BOC LIMITS LUGGAGE INSPECTION
PASSENGERS arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport ( NAIA) and other airports in the country will no longer be subjected to luggage scrutiny unless marked with “X” that may contain valuable or taxable items. Customs District III Collector Ed Macabeo cited the directive from Malacañang putting a stop to the opening of luggage and set up “green and red lane” counters at the arrival areas where passengers choose where to exit. Passengers who have to declare taxable items must pass through the red lane while green lane is for those with nothing to declare. But passengers caught passing the green lane with taxable items luggage will be stopped and their belongings subjected to inspection and must pay additional charges for non- declaration. The directive was issued by Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. during the First National Anti- Poverty Commission en banc meeting after President Rodrigo Duterte instructed the Bureau of Customs to refrain from opening the luggage of passengers arriving in the country.
MARIKINA BANS OUTING, OUT- OF- TOWN SEMINARS
NO more team building activities or out- of- town seminars for city government employees of Marikina, after Mayor Marcelino Teodoro issued an order to all department heads prohibiting the programs as part of the cost- cutting measures and fiscal management. Teodoro said the money they can save from such activities will be used to fund the scholarships of more than 8,000 college students of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Marikina He, however, clarified he will only allow said activities held in local venues. The city government is expected to save as much as P15 million from out- of- town trainings and seminars. A total of P120 million has been allotted for tuition of city scholars.
PNP BUSTS INDIAN- LED KIDNAP GANG
THE Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) claimed to have busted a syndicate engaged in the kidnap-for-ransom of Indian, after the arrest of its leader and three other gang members in separate operations. Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa said Gurmeet Singh was arrested by AKG agents on March 25 after receiving P600,000 ransom from the family of victim Harvinder Singh who was abducted in Nueva Ecija on March 9. His three alleged cohorts identified as Jerry Cabading, Francis Castro and Gregorio Peña were arrested in separate operation in Lupao and Rizal towns in Nueva Ecija. They were presented to mediamen in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Monday. Seized from them were three unlicensed handguns, a grenade and the ransom money. Dela Rosa said the AKG is hunting down another leader of the group identified as Kikker Singh, believed involved in eight other kidnapping-for-ransom cases involving Indian victims in Pampanga, Bataan, Nueva Ecija and Metro Manila.
6 SLAIN IN NORTH COTABATO ‘ RIDO’
KIDAPAWAN, North Cotabato: Tension brewed in Carmen, North Cotabato after the killing of six persons and inflicting of injuries on several others when Moro families clashed over the weekend in what authorities believed was a case of “rido” or clan war triggered by land dispute. Capt. Alvin Macatangay, Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade spokesman, said efforts are initiated to settle the dispute between the group of Jimmy Matalam led by his son Arlin, against the Cua family in Barangay General Luna. Macatangay identified the slain protagonists as Ustadz Odin Bala, Mesi Bala and King Kambambalan, all from the side of Cua and Kalawan and Kusain Akmad group. Killed on the side of Matalam clan were Zukarno Maguid, Lawan Lakman and Makungan Lakman. Macatangay said the military and the police have deployed troops along the Sayre highway to ensure safety of motorists. Both groups have followers from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front. Meanwhile, the local government of Carmen is closely monitoring the movement of civilians who fled their communities for fear of being caught in the crossfire of the warring clans with at least 17 families evacuating to safer grounds.