News Briefs: March 3, 2019

Candidate for Bohol councilor gunned down

A retired jail officer running for councilor in the town of Talibon, Bohol province, was shot dead near his home on Friday.

Cpl. Henry Estillore, of the Talibon police station, said Bartolome Avenido, 43, was going home aboard his motorcycle after attending a school affair when he was attacked.

He was some 500 meters from home when two gunmen opened fire. Avenido was brought to the Garcia Memorial Provincial Hospital where he died. —Leo Udtohan

Dengue wreaks havoc in Soccsksargen

Dengue has killed at least five persons in the region of Soccsksargen since the start of 2019, according to the regional health office.

The Department of Health’s  (DOH) Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit listed 2,332 dengue cases, a 191-percent increase from the same period in 2018.

Jenny Ventura Panizales, speaking for the regional DOH office, said the youngest dengue patient was 3 months old while the eldest was 96.

Panizales said there was no declaration of an outbreak yet but health workers were on emergency duties. —Edwin O. Fernandez

NDFP denies links with lawyers’ group

The chief peace negotiator of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) has denied any connection to the militant National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).

“For the record, I am not a lawyer, never had the ambition to be one despite coming from a family of lawyers,” said Fidel Agcaoili in a statement from Utrecht on Friday. “So I have nothing to do with the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers.”

Agcaoili, though, admitted that some NUPL members were legal consultants of the NDFP negotiating panel “even before the organization was founded.”

“Such does not make NUPL a so-called front of the Communist Party of the Philippines,” Agcaoili said. —Delfin T. Mallari Jr.

Duterte’s morbid moments: No Heaven for me

President Rodrigo Duterte has gone morbid again, saying he would give away his burial plot at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, didn’t expect to be remembered and didn’t want to go to Heaven.

“I’m going to give you a solemn statement,” the President said at the first national assembly of the Liga ng mga Barangay in Pasay City.

“I will die, I will disappear. I will be forgotten and I don’t expect to be remembered,” the President said.

Referring to the plot usually reserved for presidents at the Libingan, he said he didn’t want to be buried there.

“I will raffle it (off),” the President said, drawing laughter from his audience.

According to the President, he told his family he wanted to be cremated and buried in 24 hours heeding Muslim tradition.

“As a matter of fact, I have no ambition (to go) to Heaven. Because I can see from the books of priests, there is much praying there,” he said.

“I don’t want that,” Mr. Duterte added. —Christine O. Avendaño