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NONOY LECHON SERVICES OFFERED OUT OF TOWN ORDER
YOUR MINDANAO-WIDE NEWSPAPER
http://www.mindanaodailybalita.com
VOL. 1, No. 235
Cagayan de Oro City
Wednesday
February 22, 2012
P10.00
For more details, contact Tel. No.: 309-5276 HERMILINO VILLALON Manager
Capitol defends DepEd ‘memo’ By VANESSA L. ALMEDA Special to Mindanao Daily
MGB Regional Director Albert Johann Jacildo looks at the geo-hazard map of Balabag mountain in Bayog town in Zamboanga del Sur province. The mountainous area is marked ‘red’ because of dangers pose by landslides in Balabag. The illegal gold mining activities in Balabag in the town of Bayog in Zamboanga del Sur province is a disaster waiting to happen because the area is home to hundreds of small scale miners who use cyanide, mercury and nitric acid in their operation. Blasting is also rampant in the mountain where illegal miners use improvised explosives in making tunnels in Balabag. Photo by Al Jacinto
MINING OR GRAVEYARD? By AL JACINTO, Regional Editor-Zamboanga
ZAMBOANGA del Sur––Philippine authorities have expressed alarm over the unabated illegal gold mining activities in the mountain of Balabag in the town of Bayog in the Western Mindanao province of Zamboanga del Sur. Authorities said the rampant use of cyanide and mercury are threatening the environment and the safety and health of villagers around the mountain. There have been many cases of deaths related to illegal
mining over the years–– from landslides to blasting of tunnels––by small scale miners. The illegal activities continue to pose grave dangers and the pollution from hazardous chemicals
WEATHER UPDATE TAIL-END of a cold front affecting the Northern Luzon. Easterlies prevailing over Mindanao. Northern and Central Luzon and Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms becoming cloudy with widespread rains over the eastern section of Northern and Central Luzon which may trigger flashfloods and landslides. The rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms. Moderate to strong winds blowing from the East to Southeast will prevail over Luzon and coming from the East over the rest of the country. The coastal waters throughout the archipelago will be moderate to rough.
source: pagasa
such as cyanide, mercury and nitric acid are now threatening not only the water and food sources in Balabag, but the safety of humans and animals as well. The toxic chemicals are being used by small-scale miners to extract gold from rocks and earth dug from tunnels that now dotted the mountain like bee hives. Tons and tons of cyanide, mercury and nitric acid are dumped in Balabag over the past decades by illegal miners whose operations MINING/PAGE 10
Cops nab drug suspect, 2 others escape in buy-bust By PAT SAMONTE, Regional Editor-Caraga
BUTUAN City––A suspected drug pusher was apprehended while two others escaped in two separate police “sting” operations here and Surigao City over
the weekend. Authorities identified the suspect as Frederick Cortez Barrier, 33, of Surigao City. Barrier’s brother, Mark Felizarta Cortez, eluded ar-
rest. Alvin Buyan Tioaquin alias Tata jumped from the second floor of a lodging house here and made good his escape from police raiders, police said. On Sunday, elements of the Caraga police intel-
ligence division, Surigao City police, and a Special Weapons and Tactics team raided the suspects’ house following a buy-bust operation at around 6 pm. The raiders were armed with a search warrant issued by
Butuan City Regional Trial Court Branch 2 Judge Emmanauel Escatron. Caraga police information officer Supt. Martin Gamba said the raiders arrested Barrier from whom BUST/PAGE 10
SU R I G AO C i t y – – T h e Department of Education official facing a snowballing public outcry on her order requiring pupils and students to submit a tax clearance certificate as requirement to graduation finds an ally in Capitol. While admitting there was “no malice” when she issued the memorandum, Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Evelyn R. Fetalvero said there is no reason to cause an uproar as she already issued an addendum to DepEd Memorandum No. 08 issued on January 18, 2012. “It’s already in the addendum …(and) really, I have no malice about this (memo) as I am only doing it to help our local government,” the DepEd official said Wednesday. The addendum was issued February 3, 2012. Provincial Administrator of Surigao del Norte lawyer Premolito Plaza came to the rescue of the embattled DepEd official saying it will be “thankless” if they leave her “hanging” when she has only offered her support to the policies of the provincial government. “Lisud man sad kaayo kay nitabang man ang departamento sa atong gobyerno (local government unit),” Plaza said. Plaza explained that Fetalvero’s move,in relation to the Gov. Sol F. Matugas Executive Order 001 issued last January 7, 2011, is in line with the “territorial jurisdiction” of the local government, the DepEd Division being “under” it. Plaza has also emphasized the role of “partnership” between the local government unit with national line agencies as expressed in the 1991 Local Government Code’s General Provision MEMO/PAGE 11
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