the Provincial Information Office of Agusan del Sur (PIO) said the total funding amounting to P2.7 million was under the Sustainable Cooperative Operation Performance Enhancement (SCOPE) program of the Provincial Agriculture Office

of Agusan del Sur. The SCOPE program, it added, aims to provide support to the economic business operations of the cooperatives in the province. Governor Santiago Cane Jr. led the aid distribution Monday. Two of sufficiency. With NIA having sufficient funds and technical expertise to maintain the dam, Malanyaon said the provincial government is confident that the facility will function to its fullest for the benefit of local farmers. “The full operation of the dam is critical to the province’s goal of achieving food security through rice sufficiency,” she said. Funded under the Mindanao Rural Development Program, the CIP will provide

BIR seizes smuggled cigars in Zamboanga city market

ZAMBOANGA City – Police and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) personnel seized an undetermined volume of smuggled cigarettes in a surprise inspection of stalls at the city public market here Wednesday. BIRRegion 9 Director Aynie Mandajoyan-Dizon said the operation yielded reams of assorted smuggled cigarettes packed in more than 10 largesize trash bags. “We have yet to conduct an inventory to determine the worth of

the confiscated untaxed cigarettes and to compute how much taxes the stall owners will have to pay to the government,” Dizon said in an interview. Dizon said they will also file cases against the stall owners. “They are entitled to due process. We have to establish prima facie evidence before we file cases,” she added. Mayor John Dalipe said the inspection of market stalls forms part of the campaign to deny