CAMP BGEN. OSCAR M. FLORENDO, La Union — At least 249 police recruits — 204 males and 45 females — from the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan took their oath of office in a ceremony administered by Chief Superintendent Franklin Jesus B. Bucayu, Region 1 police director. Senior Superintendent Reynaldo G. Biay, head of the Regional Personnel and Human Resource Development Division (RPHRDD), said the 249 new Police Officer 1s (PO1s) were composed of 147 recruited through the 2012 PO1 Regular Recruitment Program and 102 through the 2012 PO1 Attrition Recruitment Program. (Liezle Basa Inigo)

PROPER DISPOSAL

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga — Twenty-one locators from this Freeport zone joined the proper way of disposing hazardous busted fluorescent lamps to help maintain the eco-system here, official of Clark Development Corporation said yesterday. In his report to CDC Chair and Officer in Charge Eduardo SL Oban Jr., Dr. Mariza Mandocdoc, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Vice President for Regulatory Services, said that a total of 5,052 busted fluorescent lamps from the participating locators, including CDC lamp wastes, were collected for treatment and proper disposal. (Franco G. Regala)

FOREST FEAST

ANGELES CITY, Pampanga — Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan has joined this year’s Pista Y Ang Cagueban  (Feast of the Forest) held Saturday at Sitio Tagaod, Barangay Irawan in Puerto Prinsesa. Pamintuan, along with Miss Earth 2011 Olga Alava from Ecuador and the winners of Miss Earth-Philippines 2012 led by newly crowned Stephany Stefanowitz, were invited by Puerto Prinsesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn. The Pista Y Ang Kagueban is a festive reforestation activity of the Irawan Watershed. This watershed is the source of potable water for the whole city. During this feast, people from all walks of life, various sectors in government, non-government organizations, members from the academe and visitors trooped to the mountains of Irawan, to plant different species of trees as part of Puerto Prinsesa’s program to reforest denuded vast land. (Franco Regala)

SENIORS’ MEET

ANTIPOLO CITY — The city government here has sent the leaders of the city’s senior citizens to a two-day training seminar in Tanay. City Information chief Reuel Vidal said the city government has sponsored a leadership training for officers of the Federation of the Senior Citizens Incorporated representing the city’s 16 villages from July 3 to 4. The leadership seminar and training, held in coordination also with the City Social Welfare and Development Office, and the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs of the city, was aimed at providing the senior leaders of the villages additional skills in performing their tasks and to help them become better team officers in their respective barangays. (Nel B. Andrade)

CASES UP

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Cases of dengue fever in Central Luzon have increased by 12 percent in the first half of 2012, the Department of Health (DOH) regional epidemiology and surveillance unit here reported Wednesday. The DOH said that 6,241 dengue cases in region have been reported with at least 11 fatalities. Nueva Ecija reported the most cases with 1,785. It was followed by Bulacan, 1,745; Pampanga, 1,167; Bataan, 677; Tarlac, 488; Zambales, 348; and Aurora, 31. (Mark Anthony Manuel)