SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union — The first-ever driving academy will soon be established in Region 1 in a bid to curb the increase in fatal road accidents, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) revealed yesterday. LTO Region 1 Director Teofilo Guadiz III said the proposed driving academy is being undertaken to address concerns over the 2,021 vehicular accidents reported from January to December 2012. Guadiz said the authorities pointed the reasons for the frequency in vehicular accidents as driver error, vehicular defects, and bad road conditions. (Liezle Basa Iñigo)

20-YR. SEARCH ENDS IN LUCENA

CAMP GEN. MALVAR, Batangas — A 60-year-old man who had been hiding for almost two decades after allegedly committing a crime in his neighborhood in Batangas City, was spotted and arrested in Lucena City, Quezon province, last Wednesday. Supt. Gerson Bisayas, Batangas Police Provincial Office (PPO) information officer, identified the murder suspect as Tito Alcuaz, a native of Barangay Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City, and resident of Calmar Subdivision, Barangay Kanlurang Mayao, Lucena City. He was arrested around 7 a.m. by police who had with them a warrant issued by Judge Florencio S. Arellano of Batangas City Regional Trial Court Branch 1, who is hearing the case of murder victim Rudy Claveria on Aug. 10, 1993. (Ferdinand F. Castro)

HEALTH AWARDS

MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan — The province of Bulacan headed by Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado won nine awards in the recent Central Luzon Excellence Award for Health 2012 at the Holiday Inn, Clarkfield, Pampanga. The Bulacan Provincial Health Office received the award for Health Emergency Response in the Health Governance Stewards Category. The Calumpit District Hospital won for Mother and Baby Friendly Hospital and Bustos Rural Health Unit (RHU) 1 and Pulilan RHU 1 for Three-in-one Certified Facilities. Four municipalities and one city also had a share of awards in the Top Performers Category, said Provincial Health Officer Dr. Jocelyn Gomez. (Freddie C. Velez)

E-LEARNING FOR 22 C.A.R. POLICE

CAMP BADO DANGWA, Benguet — Chief Superintendent Benjamin B. Magalong, police director of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), has launched the e-Learning program designed to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the Integrated Transformation Program (Patrol Plan 2030) and CODE-P. Magalong said policemen in the region must cope with the fast-changing information and communication technology (ICT) in order to be more effective in the performance of their duties. Initially, 22 policemen compose the first batch to take the initial examination for the e-learning project. (Mar T. Supnad)

P.W.D. SCHOLARS

ANTIPOLO CITY — The sector of the disabled in this city expressed their gratitude yesterday to the provincial government for including the disabled in the hundreds of beneficiaries of the scholarship program of the Capitol for the coming school year. Eljoy Lagan, a blind coordinator of the persons with disability (PWD) in the province told Manila Bulletin that their sector’s leaders in Antipolo City and other municipalities in the province are thankful to Governor Casimiro “Jun” Ynares III and Capitol officials for the inclusion of some 60 disabled students in the “Iskolar Ni Gob” scholarship program. (Nel B. Andrade)