NEWSBRIEFS

NORTH COTABATO

Bomb blast hurts 1

News, regions, improvised explosive device, crime, food poisoning

A person was hurt when an improvised explosive device went off along the national highway in Kabacan town in North Cotabato shortly before 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Supt. Leo Ajero, Kabacan chief of police, said the explosion took place in front of Laira Marketing located beside the national highway.

Police said the bomb was planted in a drainage canal on Sinamar Street, which leads to boarding houses of students of the University of Southern Mindanao. Williamor A. Magbanua, Inquirer Mindanao

DIGOS CITY

Mushroom downs 8 soldiers

At least eight soldiers from the Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion (IB) based in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, were taken ill after they ate a type of poisonous mushroom they cooked with other vegetables on Friday, the unit’s commander said on Saturday.

Lt. Col. Norman Zuniega, 39th IB commanding officer, said the soldiers were on patrol in Barangay Kapatagan in Digos City when they decided to take a break, gather vegetables and mushrooms, and cook them.

A few minutes after feasting on the food, Zuniega said his men started experiencing abdominal pains and dizziness.

Zuniega said the soldiers were taken by ambulance to a Davao City hospital. They are now in stable condition, said the officer.

Despite the incident, he said the anticommunist operation in Kapatagan and other parts of Davao del Sur remained unhampered. Orlando Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao

DAGUPAN CITY

3 linked to drugs slain

Three suspected illegal drug dealers were shot dead by unidentified suspects on Friday night in Barangay Bonuan Binloc here, police said on Saturday.

Supt. Christopher Abrahano, city police chief, said the victims were aboard a tricycle when they were waylaid at 9 p.m. at Sitio Silungan in Bonuan Binloc.

Abrahano said several sachets of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) were found from Napoleon Paraan, 45, the tricycle driver and resident of Mangaldan town; and Reynaldo Martinez, 47, and Mamerto Penuliar Jr., 49, both of Sta. Barbara town. “We suspect this [killing] has something to do with drug trafficking,” he said.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency earlier identified Barangay Bonuan Binloc as Pangasinan’s leading drug hub. Gabriel Cardinoza and Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon

NEGROS ORIENTAL

J. Araula; 62

Dauin Vice Mayor-elect Jeffrey Teves Araula succumbed to liver cancer on Tuesday in Manila.

Araula, 62, who ran under the Liberal Party, was preparing to undergo a liver transplant soon after his electoral victory.

His body was brought home to Negros Oriental on Friday.  En route to Dauin, the funeral cortege stopped by the Negros Oriental Detention and Rehabilitation Center, where he served as provincial warden for 16 years.

Interment is scheduled for June 29 at 2  p.m. at Dauin Memorial Park. Alex Rey Pal, Inquirer Visayas