MINDANAO MONITOR ONLINE

PAGADIAN CITY: Members of the 53rd Infantry Batallion, led by 2nd Lt. Ronomel Ola, killed a self-proclaimed MILF leader in a running gunfight after eluding a raid conducted at his safe house in Brgy Dalapang, Labangan this province.  

Camilo Lao, a.k.a. Kumander Robin, was killed Jan. 2, after he fought it out in a ten-minute gun battle with the military that were backed by police forces led by police S/Insp. Oscar Buenaobra.

Lao, tagged as the most wanted man of ZamboSur, is also implicated in multiple murder charges docketed in Lanao province and has a pending warrant of arrest. His group was the suspect in the killing of Dinas Vice Mayor Basit Maulana in 2003 and his five escorts; and the ambush of Mayor Wilfredo Asoy in 2004. 

The dreaded self-proclaimed MILF leader also extorted politicians, businessmen and fishing boat owners of half million pesos a month for protection. 

His trusted errand, identified as Gumbay Gandawali, a resident of Combo, Labangan was also killed.

Recovered during the raid were two .45 caliber pistols, a super .38 and a DT Yamaha motorcycle.

Lieutenant Col. Emmanuel Sison, commanding officer of the 53rd ib, said that they received intelligence reports, which said that Lao’s group is planning to liquidate political personalities in the city and province.

Sison also said that Lao’s group is being watched for some time now as reports linking the said group with the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah surfaced.

The said report, Sison added, speak about the bombing of vital installations in Pagadian and kidnappings during the campaign period.

Colonel Jovencio Magalso, 102nd brigade commander, through the instructions of M/Gen. Raymundo Ferrer of the First Infantry (Tabak) Division), has ordered the manhunt of Lao and his group to avert the planned terroristic acts.

As this developed, provincial and city officials hailed the members of the 53rd Infantry Batallion led by Sison and commended the joint effort of the military and pnp in the said operation.    

Sison replaced Colonel Dennis Villanueva, who was killed in action during a pursuit operation against the Abu Sayaff in Sulu last Feb. 2005.

He was formerly assigned in Sulu in 2001.

PAGADIAN CITY: A house becomes a home when built by kind hearts. This saying is suitably applied to the Cerilles couple after they made one duplex house for one of the beneficiaries of the 54 identified squatter-beneficiaries of the GK Lala Provincial Government Project.

The said duplex house was inaugurated and blessed last Dec. 19.

A CFC-Gawad Kalinga community is composed of about 60 to 100 families residing in a contiguous area, organized into a “Kapitbahayan Neighborhood Association”

The squatters are from Phil-Australian Development Assistance Program (PADAP) in Dao who will be relocated to pave way for Gov. Cerilles’ programs and projects.

The governor and her husband, 2nd District Rep. Antonio Cerilles was joined by Mayor Sammy Co and 17 other provincial department heads who promised to sponsor or put up shelters for the rest of the beneficiaries.

Co pledged said he would sponsor a duplex unit while the provincial office heads will chip in by fours for a single unit.

Cerilles disclosed that her older sister Diana, who is living in the United States showed interest to build one house for CFC-GK as well as her son Ace William, who also said he will build one unit.

Two other donors built houses for the beneficiaries. They are Leah Tambolero’s newly wed daughter and couple Virgilio Ordoñez.

Tambolero’s daughter, Therese Thea accordingly used her wedding gift to finance the house.  

Cerilles praised GK as “a model of sharing and cooperation among people in the society where it stands to believe that nobody is too poor that he cannot share; too rich that he cannot care.”

She appealed to businessmen, civic and social organizations, NGOs and other politicians to sponsor at least one unit at GK Lala Provincial Community.

PAGADIAN CITY: ZAMSURECO-I is now at the verge of achieving a zero systems loss, a feat general manager Jose Raul Saniel handily accomplished in his first six months of managing the electric cooperative.

According to Saniel, systems loss went down 20.85 percent during the period of June to November last year.  

Electric system loss is a term, which means total energy loss from all causes for an electric utility. In management language, it could also mean loss in prevention systems such as employee theft, inventory shrinkage and paperwork errors.

In a press conference held recently, Saniel disclosed that Zamsureco’s present systems loss is brought down to 5.85 percent. This, he said, is due to “team effort among department managers, technical personnel and non-technical personnel and concrete innovation activities.”

Another cause is likewise attributed to addressing technical problems in non-technical areas, like massive inspections, disconnections to all big-loads in critical areas like Labangan, Tukuran, Dinas, Margosatubig and Pagadian, Saniel explained.

“Our target now is 14 percent, the prescribed systems loss allowed by the Energy Regulatory Commission and the National Electrification Administration,” Saniel added.

DIPOLOG CITY: The Transparence and Accountability Network of Civil Society in Dapitan Inc. (TANCSDI) have classified this city a failure in local governance.

In a recently conducted survey, TANCSDI said that the local government failed in citizen-centeredness, transparency, accountability, participatory governance, empowerment, predictability, professional bureaucracy and credibility.

Of these merits, the city scored 6.03 percent, way below the passing score of seven, a TANCSDI report said.

The Resource Center for Empowerment and Development (RCED), which is based in Cagayan de Oro City and the Mindanao Coalition of Development NGO Networks (MINCODE) of Davao city, assisted TANCSDI in its survey.

The survey group used a local governance scorecard developed by Holy Name University and Asia Foundation where the survey was patterned.

The scoreboard used a 1-10 rating scale for eight areas participated by 150 respondents from the city’s 15 barangays comprised of people from the religious, senior citizens, academe, women, youth, farmers, fisherfolks, cooperatives and transport groups.

In the survey report, the senior citizens of Dapitan gave their local government a 6.70 rating while the farmers, fisherfolks and cooperative collectively gave a 5.97 rate; the academe, 6.05; religious 5.93; women, 6.33; youth, 5.67; and the transport group, 5.62.

“Although public perception can be illogical, irrational and subjective, but it is a good sign to know the efficiency and sincerity of the local officials who reign the local government,” TANCSDI said.

The survey viewed people centeredness in terms of right and responsibility to access public information and transparency as the right of the people to know government operations.

TANCSDI defines accountability in terms of performance, fiscal discipline, checks and balance, performance evaluation system and law implementation while participatory governance is the genuine participation of the civil society in decision making and processes including the feed backing system.

As of press time, the city government would not issue any statement or comment on the said survey.

It can be recalled that Dapitan City joined the accountability and transparency program launched by the Asia Foundation during the administration of then Mayor Rodolf Careon.

The initiative was sustained by the present administration together with the Sustaining Civil Society Initiatives for Transparent and Accountable Governance in Mindanao and continued in Dapitan through TANCSDI.

TANCSDI has  membership from local groups, such as Dapitan City Integrated Cooperative, Federation of Senior Citizens Association of the Philippines –Dapitan City Chapter, Knights of Columbus, Pantalan Motorcab Drivers and Operators Multipurpose Cooperative, Dapitan City Shrine Tricycle Operatiors and Drivers Association Inc., Dapitan City Farmers Federation Multipurpose Cooperative, Baylimango To-od Cavite Tabasan Mananagat, Self-Employment Assistance –Kaunlaran, Sidlak Women Group, Youth Alliance for New Dapitan and Preogressive Alliance for Reformation Exponents.

Ni Boy Lagas

CLARIN, MISOC: NAGSUGOD na ang sinabligay ug lapok ning probinsiya pinaagi sa pagpagawas sa mga tinaguang baho gikan sa isig kampo.

Unang naigo mao si Mayor David Navarro, kinsa sa miaging semana ang gidungog nga aduna kuno’y warrant of arrest gikan sa Makati City tungod sa kasong robbery.

Aduna say gipakatag nga video ug text messages sa celfon nga nagpakita sa usa ka suspek nga ginganla’g Dante Navarro, apan ang litrato nga naka-butang mao ang sa mayor.

Si Navarro kuno adunay pending warrant of arrest pinasikad sa duha ka kasong natala sa RTC-NCR Branch 143 sa Makati: IS 03-8160 ug Criminal Case 03-2590, kasong robbery.

Sa dihang gihinabi sa radyo, milimod si Navarro ug miingon nga usa kini ka "black propaganda" batok kaniya nga kaniadto pa gimugna ug gibalik-balik lamang karon sa tuyo nga dauton ang iyang dungog.

Aron sa pagkumpirma nga dili tinuod ang gipakatag nga pasangil, gipakita sa mayor nganhi ning pamantalaan ang usa ka certificate of appearance gikan sa PNP-CIDG, pinirmahan ni assistant division chief for intelligence S/Supt. Christopher Laxa ug ang certification gikan usab sa DOJ, City Prosecution Office sa Makati City.

Ang DOJ certification, pinirmahan ni 2nd Asst. Prosecutor Edgardo Hirang, nagkanayon nga basi sa ilang name index files, walay pending criminal case si David Navarro y Mabal, ang full name sa mayor.

Gilakip usab sa DOJ certification ang laing certification paper gikan sa RTC-NCR Branch 143 sa Makati nga nag-ingong dili usa sa suspetsado sa Criminal Case 03-2590 si Navarro.

Sumala sa nasulat sa certification, ang tinuod nga mga suspetsado sa nahisgutang kaso mao sila si Aylon Parojinog, pag-umangkon ni Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog; Randel Llanos ug ang kanhi kapitan sa Tabid, Ozamiz nga si Rolando "Yayo" Cabaitan.

Si Cabaitan, usa ka suud nga higala sa amahan ni Parojinog nga si Octavio "Kuya Ongkoy" Parojinog, namatay si dihang nakigpinusilay sa mga pulis niadtong 2004 samtang si-serve ang iyang warrant of arrest sa maong kaso.

DIPOLOG CITY: Usa ka sikat nga banda nga gikan sa United States ang mipalanog sa ilang intensiyon ngadto kang Mayor Roberto Uy ug sa City Tourism Council nga mopahigayon sa usa ka dakung konsiyerto dinhi isip usa ka fund-raising activity alang sa Alay Lakad Council sa siyudad.

Ang banda giila nga mao ang “Liquid Blue Band,” nga naka-angkon na sa pag-ila isip “the world’s most traveled band”, “America’s Best Dance Band”, ug “America’s Best Independent Artist”.

Gani, ang Liquid Blue Band, adunay top-10 single sa USA nga nagtitulo ug “Real” ug nakapahigayon na ug mga konsiyerto sa 90 ka mga nasud sa tibook kalibutan.

Libre ang talent fee ug pletehan sa banda. Ang galastohan lang sa ilang pagpuyo ug pagka-on ang ilang gipangayo.

Atol sa usa ka emergency meeting nga gipahigayon sa mga miyembro sa Alay Lakad Council, nasayran mopahigayon ang Liquid Blue Band sa ilang konsiyerto sa tungang bahin sa Pebrero ning tuig.

Kini nga kalambo-an ang padayong gihisgutan karon sa Alay Lakad Council aron sa pagtuki sa mga galastuhan nga ila unyang mahinagbu-an ug aron mabana-bana nila kun pila ang mahimong kita sa maong kalihokan.