s up to early 40s, were all residents of Roxas Village in Nasugbu’s Barangay Lumbangan. They were arrested in simultaneous raids in Roxas Village at 6:30 a.m. that also resulted in the recovery of 25 sachets of suspected shabu and other drug paraphernalia, according to Senior Supt. Rosauro Acio, Batangas police director.

The suspects were members of a new drug syndicate operating in the towns of Balayan, Lian, and Nasugbu towns, he said. They are now being held at the Batangas police headquarters in Camp Miguel Malvar here. Jerome Balinton, Inquirer Southern Luzon