TABUK CITY, Kalinga — A man was hacked to death and his girlfriend, who was fleeing the crime scene, was raped in Barangay Ipil, this city, early this week. Initial investigation showed that the fatality, identified as Anthony Lumbag Jr., 21, tricycle driver, and his girlfriend Joyce Ann Casmus, 20, just came out of the DR’s Videoke Bar in Dagupan Centro, where the girl works. Casmus narrated to investigators that while they are resting at the hut of Lumbag in the middle of a farm in Barangay Ipil, two unidentified men barged into the hut and immediately hacked Lumbag in the neck twice resulting to his instantaneous death. The two men then forced Casmus to come with them, and while they are walking, an approaching motorcycle was seen. The two suspects then escaped leaving Casmus on the middle of the road. Casmus asked the lone motorcycle rider for help, but instead of helping, the male rider raped her on the road then forced her to ride with her dropping her in a dark place in Dagupan Centro. A Provincial Mobile Group patrol team which chanced upon Casmus walking along Mayangao Street in Dagupan Centro brought her to the city police station, also in the same village where, in between sobs, narrated some details of the incident to police investigators. (Estanislao Albano Jr.)

Drug suspects nabbed in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY — Combined police operatives and anti-narcotics agents arrested a couple who are included in the wanted list of drug personalities and order of battle for allegedly possessing prohibited drugs at the rotunda of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) here recently. Chief Supt. Orlando L. Pestano, director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) in the Cordillera, identified the arrested drug personalities as Teodulo Arnaiz Villareal alias “Teddy,” said to be the topmost wanted drug personality in the Cordillera Region and included in the Order of Battle of Organized Crime Groups, and his common law wife, Catherine Perez Hieras, who is tagged as Villareal’s alleged co-operator of a drug den raided earlier. The couple was nabbed with a gram of shabu when a composite team of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) – Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) – CAR and Highway Patrol Group – CAR, was able to serve a warrant of arrest against the duo for drug-related violations. Authorities said Villareal is allegedly associated with a notorious local drug syndicate and a dreaded organized crime group operating on a national scale. Meanwhile, Hieras had been apprehended on August 2, 2008 during an implementation of a search warrant by CIDU–CAR and PDEA–CAR along Siapno Road, then a highly suspected drug den. (Dexter See)

Gov't property eyed for facilities

STO.TOMAS, Pampanga — The provincial government of Pampanga is set to retrieve a six-hectare government property in Barangay San Matias here to house various government facilities for women, senior citizens, and other sectors in the province. This was disclosed by Provincial Planning and Development Officer (PPDO) Fernando Henson during the Multi-Sectoral Governance Council (MSGC) meeting at the Benigno Aquino Hall in San Fernando City recently. Henson said that the lot is being eyed by the government to become a multi-purpose center in the province in its bid to better serve the various sectors in Pampanga. “Its ideal location is conducive as a home for the aged, a training center, or for other development activities for senior citizens, disadvantaged and abused women and other concerned sectors in the province,” Henson said. The property formerly houses the Regional Health Office (RHO) of Central Luzon and the Pampanga Delta Project. Henson’s suggestion was welcomed by the members of the MSGC, the representatives of the Federation of Senior Citizens and Women’s Group in particular. The MSGC, created under Executive Order No.43 last May, serves as a consultative body of the provincial government with concerned sectors. (Mark Anthony Manuel)