TACLOBAN CITY– The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in a joint operation of the Tacloban city police’s drug enforcement unit seized an estimated one brick of high-grade marijuana estimated to weigh one kilogram inside a warehouse of a courier services at about 11:35 am on Saturday (April 6) at the JRS Express, Gomez Street, Brgy. 20 of this city.

The PDEA said that a random checkup of K9 dogs of PDEA at the said courier resulted in the recovery of the illegal items.

It added that the K9 dog sat on the package to a consignee identified as a certain Mitch, a male, and a resident of Brgy 109, V&G subdivision Tacloban City who is at large. During inspection the PDEA officers found one brick inserted at several clothes inside a package.
The brick was a high-grade dried marijuana estimated to weigh around one kilogram with an estimated value of P200,000.

Said drug evidence is now in the custody of PDEA8 for proper disposition. While the consignee is set to be invited by PDEA at their office on Monday.
(ROBERT DEJON)

TACLOBAN CITY – Two dead bodies were found at the Sapiniton River in Zone 2, Barangay Guinciaman, San Miguel, Leyte, on Thursday (April 4) at 8:30 pm.

The victims, identified as alias Taling, 45, and resident of Brgy. Guinciaman and alias Berto, 42, and a resident of Barangay Libtong, San Miguel, Leyte, were found lifeless and submerged in the middle of the river.

According to PMAJ Ronald Espina, the victims had ventured to the area to retrieve their carabaos, which they had pastured along the banks of the Sapiniton River, prior to the tragic incident.

Further investigation by the San Miguel Municipal Police Station, revealed that the victims had sustained fatal gunshot wounds, leading to their untimely death.

In light of these findings, the cadavers of Taling and Berto were transported to the rural health unit for a post-mortem examination.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY – Regular operations have resumed at the Tacloban Airport a day after the completion of emergency runway repair, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said Thursday.

The CAAP field office here said Philippine Airlines canceled during the day eight flights from and to this city and Cebu Pacific (CEB) suspended six flights early morning but resumed their flights to Tacloban around 10:30 a.m.

“The CAAP management wishes to convey our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience. Thus, the safety of the riding public is our topmost priority. Further, kindly coordinate with your respective airlines for updates of your flights,” the agency said in a statement.

AirAsia resumed their operations at 5:40 a.m. on Thursday and added two recovery flights for passengers affected by temporary airport shutdown.

CAAP reopened the Tacloban airport runway around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday (April 3), after hours of emergency repair due to a peeled-off portion of asphalt overlay that was noticed around 7:30 a.m.

Even after the repair, airlines canceled the late afternoon to evening flights on Wednesday.
Of the 17 outbound flights, 14 were canceled starting at 10 a.m. until Wednesday night.
The overlay was peeled off around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday during the take-off of a Philippine Airlines aircraft.

The asphalt, according to CAAP, was just overlayed on Wednesday morning as part of the long-term project to improve the airport’s 2,100-meter runway.

In January 2018, the airport was also closed for two days due to emergency runway repairs.

Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban is one of the country’s busiest, with 36 daily flights between Manila and Cebu.

The airport in the regional capital ranked as the country’s seventh busiest in 2022, with 1,489,803 inbound and outbound passengers.

Named after Daniel Z. Romualdez, former speaker of the House of Representatives, the airport serves as the main gateway from Manila and Cebu to Eastern Visayas.
(SARWELL Q. MENIANO/PNA)