. NEWS ROUNDUP .

Piston promises largest transport strike this month

TRANSPORT group Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston) said its members will mount the most widespread transport strike ever this month in protest of the surging oil price hike and in support of the junking of the 12 percent expanded value added tax (EVAT).

Piston secretary-general George San Mateo said the strike will paralyze the operations of jeepneys, buses, taxis, GT express units and even pedicabs in the National Capital Region and in prime areas in the provinces.

He said transport organizations under the United Transport Koalisyon (1-Utak), the Cooperative Transport Organization (CTO), the Independent Jeepney Federation and even cooperative organizations are taking part in the transport holiday.

San Mateo said they are also talking with Fejodap's Zenaida Maranan to decide on the date of the strike and the possible focus on just two issues: the oil price hikes and the suspension by government of the EVAT on oil. "Huwag na lang isama ang fare hike issue dahil sa isyung ito direktang tatamaan ang publiko."

1-Utak chair Atty. Vigor Mendoza said he is leaving it to the leaders and members of groups under the coalition to decide whether to participate in the Piston-led event.

Police colonel killed in ambush

LEGAZPI CITY -Supt. Narciso Guarin, PNP deputy regional director for community relations based at Camp Simeon Ola here, was shot and killed early Monday morning near his house at Barangay Estanza.
Supt. Rolando Esguerra, Legazpi City police chief, said Guarin, 44, took several hits in the body and died on the spot.

An initial police report said Guarin was driving to work at around 6:30 a.m. when four unidentified gunmen sprayed him with gunfire before fleeing on two motorcycles. The report said 30 empty shells from M16 armalite rifles were recovered from the crime scene.

Pursuing government troops recovered one of the motorcycles in Barangay Taysan.

Camp Simeon Ola officials said Guarin had been warned to leave his house after receiving death threats from the New People's Army.

Guarin served as Legazpi police chief for more than two years and was credited with successful operations against criminals and insurgents. He went back to school and was appointed to the post he was holding before he was killed. - Manilyn Ugalde

10.7 million Pinoys are asthmatic

OVER ten million Filipinos are sick of the chronic respiratory ailment, asthma, a group of pulmonary specialists said.

In a roundtable briefing on Asthma Insights and Reality in the Asia Pacific Region (AIRIAP), Dr. Teresita de Guia, said 12 percent - about 10.7 million - of the current Philippine population of 88.7 million suffers from asthma.

De Guia said only nine percent of asthma sufferers take preventive medicine. "Only about 963,000 asthmatics are using inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), which is a preventive medicine for the disease," she said, adding that the steep price of ICS, around P900 for a monthly dose, is one of the reasons why many patients do not use it.

She also said only 23 percent of asthma patients are familiar with ICS based on the results of a study on asthma prevalence among 12 Asia-Pacific countries.

A total of 3,200 asthmatics from the 12 countries were surveyed in 2001 and 2006 to see the state of asthma management within the region. Four hundred of the respondents were from the Philippines.

The World Health Organization estimates that 300 million people worldwide suffer from asthma with over 80 percent of deaths attributed to the disease in low and lower-middle income countries.

Asthma is an illness where the airway occasionally constricts, becomes inflamed, and is lined with excessive amounts of mucus, often in response to one or more triggers. Common asthma triggers include cold air, warm air, moist air, perfume, exercise, exertion or emotional stress.