SOCIAL WORKERS

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The provincial government will be hiring 505 barangay social workers this year to serve as “catalysts of change in their respective communities.” Governor Lilia G. Pineda said the need for more social workers in the barangays comes with the implementation of increased medical social services and children’s education for the poor in rural villages. It is aimed that barangay social workers will serve as facilitators of social development to be implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the local government units. (Franco G. Regala)

LEGAL REMEDY

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — The family who lost a one-year-old girl in a house fire is looking for a legal remedy to get the girl’s father out of jail so he could attend to the burial and hospitalization of his two other children injured in the incident. Senior Police Officer 1 Ronald Aquino said that Jesse So-ep was arrested three days before the January 23 fire that claimed the life of his daughter. Fatima, aged 1, died while her siblings Jessica, 6, and Jerico, 5, are confined at the Provincial Hospital in San Carlos City. Aquino said the So-ep family is appealing to authorities to help release Jesse, who was jailed on an illegal gambling case, so he could attend to their family’s misfortune. (Liezle Basa Iñigo)

FIVE AWARDS

BALANGA CITY, Bataan — Campus journalists of the Bataan Peninsula State University (BPSU) bagged five major awards in the recent 12th Regional Higher Education Press Conference held at Crown Royale Hotel, here. Bulacan State University’s Pacesetter grabbed the 2nd place followed by The Industrialist of Pampanga’s Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University. The Guilds, the official student publication of BPSU-Main Campus, reaped five major awards in the annual competition participated in by over 200 campus journalists across Central Luzon. They won the awards in Best Broadsheet, Best Tabloid, Best Newsletter, Best Literary Folio and the individual highest pointer award which propelled The Guilds into three straight overall championships. (Mar T. Supnad)

CHURCH THIEF

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — An alleged thief believed to be a member of a group responsible for stealing several religious items from Catholic churches in Gerona, Tarlac, was arrested recently, police said yesterday. Ernesto G. Fontanilla, 43, married and a resident of Barangay Del Pilar in Guiguinto, Bulacan, was arrested after office employees at the Gerona Parish Church “reported through a phone call to the police the presence of an armed malefactor trying to force open a drawer.” Supt. Ponciano Zafra, local police chief, said Fontanilla was caught red-handed by SPO1 Jesus Ramil. Zafra said the suspect is also being investigated for robberies reported by Fr. Ramon Capuno in the parish churches of Moncada and La Paz in Tarlac City. (Mark Anthony N. Manuel)

434 SCHOLARS

IBA, Zambales — Some 434 students of Ramon Magsaysay Technological University (RMTU) will worry no more in raising their tuition with the implementation of the Educational Assistance Program. The program is a partnership between Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Zambales Vice Governor Ramon Lacbain II which awards RMTU Campuses in towns of Iba, Candelaria, Sta. Cruz, Masinloc, Botolan, San Marcelino and Castillejos finances for scholarships. (Jonas Reyes)