ORMOC CITY-A barangay tanod from La Paz, Leyte was shot dead by a village councilor on March 12.

A Sangguniang Barangay Member (SBM) shot him dead about 9:40 in the evening on Tuesday, March 12, in Brgy. Bagacay East of this municipality.

Town police chief Lt. Fidel Triste identified the victim as Francis Berones, of legal age, a village watchman of Barangay Bagacay East while the suspect was named as Julio Suarez, 37, councilor of the same village.

Triste said that the victim was on his way home driving his motorcycle when he was suddenly blocked by the suspect.

The victim made a sudden stop but the suspect without any provocation shot him several times with the use of an unknown caliber of firearm hitting him on the different parts of his body.

Residents in the area brought the victim immediately to Burauen District Hospital for medical treatment but was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.

The members of the local police were able to arrest the suspect but the firearm he used in shooting the victim was not recovered.

The motive of the suspect in killing the victim remains undisclosed as of this writing.
A murder charge was filed against Suarez who is now detained at the lock-up cell of the local police. (ROBERT DEJON)

CAMP VICENTE LUKBAN, Catbalogan City-The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) – Philippine National Police (PNP) – Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) National Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Council (JPSCC) formally declared two New People’s Army (NPA) units in Eastern Visayas as dismantled last March 3, 2024.

The two NPA units were identified as Platoon 2 of Island Committee 47 Levox operating in the provinces of Leyte, Biliran and Southern Leyte, and the Elcon Platoon of Sub-Regional Committee Browser operating in the provinces of Samar and Eastern Samar.

Early January this year, the JTF Storm formally declared the four remaining guerilla fronts (GF) in Eastern Visayas as dismantled.

These are the Front Committee 2, Sub-Regional Committee (SRC) Emporium; Front Committee 1, SRC Emporium; Front Committee 15, SRC Arctic and Front Committee 3, SRC Arctic.

The Elcon Platoon of SRC Browser were remnants of the dismantled Central Front Samar 1 and Front Committee 3 of SRC Arctic while the P2 IC47 Levox was created in their attempt to re-establish a Guerilla Front in the provinces of Leyte, Biliran, and Southern Leyte.

The dismantling of the four GFs and the two NPA units was attributed to the successful and effective implementation of programs and projects under the National Task Force – Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) or the Whole-of-Nation Approach in ending the insurgency problems in the conflict-affected and vulnerable areas.

The Chairman of the Regional Peace and Order Council and Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez, said that the remarkable success of the 8th Infantry Division, Philippine Army, and the Joint Task Force Storm reflects the collective commitment of all units under the Joint Task Force Storm and the Regional TF-ELCAC in Eastern Visayas.

“ELCAC has proven that through collaborative efforts we can surely eradicate the remaining local communists. The problem in insurgency is everyone’s responsibility, so let us continue to be united in this quest of ending local communist armed conflict to attain long and lasting peace, and socio-economic progress among our community,” Romualdez said.

Moreover, the 8th Infantry Division Commander, Major General Camilo Z. Ligayo, said that the dismantling of these NPA units is the fruit of the aggressive campaign of the security sectors against insurgency.

“Let us actively support the programs of the local government to peacefully resolve all armed conflicts in Eastern Visayas. Let us encourage everybody to follow the path of peace and condemn those who advocate violence and the use of arms. Let us condemn the armed struggle and NPA atrocities and give peace a chance,” Maj.Gen.Ligayo concluded. (PR)

ORMOC CITY-A high-value individual on the drug watch list of the Philippine National Police (PNP) was arrested by combined forces led by the station drug enforcement team of the local police of Naval, Biliran, and the provincial drug enforcement unit of Biliran Provincial Police Office during a buy-bust operation at about 6:20 pm on March 12, in Barangay Atipolo, Naval town.

The suspect, identified as a certain Umpad, 37, married, watchman, was found to have a sachet containing a white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu procured by an operative in the amount of P1000.

During the conduct of a body search witnessed by an elected barangay official and a representative from the National Prosecutors Services, the searching cop recovered two more sachets containing the same white crystalline substances also suspected to be shabu with an estimated weight of 2.934 grams with an estimated value of P19,951.

Charges of violations of Secs. 5 (selling illegal Drugs) & 11 (possession of illegal drugs) were filed by the police against the suspect who is now detained at the lock-up cell of the Naval police station.
(ROBERT DEJON)

TACLOBAN CITY – The municipal government of Catarman in Northern Samar province is planning to establish a “Balay Silangan Reformation Center” for drug offenders to help them fully recover.

Mayor Francisco Aurelio Rosales III declared this during his meeting with Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Regional Director Grace Subong.

To fully help the drug surrenderees under their care, Mayor Rosales seeks help from the DSWD, as well as from the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for the “aftercare” program.

“Helping drug offenders will not end in enrolling them at the Balay Silangan. They must be capacitated by providing them life skills including livelihood opportunities because reformation is useless if they have nothing to do when they graduated in this program,” Mayor Rosales said.

Based on the provision of Dangerous Drugs Board Regulation No 3. Series of 2022, drug offenders who will be enrolled at the Balay Silangan will be under a three-month reformation program, where one is allocated to attend education, health, psychosocial, and physical activities, then two months livelihood and employment education phase.

The TESDA provincial office, represented by Provincial Director Zosimo De Asis, committed to provide livelihood and development training with allowance to the enrollees, while the DTI provincial office committed to help by providing livelihood training.

The municipal government will temporarily use a multipurpose evacuation center located in Barangay Polagi as the Balay Silangan.

The establishment of a Balay Silangan in Catarman will provide opportunities for illegal drug offenders in the province to undergo a drug reformation program within Northern Samar.

Established by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency through Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) Regulation Number 2, Series of 2018, Balay Silangan is a community-based reformation program aimed at rehabilitating surrendered drug personalities across the country by providing temporary shelters to drug offenders with the objective of reforming them into self-sufficient and law-abiding members of society.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)