Cops gird for May festivities
ANTIPOLO CITY – Police authorities expect millions of pilgrims to troop to this upland city for the traditional Maytime festivities. To cope with the security problem, some 100 uniformed policemen from the Rizal Police Provincial Office (PPO) will be fielded here to augment the Antipolo police personnel starting on Saturday. Supt. Primitivo Tabujara, chief of Antipolo police, said full-alert status will be enforced for the month-long festivities. On-the-spot checkpoints and frisking will be done at 6 a.m. on April 30 when hundreds of residents join a motorcade-procession from the Antipolo Cathedral to the Basilica of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo in Manila. The opening parade of the "Sumakah" festival, a term coined from the local delicacies, "suman," "mangga," "kasoy" and "hamaka," will start at 8 a.m. on Saturday. On May 1, the antique statue of the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage which was brought to Quiapo will be brought back to the Antipolo Cathedral at about 4 a.m. A fireworks display will announce the arrival of the image. (Nel Andrade)
Visayas
Japanese eye investments
CEBU CITY — Japanese businessmen have expressed their interest to set up businesses in the different parts of Cebu, citing Cebu’s history of peace and order and its skilled workers. A delegation composed of six Japanese businessmen paid a courtesy call on Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia at a meeting arranged by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The delegation, composed of members of the Young Presidents Organization, Japan chapter, discussed the possibility of setting up businesses in the city. The businessmen were accompanied by CCCI president Robert Go and special tourism envoy for North Asia Charles Sy. Sy told reporters that two Japanese businessmen already consulted him on the possibility of setting up businesses here. Miwa Yoshihiro, president of Kowa Co., expressed interest in the business potential of coconut trees. Sy said that Yoshihiro is referring to burned coconut shells which turn into activated carbon, the material used as filter in cigarette sticks. (Mars Mosqueda Jr.)
Mindanao
2 skeletal remains found
LEON POSTIGO, Zamboanga del Norte — A belated report stated that elements of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion and Special Operations Team of a Task Group from the 102nd Infantry Brigade unearthed recently two skeletal remains of persons believed to be victims of the New People’s Army’s (NPA) liquidation activities in barangay Tiniguiban, Leon Postigo, Zamboanga del Norte. The skeletons were identified by barangay officials and residents as those of Ignacio Teala, 51, and Ruby Minoza, 24, both residents of the barangay. The report stated that Teala was a Subanon and tuba harvester who was mauled to death by NPA members for not cooperating with the movement and on suspicion of being an informant. Miñoza was shot to death in board daylight for allegedly being a military informant. The troops found at the gravesites the hogtied skeletal remains of Miñoza. According to barangay residents, the NPA members under a certain "Ka Gary’ were responsible for the killing of the two victims.
