. NEWS ROUNDUP .

Gang robs NFA in Cainta

AROUND eight to 10 armed men raided a National Food Authority warehouse in Concepcion Uno, Marikina City late Wednesday night and fled with cash and valuables.

Chief Supt. Nilo dela Cruz, EPD director, said they are working on the arrest of the men, suspected to be former law enforcers and soldiers due to their high-powered firearms and SWAT uniforms.

Investigators said the group arrived at the warehouse aboard an FX type vehicle sporting government plates (SFV 907) and immediately disarmed the security guards, herded the workers inside a room, took their cellphones and cash as well as money from the warehouse vault.

Dela Cruz said the suspects may have been the same men who robbed several call center agents in Cainta early Monday since the plate number of the vehicle used in Cainta matched that of the one used at the NFA heist. - Christian Oineza

Bayani calls CHR irresponsible

THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority called "irresponsible" the allegation of the Commission on Human Rights that his agency committed human rights abuses in clearing operations against sidewalk vendors in Metro Manila.

MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando challenged the CHR to sue the Sidewalk Clearing Operations Group found to have violated human rights. He said he and his men are ready to face any charges in the proper forum. "We are prepared to appear before the CHR or any other forum but please don't condemn us without hearing our side," he said.

How can it be robbery (referring to the seizure of goods from the sidewalk vendors) when it was approved by the Metro Manila Council? As far as we know, all goods on the sidewalks are to be treated as garbage," Fernando said.

The CHR has reportedly summoned Fernando several times already to explain his side but Fernando said he has not received any invitation. It was Senate majority floor leader Francis Pangilinan who had asked the CHR to investigate the MMDA's "brutality" against the vendors as he deplored the confiscation of goods being done by the SCOG members. - Ashzel Hachero

Kidnapped girl released

KIDNAPPERS freed unharmed the 19-year-old daughter of a retired United States Navy man in Tagaytay City a day after seizing her and her father inside their house on Sunday night, police said yesterday.

Reports said Cristina Loyola was freed by her abductors in an undisclosed place in Amadeo, Cavite last Monday, hours after she was kidnapped along with her father Silverio Loyola, a 71-year-old US Navy pensioner.

Investigation showed that Silverio and his wife Priscilla were about to enter their house at 256 Kaybagal South in Tagaytay City at 8:30 pm when four armed men came along. Inside the men hogtied Mrs. Loyola and a housemaid, ransacked the place and stole P85,000 and $1,000 in cash, assorted jewelry valued at P70,000 and two mobile phones.

The suspects then fled in Loyola's car, taking Silverio and Cristina with them. The suspects left Silverio in his car in Amadeo and demanded P3 million for Cristina's ransom.

Police are investigating if the family paid the ransom demanded. - Raymond Africa

Ople Center asks LGUs to hold info campaign vs Malaysian recruiters

THE Blas F. Ople Center asked local governments to help stop the growing business of trafficking of

Filipino women to Malaysia. The center said local "scouts" of Malaysian syndicates and recruiters have been penetrating residential areas, particularly in the countryside, in search for new victims.

"The illegal recruiters here and their Malaysian bosses in Kuala Lumpur and Sabah have developed a more sophisticated way of enticing women to work there illegally without even a shred of protection," the Ople Center said, adding that some recruiters entice victims with fake letters of invitations from employers or educational institutions that they in turn show to their families and concerned relatives. Upon arrival in Malaysia, the victims are forced to work long hours with little food or rest under abusive employers who refuse to give them salaries, citing an agreement with their illegal recruiters.