2 Ilonggo nurses presumed dead in New Zealand

ILOILO City – The 11 Filipinos – including two nurses from this city and Iloilo province – who went missing after the 6.3-magnitude earthquake in New Zealand last week are now presumed dead, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
“(The New Zealand) foreign minister called to confirm that 11 Filipino nationals may be presumed lost, and he wished to convey his government’s condolences to the families of the deceased,” said Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario yesterday.
The foreign minister also said “the search mode may be considered as having expired and a recovery mode will soon be declared,” said del Rosario.
The two Ilonggo nurses were Valquin Bensurto of Brgy. Cubay, Jaro district here and Mary Louise Anne Amantillo of Balasan, Iloilo.
DFA identified the nine other missing Filipinos:
* Jessie Lloyd Redoble
* John Kristoffer Chua
* Ezra Mae Medalle
* Emmabelle Anoba
* Jewel Francisco
* Ivy Jane Cabunilas
* Rhea Mae Sumalpong
* Erica Nora; and
* Lalaine Agatep.
Amantillo and Bensurto were trapped under the collapsed CTV building in Christchurch City.
Over DyFM Bombo Radyo in Iloilo City last week, April Andit, boardmate of Amantillo, said Mary Louise managed to call her cell phone after the earthquake.
She said Amantillo told her she was trapped in the CTV building and that she was with Bensurto.
Amantillo asked for help, Andit told Bombo Radyo.
Andit also said Amantillo described the area where she was trapped as full of smoke and that this made breathing difficult.
DFA spokesman Ed Malaya said the government will continue to coordinate with government officials in New Zealand to recover the bodies of the Filipinos.
Amantillo and Bensurto were nursing alumni of St. Paul University here, according to Amantillo’s mother Linda.
Linda said her daughter last called her on the night of February 21, a day before the earthquake struck.
On the other hand, Bensurto was able to send her mother Eunisa a text message after the quake.
He said they were trapped on the third floor of the CTV building.
“He was pleading for help … We tried to call but we failed to reach him,” said Eunisa over DyFM Bombo Radyo Iloilo.
GRIM REALITY
In New Zealand, the head of the civil defense said there had been no lives rescued since last week and the grim reality was that no more people would be found alive.
“The chances of finding others alive have diminished. Sadly, there comes a point where the response effort has to shift from rescue to the recovery of bodies, and regrettably we have reached that point,” said John Hamilton.
Seventy people were pulled out alive from leveled buildings in Christchurch City’s central business district when the quake struck at 12.51 p.m. Tuesday last week – a time when the city center was full of lunching office workers and shoppers. The last person found alive was the day after.
The confirmed death toll is 161, with police estimating that the final toll may be as high as 240, making it the second worst natural disaster after the 1931 Napier earthquake which claimed 256 people.
The victims are believed to have come from more than 20 countries, with many being foreign students – including Filipinos, Japanese and Chinese – at an English language school in the CTV building where the six floors collapsed on top of each other.
The local mayor said the news made it a “terrible” day for Christchurch.
“We will continue to hold hope that there is a still a miracle out there,” Bob Parker said.
More than 1,000 rescuers from New Zealand and seven countries, including Japan, the United States, Australia and Taiwan, have worked day and night to find any survivors, but had found only the dead after the rescue of a woman in a finance company building last Wednesday.
Rescue officials said a recovery operation will see them move to clearing away damaged buildings with heavy machinery instead of the more painstaking methods used when seeking survivors.
The New Zealand government has said there will be an inquiry into how buildings in the city hit by September 2010’s force 7.1 quake were passed as safe for use, and whether that was a factor in the amount of casualties. (With reports from abs-cbnnews.com, Reuters/PN)

PDRRMC cites points in disaster risk reduction law

SAN JOSE, Antique — The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) discussed the salient features of Republic Act 10121, “an Act strengthening the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management System” during a meeting in Binirayan Hills here.
Under the new law, the Calamity Fund shall be known as the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (LDRRMF), Irma Villanueva of the Office of Civil Defense 6 said.
LDRRMF should not be less than five percent of the estimated revenue from regular sources of local government units (LGUs).
It can be set aside to support disaster risk management activities, which should not be limited to pre-disaster preparedness programs, she said.
Villanueva said 70 percent of the fund can be used for training, purchasing life-saving rescue equipment, supplies and medicines, for post disaster activities, for the payment of premiums on calamity insurance and construction of evacuation centers.
LGUs should have a 30-percent reserve fund for quick response in times of calamites, she said.
The reserve fund, she explained, can be used for relief and recovery programs so the condition of people affected by disasters, calamities, epidemics or complex emergencies may be normalized as quickly as possible.
But unexpended LDRRMF cannot be used for bonuses of employees by the end of the year, Villanueva clarified.
It shall accrue to a special trust fund solely for supporting disaster risk reduction and management activities of the council for the next five years, she said.
Any such amount still not fully used after five years shall revert back to the general fund and made available for other social services to be identified by the local Sanggunian, she added.
On the issue of its inclusion to the local Annual Invest Program (AIP) for CY 2011, since the budget were already approved, the Provincial Planning and Development Office suggested to pass a supplemental AIP to include the programs of LDRRMC.
Municipal representatives, mostly deputized Civil Defense Officers, and Sebaste Mayor Juanita dela Cruz expressed their support to the new law, which they hope will provide more autonomy to the LGUs.
Broderick Train, PDRRMC executive officer, also discussed the structure of the council both at the provincial and municipal levels. (PSM/PIA/PN)

‘Pharmaton’ racers to pass by Antique

SAN JOSE, Antique — Racers joining the Pharmaton MVP Unleashed Challenge will pass by this capital town via the Strong Republic Nautical Highway on March 15, about 1:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.
With the starting point in Miag-ao Church in Miag-ao, Iloilo, the participants will be biking all the way to the San Jose plaza.
According to race coordinator Mia Antonio, this event is a truly tourism-inspired endeavor that is hoped to generate more interest and enhance tourism prospects in Antique, particularly in San Jose de Buenavista town.
The Pharmaton MVP Unleashed Challenge is a 30-day nonstop travel and multisport race traversing the whole country, from Davao City to Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.
Among the race events are running, biking, swimming, kayaking, surfing, weaving and a lot more, encompassing 2,900 kilometers. (PIO/PIA/PN)

Rebels reinforce key Libyan oil port in east

By PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press Paul Schemm, Associated Press – 44 mins ago

BREGA, Libya – Rebels reinforced a key oil port Thursday while facing new regime airstrikes in eastern Libya, and thousands of angry mourners buried victims of a counteroffensive by Moammar Gadhafi's forces, shooting guns in the air, shouting "Down with Gadhafi!" and swearing to take vengeance.
Although there have been stirrings of a diplomatic effort to ease the crisis, an opposition spokesman flatly ruled out any negotiations with Gadhafi, saying "his hands are tainted with blood."
President Barack Obama insisted that Gadhafi leave office, declaring he had "lost the legitimacy to lead."
He pledged to hold Gadhafi and his loyalists accountable, saying the U.S. and the entire world were outraged by violence against the rebels, and he lauded U.N. sanctions meant to put international pressure on the longtime ruler.
Signaling he was digging in, Gadhafi's regime apparently has stepped up its recruitment of mercenaries from other African countries, with an official in neighboring Mali saying that 200-300 men have left for Libya in the last week.
The International Criminal Court in the Netherlands said it will investigate Gadhafi, his sons and his inner circle for possible crimes against humanity in the violent crackdown of the 17-day-old uprising that sought to topple the man who has ruled Libya for four decades.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the court's top prosecutor, said Gadhafi and several commanders and regime officials had formal or de facto control over forces that attacked protesters, and he promised "no impunity in Libya."
Army units that have joined the rebels fanned out in the oil facilities and port at Brega, armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers and dressed in camouflage army uniforms with checkered keffiyehs. They were backed by at least a dozen pickup trucks with mounted machine guns or towing rocket launchers.

REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Government warplanes launched a new airstrike on the town Thursday morning, according to witnesses. It was not clear what they targeted, but it was likely an airstrip of the huge oil complex on the Mediterranean coast.
No casualties were reported, and pro-Gadhafi forces withdrew 80 miles (130 kilometers) to the west to another oil port, Ras Lanouf, after their defeat Wednesday by citizen militias from nearby towns and cities.
Despite having little central organization or command, the anti-Gadhafi fighters were able to repel a force of several hundred regime troops that attacked after dawn.
"We are in a position to control the area and we are deploying our forces," a rebel officer in Brega told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
At least 14 rebel fighters were killed in Wednesday's battle, including Abdul-Salaam Senoussi, whose father, Mohammed, came to Brega to claim his body.
"You know, this is my son," the grieving father said softly after identifying the body. He made a gesture like a pistol and said: "They shot him by plane."
Gadhafi has come under international criticism for firing at his people from warplanes, although his regime denies it.
Also among the dead was 7-year-old Hassan Umran, who was killed when he was caught in the crossfire. His body was at the same Brega morgue as Senoussi's son.
In the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, 140 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Brega, thousands of mourners chanted "Down with Gadhafi" and fired weapons into the air as they buried three of the dead.
"Our message to Gadhafi is we are coming and we will make Libya free," said one man in the crowd, Sami Mosur. "We will kill him, like he has killed our people here."
Gadhafi has unleashed the bloodiest crackdown of any Arab nation to the recent wave of anti-government protests. Hundreds are known to have been killed, and some estimates top 1,000.
The fighting at Brega halted for now the regime's first counteroffensive on the opposition-held eastern half of the country. It also underlined the deadlock that Libya appears to have fallen into.
Farj Lashrash, a soldier with the opposition, said the rebels had captured 10 pro-Gadhafi soldiers since Wednesday night.
The western gate of the nearby rebel-held town of Ajdabiya, which buried five dead, was reinforced with heavy weaponry — including a tank, four anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks and four rocket launchers.
Gadhafi's forces seem unable to bring significant strength to dislodge rebels from the territory they hold. But the opposition does not have the capability to go on the offense against Gadhafi's strongholds in the west, including the capital, Tripoli. Its leaders have pleaded for foreign powers to launch airstrikes to help them oust Gadhafi as the United States moves military forces closer to Libyan shores.
The Pentagon on Wednesday tried to play down the idea of using military force in Libya, including a "no-fly zone" that Defense Secretary Robert Gates said would first require attacking Libya's air defenses.
Gadhafi warned the U.S. and other Western powers not to intervene, saying thousands in his country would die and "we will turn Libya into another Vietnam."
A large group of ethnic Tuareg have left from the city of Kidal in northern Mali for Libya in the last week, according to a senior elected official in Mali who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared government retribution.
Kidal, the base of a rebellion by the Tuareg over the years, is about a two days' drive across the desert to southern Libya. The official, who added that even some of his relatives had gone, said the men were lured by money.
Another man in Mali who is in touch with people en route to Libya said about 40 cars of prospective fighters have crossed into Algeria. They are hesitating about crossing into Libya, fearing that anti-Gadhafi forces were guarding the frontier, the man said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Mali is one of the world's poorest countries, where nearly two-thirds of the population earns less than $1 a day.
Oil prices — which have risen to their levels in more than two years — eased below $102 a barrel Thursday on profit-taking and hopes that the conflict in Libya — a member of OPEC — might be resolved by international mediation. Gadhafi ally President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela proposed that his country and a bloc of "friendly" nations mediate, but so far Gadhafi has not responded, and opposition spokesman Mustafa Gheriani ruled out talks.
"We do not accept any negotiations with Col. Gadhafi," Gheriani said. "His hands are tainted with blood and we will not talk to him."
Added Gheriani: "He knows his way to the airport and he can leave."
The attacks on Brega have bolstered the rebels, he said. "We have strong hearts and a cause, and they have nothing," Gheriani added.
Exports from the country with Africa's largest proven oil reserves have all but stopped. Crude production in the southeastern oil fields that feed the facility at Brega has been scaled back because storage facilities there are filling up. Overall, Libyan crude production has dropped from 1.6 million barrels per day, nearly 2 percent of world consumption, to as little as 600,000 barrels per day.
"In the last 24 hours, we had a bit of a panic here," oil company employee Osman Rajab told the AP. "Now they (the rebel army) are trying to control the industrial areas," he said, referring to the oil complex.
At the edge of Brega's massive oil facility, the country's second largest, the rebel army set up a line of defense, with soldiers, four pickup trucks mounted with machine guns and one truck towing a rocket launcher.
For the past week, pro-Gadhafi forces have been focusing on the west, securing Tripoli and trying to take back nearby cities held by rebels using weapons looted from storehouses and backed by allied army units.
Pro-Gadhafi forces succeeded over the weekend in retaking two small towns. But the major western rebel-held cities of Zawiya and Misrata, near Tripoli, have repelled repeated attacks — including new forays against Zawiya on Wednesday.
Zawiya was quiet Thursday, and residents have set up defenses at the city entrances, said resident Alaa al-Zawi, an opposition activist. He said the city has six months' worth of food and water, though it lacks medicine if fighting resumes.
The turmoil in Libya has set off a massive exodus of 180,000 people — mostly foreign workers in Libya — who have fled to the borders, U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told the AP.
At least 5,500 foreign workers were being evacuated from the port of Benghazi. Europe, the United States and the United Nations donated more than $30 million to help the chaotic exodus from the North African nation.
Forces loyal to Gadhafi captured three Dutch marines and their helicopter during a botched evacuation mission Sunday near Sirte, a stronghold of the Libyan leader, the Netherlands' Defense Ministry said.
___
Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Tripoli, Libya; Bassem Mroue in Cairo; Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands; and Martin Vogl in Mali contributed to this story.

MIRIAM VS JUN-JUN ‘Where are your good manners?’

MANILA – Feisty Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago called on fellow Ilonggo Cong. Niel “Jun-jun” Tupas Jr. to inhibit from the impeachment proceedings against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.
Tupas is the chairman of the House justice committee.
“I do not see how (Tupas) can possibly continue in that capacity when he has a very obvious personal case against Ombudsman Gutierrez. I think that good manners and right conduct dictates that he should at least inhibit himself,” said Santiago.
The senator was referring to the case of Tupas’ father, former Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas Sr. who, in 2007, was ordered dismissed by Gutierrez for dishonesty, grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty.
The elder Tupas and his two Provincial Board members were ordered dismissed by the Ombudsman over complaints that they spent P20,000 in public funds for a seminar-training of employees of local government units that never took place.
In issuing the call for Tupas’ inhibition, Santiago stressed that she is not defending the Ombudsman because of their friendship.
“I am friends with her but I am talking from the standpoint of a lawyer. I don’t know if the chairman is a lawyer or not. I feel very appalled by what he is doing,” she said.
Tupas is in fact a lawyer by profession.
Reached for his reaction, Tupas said there is no basis for him to inhibit in the impeachment proceedings, and insisted that he has remained impartial throughout the hearings.
“Tingin ko, it is inter-parliamentary courtesy na bigyan din ng respesto ‘yung branch of government dahil ‘yung Korte Suprema na mismo ang nagsabi na walang basehan ‘yung panawagan sa inhibition ng chairman,” he told reporters.
Tupas likewise noted that Santiago herself did not inhibit during the plea bargaining agreement probe in the Senate which involved her brother, former military chief Benjamin Defensor.

“Ang pagkakaalam ko, sa investigation on the plea bargaining agreement, may nanawagan din na mag-inhibit si Sen. Santiago pero hindi rin siya nag-inhibit," he said.
WHY EXPEDITE THE HEARINGS?
In an interview with Senate reporters, Santiago said there is no need to expedite the hearings against Gutierrez.
“I don’t see what is the big hurry. I mean, what is the national interest that might be jeopardized if we do not start the impeachment proceedings immediately,” she said.
She explained that Gutierrez’s motion for reconsideration is still pending before the Supreme Court so the House of Representatives should let Gutierrez exhaust all of her legal remedies before they push through with the proceedings.
“You cannot execute the judgment, you cannot act on it in any capacity until it has become final and executory. Why do we have to rush the judgment about this? Why can’t we wait 15 days?” she said.
Last week, the House committee on justice voted to resume the hearings on the impeachment complaints against the Ombudsman.
In a 21-5 vote, the House panel approved a motion, filed by Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, to give Gutierrez an additional three days to answer the impeachment complaints against her.
The House decision effectively resumed the proceedings on the impeachment complaints against the Ombudsman.
The House move came more than a week after the Supreme Court allowed the House committee on justice to continue hearing the impeachment complaints.
In its February 15 ruling, the high court said the Ombudsman was not denied due process, as she had claimed, because she can answer the charges against her before the House panel. (gmanews.tv/PN)

Women can form a friendship with a man very well; but to preserve it--to that end a slight physical antipathy must probably help."

"When marrying, one should ask oneself this question: Do you believe that you will be able to converse well with this woman into your old age? Everything else in marriage is transitory, but the most time du...ring the association belongs to conversation."

OCHOA TELLS PCGG TO PITCH IN FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

EXECUTIVE Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr. has asked the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to help realize a corruption-free country by decisively pursuing plundered wealth and returning it to the national coffers.

In his message to PCGG’s 25th Anniversary on Tuesday, Ochoa said President Benigno Aquino III was four-square against corruption, and the PCGG must pitch in to restore integrity and honesty in all transactions of government.

“This is now the present and compelling challenge faced by our government and our anti-corruption agencies like the PCGG. We must investigate thoroughly, punish those who have raided the country’s treasury and effect a ‘climate change’ in government – from a graft-ridden regime in the past to an integrity-driven government today and tomorrow,” Ochoa said.

The PCGG was created in 1986 by then President Corazon Aquino under a revolutionary government, whose task is to recover wealth illegally-acquired by the Marcoses and their cronies.

In the next two years, the Executive Secretary said, the PCGG will wind up its task and this underscores the need for the commission to work double time and conclude its work with success.

  

He rallied the commission not to waver on its stand against stolen money, saying it was a fair warning to public officials and employees that offenders will be unmasked, their loot will be taken away and their social standing in government will be stained forever.

“With this approach, we will surely make inroads in eliminating corruption in our bureaucracy. This must be one effective deterrent against corruption,” the Executive Secretary said, but added that this will only materialize if investigation was thorough and cases were “water-tight in evidence and arguments.”

By fulfilling its mandate, Ochoa said that the “PCGG will be needed more than ever. It shall have proven to everyone that it has not outlived its usefulness