Communist hit squad back in action

Sparrow Units in Davao City
By ROGER M. BALANZA
            The head of a military- and police-backed anti-communist organization yesterday warned the Sparrow Unit, the dreaded liquidation squad of the communist New People’s Army (NPA), may have penetrated Davao City to carry out assassinations.
            Ryan Sardinia, chair of Southern Mindanao Alliance in Response to Terrorism (SMART), said [...]

Police scalawags in hot water

Cops in video karera probed
By ROGER M. BALANZA
 
The PNP XI has started probing into alleged involvement of policemen in the illegal electronic game video karera, but media yesterday failed to secure the names of the scalawag cops.
The regional office of the police Internal Affairs Service (IAS) which probes police omissions confirmed the ongoing probe, [...]

Military claim of dwindling NPA force slammed

200 fresh NPA recruits
fielded in ComVal
 
            As the military announced the dwindling forces of the New People’s Army (NPA), police in Compostela Valley province said 200 newly trained recruits have been fielded to wage attacks on government forces in the province.
            Supt. Ronald dela Rosa, ComVal police regional director, confirmed this information to DXAB radio [...]

Queensland Motel also in
trouble for caged sharks
By ROGER M. BALANZA
 
            Queensland Motel is not only an expropriator of public land but may also have run afoul with the law for the caged sharks in a pond on a foreshore area it reclaimed without permit from the government.
            A source at the Department of Environment [...]

Davao City council youth rep hit for absenteeism

            Did the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elect a 50-year old man to represent them at the Davao City Council?
            This cruel question appears to be in the lips of those seeking help from Councilor Halila Sudagar, who represents the SK in the city council.
            Sudagar, 15, a senior high school student at Buhangin National High [...]

Davao City 911 clone

Copycat Digos City to
create own 911 center
 
            Digos City is setting up its own emergency response center, the first city in the Davao Region to copy Davao City’s famed 911 Emergency Center.
            Mayor Arsenio Latasa said he is still looking for a name to pin on the project for a little bit of originality even [...]

Excreta smell torments Davao village

Spilled excreta
roils Sasa village
By ROGER M. BALANZA
A safety valve on a septic tank delivery truck gave way on midnight of Sunday, scattering human excreta on a 100-meter stretch in a village in Davao City on Sunday night.
The offensive smell woke up residents of Dona Pilar Village in Sasa, who mobilized a community crew to clean [...]

Police probing NPA in latest attack on Davao banana plantation

Banana packing
house burned down
Unidentified persons burned down a banana packing house in Kapalong, Davao del Norte on Thursday night, but police could not yet say if the arson is the handiwork of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
The packing house owned by the De los Reyes family was put to the torch on the evening [...]

Lintuan slay witness placed under Witness Protection Program

DOJ asked to issue hold
departure order vs. Larosa
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Southeastern Mindanao has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue a hold-departure order against broadcaster Nilo Larosa, a suspect in the December 24 killing of DXGO radioman Ferdie “Batman” Lintuan.
We are now coordinating with the DOJ for the issuance of [...]

Tribals fearing massive military operations

Military blames NPA for
Talaingod mass evacuation
By ROGER M. BALANZA
 
            Rumors spread by the New People’s Army and its legal fronts about an alleged impending military operation sparked the weekend mass evacuation of tribal natives in three barangays of Talaingod, Davao del Norte, the military here said.
            Col. Alexander Ambal, commanding officer of the Army’s [...]