VILLASIS, Philippines — Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor appealed to the Ombudsman on Friday to temporarily stop the suspension of local officials, who are facing various charges.
Defensor, who inaugurated the town hall here, said the implementation of suspension orders ahead of the May elections had been used by members of the opposition in criticizing the Arroyo administration.
“We do not intend to preempt the Ombudsman because it’s an independent body, but we hope they will see that we do not need these situations in the middle of an election period,” he said.
He said the suspension or dismissal of local officials had repercussions on the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Read full story in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
DAGUPAN City – The Provincial Elections Office here has declared at least three towns and one city in Pangasinan as possible hot spots in the coming May national and local elections.
Provincial elections officer Reddy Balabar said San Nicolas in the sixth district is a potencial candidate for Commission on Elections control owing to its history of violent incidents in the past elections.
These incidents include the slayings of former San Nicolas Mayor Conrado Rodrigo right after the 2004 elections; farmer militant leader Jose Doton and some of the leaders and followers of the protagonists in the 2004 elections, Mayor Leoncio Saldivar and former Mayor Chistopher Jones Rodrigo.
Read full story in Journal Online
ALAMINOS City, Pangasinan – Two tricycle drivers were killed by unidentified suspects at dawn yesterday.
Police said Orlando Daleng Celeste, 25, a tricycle driver of Rabago Street here, was shot dead in Barangay San Roque.
Initial investigation showed that the victim parked his tricycle at the corner of Quezon Avenue and Carlos Garcia Street waiting for passengers when an unidentified man boarded.
Minutes later, Celeste was found dead in the middle of the road with gunshot wounds.
Read full story in the Journal Online
DAGUPAN City — A man was killed while three others were injured after an explosion rocked a firecracker shop in Barangay Bacayao Norte here at 11:30 a.m. yesterday.
Supt. Mateo Casupang, deputy chief of police, said Melanio Orit, 29, died on the spot. Marivic Ricalde, 41; her son Joshua, 4; daughter Jasmine, 5-months-old, and Juanito Flores, the victim’s neighbor, were in critical condition at the Villaflor Hospital. Flores was released after treatment.
The house where the firecrackers are manufactured as well as three neighboring houses went up in flames.
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DAGUPAN CITY — Police were set to file charges of robbery with multiple murder and frustrated murder against two arrested suspects in the killing of three hotel employees and the wounding of another here at dawn of Dec. 24.
Superintendent Edgar Basbas, city police chief, and Superintendent Manuel Velasco, provincial chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), presented suspects Victor Dalisay and Junjun Romero, security guard and laundry boy, respectively, of the Floren Hotel, to the media yesterday. A manhunt is ongoing for a third suspect.
Read full story in the Philippine Star
DAGUPAN CITY–Three employees of the Floren Hotel here were stabbed to death early Sunday just hours after they attended the employees’ Christmas party at the hotel.
Another worker was seriously hurt and was in critical condition at a local hospital.
Read full story in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
