BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) disclosed the city’s air quality is still good to fair even if several parts of the city registered abnormal air quality during several hours of the day.

Based on an air quality monitoring report recently released by the EMB-CAR, the city’s central business district area was able to record total suspended particulates up to as high as 320 micrograms per cubic meter during rush hour from 7 to 9 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. daily.

The normal total suspended particulates which is tolerable is around 150 micrograms per cubic meter. (Dexter A. See)

Bulacan cops prove mettle
CAMP GENERAL ALEJO SANTOS, Bulacan – Riding-in-tandem robbers proved no match to Bulacan policemen in a high-speed gun chase in Barangay Tawiran, Obando town before dawn Saturday.

Senior Supt. Fernando S. Villanueva, Bulacan police director, said the two suspects drove through a checkpoint and challenged police to a shootout that ended in the slaying of both armed men.

One of them was later identified as Walter R. Cahanding, who reportedly has standing warrants of arrest for murder and robbery, said Villanueva. Found beside the bodies of the fatalities were two .38-caliber revolvers, a hand grenade, plastic sachets of suspected “shabu” and their motorcycle. (Ferdinand F. Castro)

Pagdilao sides with reporter
TUY, Batangas – The Police Regional Office 4-A (PRO4-A) is investigating a newsman’s complaints of harassment by an intelligence officer at the Quezon Police Provincial Office headquarters in Lucena City last January 3.

Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao Jr., PRO4-A director, said yesterday that he ordered the relief of Supt. Ramon Balauag, Quezon Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) chief and subject of the complaints by DzMM radio reporter and Ang Diaryo Natin sa Katimugang Tagalog community newspaper publisher Johnny Glorioso.

Glorioso claimed that Balauag had allegedly ordered his men to drag him out of the PPO Headquarters and barred him and all mediamen of entry after he sought answers from Balauag regarding a blindfolded man he supposedly saw at the police headquarters.

Glorioso said the man was a Quezon Capitol employee who allegedly doubled as a security aide of New People’s Army leader Tirso Alcantara. Balauag denied the allegations of Glorioso. (Freddie C. Velez)

13,000 to heat up Subic marathon
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — In spite of the lingering cold spell, some 13,000 runners are expected to heat up today’s Third Subic International Marathon, which claims to be the biggest world-class marathon event in the country.

Dubbed as “Run for Fun and Transformation,” the competition is predicted to break the 2009 record of close to 10,000 runners, said Gen. Sammy Tucay, founder and organizer of the Subic International Marathon (SIM).

This year’s marathon is organized by SIM and Corps Movement Foundation, which has helped poor communities in different areas in the country since 1992.

Tucay said the marathon has been held in Subic ever since, as sports runners “love Subic because of its green and safe environment, excellent facilities and the full support from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).” (Franco G. Regala)