News Briefs

Kids bolt jail

NORTH COTABATO—At least five children being detained at a facility for minors who are crime suspects have escaped the jail called Prison Without Walls. Supt. Peter Bonggat Jr., head of the provincial district jail, said the children detainees destroyed the iron bars of a cell in their jail to escape. —WILLIAMOR A. MAGBANUA

Cops claim win

TACLOBAN CITY—Police here attributed to the war on drugs a decline in the number of crimes by more than half. Senior Supt. Rolando Bade, city police director, said some P5.8 million in “shabu” was seized through “Oplan Tokhang” from July to September. But the most important figures, he said, are those that point to a decline in criminality that resulted from the antidrug campaign. In the same period, Bade said crime incidence fell by nearly 55 percent which means “our antidrug campaign is successful.” —JOEY GABIETA

Transmission upgrade

BULACAN—Power transmission lines and other facilities connected to the Angat hydroelectric plant are being upgraded, according to the National Grid Corp. of the Phils. (NGCP). Gideon Silverio, NGCP project head, said the power transmission firm is currently upgrading 50-year-old lines from a substation in the City of San Jose del Monte to the Angat hydro plant, which generates 246 megawatts of electricity, in Norzagaray town. The new lines, Silverio said, could carry a load of 115 kilovolts of electricity. —CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE

War on ‘colorums’

CAGAYAN DE ORO—The Northern Mindanao office of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) here has launched a tagging scheme for taxis and other public utility vehicles (PUV) in a bid to stop the proliferation of so-called “colorum,” or unregistered PUVs. The campaign started recently with taxis that are being tagged through stickers declaring them to be registered PUVs, according to Aminoden Guro, Northern Mindanao LTFRB chief. Guro said the regional LTFRB office has printed 5,000 stickers for the campaign. He said the yellow stickers have bar codes that contain information about the PUVs, including their registration details. —JIGGER JERUSALEM

Kidnap suspect slain

TAWI-TAWI—The military said it had killed a suspected member of the Abu Sayyaf involved in the kidnapping of tourists in Sipadan after the suspect allegedly tried to grab the gun of a soldier who was taking him to a police station. Maj. Filemon Tan Jr., Western Mindanao Command spokesperson, said suspect Ustab Anji was arrested at a raid on his hideout in Panglima Sugala town. —JULIE ALIPALA