LTO looking at
personnel's connivance with car smugglers
LAND Transportation Office chief Alberto Suansing yesterday
vowed that "heads will roll" over the "surprising" increase in the registration
of motor vehicles in Cebu, earlier dubbed as the new car smuggling haven in the
country, and other port cities of the country.
Suansing said an investigation will be made on reports that
LTO personnel are working in cahoots with car smugglers. He said he will
instruct the proper LTO personnel to coordinate with the Bureau of
Customs-Intelligence and Enforcement Group to find a solution to shut down the
new car smuggling hotspots.
Sources earlier said car smuggling syndicates are now
operating in ports in General Santos City; Cagayan Valley, Davao, San Fernando,
La Union; Cagayan de Oro, Manila and the Manila International Container Port,
Subic and at the Clark Freeport Zone. Suansing said this shifting of areas of
operation does not guarantee the smugglers a safe and lucrative trade.
He said a more coordinated thrust among line agencies
involved in curbing smuggling will enable the government to win this fight.
- Ashzel Hachero
Pamalakaya weighing options
vs Palparan
THE militant fisherfolk organization Pambansang Lakas ng
Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) assailed the Quezon City
prosecutor's office for dismissing the P 20-million libel case it filed against
retired Army Maj. General Jovito Palparan.
Assistant prosecutor Corazon Romano said Pamalakaya's
complaint was filed in an improver venue since Palparan's alleged defamatory and
libelous statements were made when he was staying in Tarlac City.
Palparan had accused Pamalakaya and its party list group
Anakpawis of recruiting for the NPA in the coastal villages of Bulacan and
extorting P50,000 a month from fishpond operators there.
Pamalakaya said Palparan's statement was an open endorsement
of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances against its members in the
province. The group said that are choosing between filing another complaint at
the Department of Justice or appealing the Quezon City prosecutor's ruling.
- Randy Nobleza
Brit drowns in Bataan
waterfall
A 56-YEAR old Briton drowned while swimming at the Dunsulan
Falls in Pilar, Bataan Saturday afternoon, police said yesterday.
Bataan police chief Senior Supt. Manuel Gaerlan said Richard
Kidd, of Gateshed, North England, arrived at the Dunsulan Falls with his
Filipina girlfriend Aisa Lamble and her father. Kidd was reportedly swimming
alone when he was dragged by the rapids, fell down the waterfall and drowned.
His companions took him to the Saint Joseph Hospital in
Balanga but he died along the way.
Gaerlan said Kidd's body was taken to a local funeral parlor for autopsy. He
said they have informed the British Embassy of the incident. - Raymond
Africa
