A Cavite seaman, 44, now has time to spend quality time with his family as he intended to retire after claiming P4.5 million from the Oct. 10 draw of Mega Lotto 6/45.  The lucky bettor told Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Officials (PCSO) officials that winning the 6/45 jackpot has given him the opportunity to leave his ship job. As this developed, the PCSO said the Grand Lotto 6/55 jackpot for today, Oct. 17, is estimated at P80 million, more or less. The Cavite bettor said he has been longing to spend more quality time with his wife and three children.  (Edd K Usman)

PRICE HIKES

Local oil firms have reverted to raising petroleum prices after skipping last week’s round of price adjustments. At 6 a.m. Tuesday, oil companies Pilipinas Shell, Petron Corp. and Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex) imposed uniform price hikes worth P0.70 per liter on premium gasoline (including unleaded), P0.60 per liter on both regular gasoline and kerosene and P0.30 per liter on diesel. Total Philippines implemented the same set of hikes, save for kerosene, also at 6 a.m. Other petroleum firms have yet to announce a price adjustment as of press time. Fernando Martinez, chairman of the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (IPPCA), explained that last week’s supposed hike of around P0.04 was too small and therefore was “not worth announcing.” (Ellson Quismorio)

SCOUT BINAY PHOTO GOES VIRAL

 A photograph of Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, in full Boy Scout uniform while taking a photo of a Malaysian lady scout, is going viral on social networking sites. In the photograph, credited to a certain Derek Bonifacio, the lady scout apparently didn’t realize that Binay was the second most powerful man in the Philippines, and had asked him to take her photograph with two other Filipino scout officials during a recent event of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines. The "Scouts Philippines" Facebook page, said the photograph of Binay obliging the Malaysian to take her photo only showed "how humble our Vice President is." (JC Bello Ruiz)

DRUG ANGLE

Police are eyeing drug money as the motive in the massacre of seven people at the resettlement area in Barangay San Jose Rodriguez, Rizal, last Tuesday. Senior Supt. Rolando Anduyan, Rizal Provincial Police Office director, said investigators are looking at the drug money angle after the discovery that one of the victims in the massacre, Web Santos, was allegedly in the police watch-list of known drug pushers in the area and had been arrested several times for drug-related cases. (Madelynne Dominguez)

LOG BAN

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to impose a total log ban in Iligan City.  House Bill 6012, authored by Iligan Rep. Vicente Belmonte Jr., was passed by the 284-man chamber last Oct. 9, along with seven other local bills.  “Despite the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' implementation of several forest developmental programs, however, lives and properties continue to be under severe threat due to callous and bold activities of illegal loggers. (Charissa M. Luci)