DUMAGUETE CITY (PNA) — A recipient of the prestigious Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service (COPS) award, PO3 Edilberto B. Euraoba III, returned to Negros Oriental Wednesday after the awarding ceremonies scheduled on Tuesday at Malacañang Palace was postponed to a still unknown date.

Euraoba said the organizers of the COPS award apparently did not want the awarding ceremony to be shrouded by controversies arising from the Rizal Park hostage crisis that ended in a bloodbath.

Euraoba is assigned to the CMO section of the Philippine National Police (PNP) provincial office of Negros Oriental. The COPS award, established in 2003, is a joint undertaking of the Metrobank Foundation and the Rotary Club of Manila East, to give due recognition to deserving men and women of the PNP.

Other recipients of this year’s COPS award are Supt. Leo Francisco of DIPO-Northern Luzon, Supt. Florencio Ortilla of Davao City; Supt. Noel Ponsaran of Davao City; Supt. Sidney Villaflor of San Jose City, Nueva Ecija; PO3 Shella Mae Sangrines of Iloilo City; PO3 Zoraida Aripin of Zamboanga City; PO3 Joey Castillon of Tobias Fornier, Antique; SPO2 Hermie Raymundo of Lingayen, Pangasinan; and PO3 Roel Paclibar of Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat. Each awardee receives a cash prize of P250,000 and a trophy.

CHINESE CITIES SEEK SISTER TIES

ILOILO CITY (PNA) — Two metropolitan areas in China are interested to ink sisterhood pacts with this city after Mayor Jed Patrick E. Mabilog recently made a successful trip to East Asia to attend an economic forum.

Mabilog said the cities of Hsinchu and Yulin, through their respective officials, expressed their intention to establish a “twinning” relationship with Iloilo. Being “sister cities” entails a cooperative agreement between two geographically and politically distinct cities to promote cultural and economic links.

Hsinchu is an urban area in northern Taiwan, popularly called “The Windy City” because of its breezy climate. It is the base for high technology industry, thereby getting the highest income level in Taiwan. Yulin, on the other hand, is a city on the far north Shaanxi province. It is famous for its classical architecture dating back to the Ming Dynasty. Coal mining is the dominant source of income of the city.
 
MINING FIRM MAY FACE SANCTIONS

NAGA CITY, Cebu — Following the recent flashflood incident here that swept away three young siblings and their grandmother in Barangay Cogon in this city, which was allegedly attributed to the mining operations of JLR Construction Aggregates Inc. (JLRCAI) and its contractor, the Region 7 office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in a press statement said the mining firm may face sanctions even if initial investigation disclosed that there was abnormal or unusual heavy rain last Aug. 29.

MGB7 initially linked the flashflood incident to the abnormal or unusual heavy rain last Sunday that caused the life of a 13-year-old girl while the body of her eight-year-old brother was retrieved off Bohol the other day. The victim’s grandmother was also injured during the incident. (Phoebe Jen Indino)

SCHOOL FOOD  AID DELIVERED

ILOILO CITY (PNA) — The Food-for-School program rice delivery was completed Wednesday with almost all beneficiary provinces now having received their allocations. Sally Gayoma, Department of Social Welfare and Development in charge for the program, said the provinces of Aklan and Iloilo have now received 100 percent each their rice allocation for day-care children.

The provinces of Negros Occidental and Antique, however, have yet to submit the updated report on the deliveries. The Food-for-School program is a hunger mitigation program launched by the national government to benefit the 41,385 day-care children in Western Visayas.