270 MOST WANTED NABBED IN SAMAR, LEYTE
CATARMAN, N. Samar: At least 270 suspected criminals, some on the list of most wanted persons, were arrested in Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte and Southern Leyte on orders of newly assumed Police Regional Director, Chief Supt. Gilbert Cruz, to intensify police operations against the at large suspects. Cruz disclosed that Leyte reported the highest accomplishment, followed by Eastern Samar and Western Samar in the continuing operation to bring the suspects to justice. He said that of the 270 suspects, 29 are charged with theft; rape, 18; robbery, 13; physical injuries, 11 while some are facing special laws or non- index crime charges. The intensification of police operations against suspected criminals is in line with the Duterte administration’s campaign against criminality and illegal drugs.
9 NPA ‘ BOMB EXPERTS’ SURRENDER
SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao: Nine communist New People’s Army ( NPA) rebels trained to fabricate and detonate power ful roadside bombs par ticularly the improvised explosive device ( IED) surrendered to the militar y with their firearms in Sultan Kudarat. The nine NPA guerrillas yielded to officials of the Army’s 33rd Infan- tr y Battalion in Barangay Malegdeg of Senator Ninoy Aquino town. They admitted they were supposed to plant IEDs along the Sultan Kudarat highway. They turned over six newly- assembled IEDs, subversive documents, medical supplies and lists of traders from whom they were to collect revolutionar y tax or protection money. Their identities were temporarily withheld pending the grant of security clearances to protect their relatives from the ire of leaders in the NPA’s Guerilla Front 73.
‘ EGG COMMAND CENTER’ LAUNCHED IN ECIJA
CABANATUAN City, Nueva Ecija: Microsoft Corp., an American multinational technology company, signed an agreement with the Nueva Ecija provincial government and the Department of Education ( DepEd) in introducing the “Egg Command Center,” an educational and disaster response system during calamity. It is housed in P5.5- million worth container vans, installed with computer system that serves as “incubator of knowledge intended for the young [ secondary] students for improving their learning process and prepare the community’s disaster response teams when needed,” said Dominic Chung Jr. of H2O Technologies Philippines. It is also equipped with solar panels, generator set, wi- fi and water filter. Nueva Ecija will shoulder P50million for seven more container vans as command center to be put up in far- flung areas, administrator Alejandro Abesamis said.