BALIWAG, Bulacan — Around 2,000 individuals who finished various Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) programs this year in Bulacan attended their graduation rites the other day at the Baliwag University, here. In his speech, TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva said these 2,000 graduates are only the first batch of vocational scholars in Region 3 with 7,000 more due to graduate and increase the manpower resources of the country.  (Freddie C. Velez)

STILL FLOODED

ANGONO, Rizal — With the lakeshore villages here still in chest-deep flood and more than 2,000 families still living in evacuation centers, the municipal government warned residents against wading in floodwater to prevent the spread of leptospirosis and other water-borne diseases. This developed as the Municipal Health Office here recorded one fatality in August suspected to be caused by leptospirosis. MHO Chief Jose Lozo identified the fatality as Reynaldo de Guzman, a tricycle driver from the still flooded Barangay of San Vicente. (Nel B. Andrade)

OPVET ACTIVITIES

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — This province has lined up several activities this month in celebration of World Rabies Day on September 28. The Office of the Provincial Veterinarian (OPVET) is set to conduct its Rabies Awareness Information Dissemination Campaign and sponsor activities such as a Poster and Slogan Contest, Dog Show, Mass Anti-Rabies Vaccination (availed for free), Film Showing along with an Open Forum on rabies awareness. OPVET Officer-in-Charge Eric Jose C. Perez said the participants for the poster and slogan contest in the elementary and high school categories shall submit entries on the theme, “Working Together for a Rabies-Free Pangasinan.” (Liezle Basa Iñigo)

WEEDS DESTROYED

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan — Joint operatives from the police and the agents from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) uprooted at least 1,500 pieces of fully-grown marijuana plants with an estimated worth of P50,000 in Isabela province last Wednesday. The lawmen also arrested three drug personalities in Cagayan Valley regions in separate buy-bust operations in Santiago City and Tuguegarao City on the same day. PDEA Cagayan Valley Director Juvenal Azurin said his men and that of Chief Superintendent Rodrigo Purisima de Gracia, director of the Cagayan Valley region’s police office, discovered the marijuana fields in Sitio Idag, Barangay Minagbag, Quezon, Isabela. (Freddie G. Lazaro)

SCIENCE SCHOLARS

CITY OF SAN FERNANO, Pampanga — The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) regional office here has released Tuesday some P9.86-million scholarship funds for qualified students in Central Luzon. DOST said that a total of 318 ongoing scholars in the undergraduate scholarship program of the department has received their financial assistance which consist of P4,000 monthly allowance, P2,500 book allowance and P6,000 tuition. (Mark Anthony N. Manuel)