Jail for board member Boniel transferred
CEBU CITY—A Bohol provincial board member facing charges in court for the disappearance of his wife has been moved from a district jail in Bohol to the Cebu provincial jail following a Supreme Court order. Niño Rey Boniel, prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Bien Unido town Mayor Gisela Boniel, was escorted by jail guards from the Talibon district jail in Bohol to his new detention cell at the Cebu provincial jail. Gisela was presumed to be dead. —ADOR VINCENT S. MAYOL
Pangasinan town saved by eggplants
VILLASIS, PANGASINAN—This town celebrated its 13th Talong Festival for the same reason it did in previous years—bumper harvest. Farmers produced 30,000 kilograms of eggplant in 450 hectares of farms, said Reynaldo Mundo, municipal agriculturist. At P40 per kg (in farm gate prices), that’s P1.2 million in gross sales for every hectare or P540 million in profits for farmers. Mundo said farmers suffered heavy losses when black rice bugs destroyed their rice crops. “But whatever they lost had been replaced by what they earned from eggplants,” Mundo said. But windfall aside, organizers opted to go environmental in the celebration. Some of the town’s most beautiful women took part in a parade wearing gowns made of recycled materials and embellished with flower and vegetable accessories. —YOLANDA SOTELO
ARMM governor to heed martial law order
COTABATO CITY—Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Mujiv Hataman on Thursday said he would impose sanctions on absentee and nonperforming local government officials in the region to heed martial law administrator Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s latest order instructing Mindanao governors, including Hataman, to guarantee the “presence and delivery of government programs and services.” “The absence of local chief executives, in some cases, results in the total failure in the delivery of vital basic services to their constituents,” Lorenzana said in his martial law instruction No. 1 dated Jan. 8. —CHARLIE SENASE
Fire kills retired teacher, granddaughter
ZAMBOANGA CITY—A retired teacher and her granddaughter died after being trapped in a fire that razed their house in the village of Poblacion in Siocon town, Zamboanga del Norte, on Wednesday, the police said on Thursday. Chief Insp. Helen Galvez, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao police, said the charred remains of 71-year-old Martina Ruferos Toledo, and her granddaughter, 15-year-old Marcelle Abby Toledo, were recovered from the debris when the 11 p.m. fire was put out. —JULIE ALIPALA
Biliran town has new bishop
Msgr. Rex Ramirez, the new bishop of the diocese of Naval in Biliran. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
PALO, LEYTE—Naval town in Biliran province, still reeling from the impact of Tropical Storm “Urduja,” has a new bishop. Msgr. Rex Ramirez formally assumed office yesterday. Ramirez, 50, was appointed bishop of Naval by Pope Francis on Oct. 13, 2017. Ramirez replaced retired Bishop Filomeno Bactol, who was Naval’s first bishop in 1988, the year the Naval diocese was created. Before his new assignment to Naval, Ramirez, a native of Balangiga town in Eastern Samar, was rector of Palo Metropolitan Cathedral. —JOEY S. GABIETA