DILG SEEKING CONGRESS APPROVAL OF P1.1-B OUTLAY FOR BFP TO MODERNIZE DILAPIDATED EQUIPMENT

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is asking Congress to approve a P1.1 billion capital outlay for the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) under its proposed budget for 2009 as part of the Arroyo administration’s efforts to modernize the country’s antiquated fire fighting facilities and equipment.

DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the proposed P1.1 billion capital outlay of the BFP for next year will be used to procure 100 units of 1,000-gallon capacity fire trucks, 500 sets of personnel protective equipment, and 632 units of breathing apparatus.

The DILG has proposed an allocation of P900 million to procure these 100 fire trucks; another P34.86 million for personnel protective equipment that includes fire suits, gloves, helmets and boots; and P170.88 million for breathing apparatus with refillers.

Puno said the fire trucks would be distributed nationwide to replace dilapidated and decommissioned units, while the breathing apparatus and personnel protective equipment will be distributed among fire stations in Metro Manila.

This year, the BFP has procured 14 units of fire trucks worth a combined total of P135 million, while another P100 million from congressional initiatives is now being readied to buy additional units, according to DILG data.

Besides fire trucks, the BFP is also in the process of procuring P23.77 million worth of breathing apparatus and hiring 500 fire officers to augment the shortage of fire fighters in the bureau.

Underscoring the urgent need to modernize the BFP, Puno noted that although fire protection is a basic frontline service, only 827 or 55.35% of the country’s 1,494 municipalities have fire protection capability.

If the BFP were to comply with the minimum requirements under the law of establishing one fire station with adequate firefighting equipment and personnel in each municipality, it would immediately need at least 667 fire trucks, Puno said.

However, the BFP has an existing fleet of only 1,741 fire trucks, of which only 74% are operational. The Bureau’s existing fleet is actually short of 1,926 units, considering that for an estimated population of 90 million Filipinos in 2008, it needs 3,214 units to bring down the fire truck-to-population ratio to one fire truck for every 28,000 people.

To date, the actual truck-to-population ratio is one fire truck for every 69,626 persons.

Worse, he said, only 2,285 sets of personnel protective equipment, such as fire-retardant coats and boots, are available for use by the BFP’s 12,814 firefighters, which means only 17.83% of them are protected when they are exposed to chemicals and other hazards during fire-suppression operations.

The BFP also has a shortfall of 16,406 firefighters, and a grave shortage of fire inspectors, considering that the bureau only has 1,620 of them in relation to the number of establishments to be checked, which is estimated at 835,000 structures nationwide. This does not yet take into consideration the construction of new buildings, which averages 103,000 units each year.

With the shortage of fire inspectors, the BFP can only inspect an annual average of 381,565 establishments.

FTD INSPECTS GROCERIES IN THE BINONDO AREA TO CHECK FOR CHINESE MILK PRODUCTS

Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III leads the inspection of stores in the Binondo area to check for milk products from China which were banned recently because of findings that many contained the toxic chemical melamine. FTD talked to the store authorities and ordered them to remove the products from the shelves or the health department would file appropriate charges against them.

China Contaminated Milk Scandal Widens

A third infant has died in China from contaminated milk and more than 6,000 made sick. The scandal has forced nationwide recalls of milk products by China's top dairy producers, including some exported to five countries. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing.

China's Health Minister Chen Zhu on Wednesday said there are now 6,244 reported cases of infants made sick and, among those, three have died from drinking tainted milk formula.

Speaking at a news briefing broadcast live on national television, he said the numbers could go up as more parents take their children to hospitals.

Chen says there are now 1,327 infant patients in the hospital. He says 158 are suffering from acute kidney failure.

The scandal over tainted milk powder surfaced after large numbers of babies were hospitalized suffering from kidney stones. All had been fed formula made with powdered milk.

China's largest powdered milk producer, Sanlu Dairy, was found to be using milk laced with melamine, an industrial chemical that can make food appear higher in protein.

Chinese officials said an investigation of 109 powdered milk producers found that 20 percent of them added melamine to their products, including China's largest milk producer Mengniu.

Li Changjiang, head of China's quality watchdog., says starting today they will station 1,400 inspection teams amounting to nearly 5,000 people at all dairy producing enterprises. He says they will make on-the-spot inspections and conduct strict and effective oversight.

Li says his department has ordered a recall of all suspect products, including goods from two companies that exported to Bangladesh, Yemen, Burma, Gabon, and Burundi.

The New Zealand dairy company Fonterra is part-owner of Sanlu and says it raised concerns about tainted milk weeks ago but Sanlu was slow to respond.

New Zealand's prime minister says the Chinese government began investigating only after she raised the issue through official channels.

The manager of Sanlu and four local officials in Hebei, where Sanlu is based, have been fired over the scandal.

Chinese officials have vowed to inspect all dairy products in the country and say they may for the first time begin regular testing for illegal additives such as melamine.

This is not the first time milk powder has killed babies in China. In 2004 at least 12 infants died from drinking fake milk powder.

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PUNO: CRIMINAL CHARGES FILED VS. KUMANDER BRAVO, UMBRA KATO, MORE THAN 80 OTHER MILF RENEGADES

by: www.dilg.gov.ph

Criminal charges that include double murder, robbery-in-band and arson were filed before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Lanao del Norte against Moro Islamic Liberation Front leader Abdulrahman Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo, and over 80 of his cohorts in connection with the series of slayings of civilians and other lawless acts committed by these lawless MILF elements, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno said yesterday.

At the same time, Puno called on the MILF central leadership to assist ongoing efforts by law enforcers to apprehend and bring to justice Bravo, his fellow MILF renegade leader Umbra Kato and their co-conspirators to prove its sincerity in pursuing the peace process.

“The filing of cases against are already known to the MILF central committee. We are hoping that they will assist the government in bringing to justice these lawless elements,” Puno said in a press briefing at the national police headquarters in Camp Crame . “If they are truly committed to peace and want the peace process to continue, then we expect them fully to cooperate with our system of justice.”

The DILG chief said the MILF Central Committee’s inaction in helping government pursue these rogue elements “is tantamount to a tacit approval” of the brutal acts committed by them.

“If the leaders in the MILF Central Committee cannot help the government, then this will just show that they do not have the right to speak for the MILF because they cannot even control their members. Perhaps we should not be talking to them,” Puno noted. “Kapag hindi sila tumulong, nangangamba ako sa mga mangyayari sa susunod na mga araw.”

Among those who were included as respondents in the criminal cases filed against Bravo and Kato were the 31 MILF members who surrendered recently to the government. Puno, however, said that if these 31 respondents are willing to turn state witnesses against their cohorts, then they may be accorded a different treatment by state prosecutors since they were merely acting on orders from their superiors and cannot be considered the most guilty.

An initial 90 respondents, among them, Abu Sawaf, Abu Subair, Alin Pangalian and Lunday Dayaan alias Commander Topsider, were included in the charges filed against the MILF renegades, which include one count of double murder, three counts of frustrated murder, one count of murder with frustrated murder, robbery in band, arson, and serious illegal detention, Puno said.

Puno said he will proceed to various areas in Mindanao early next week to hold dialogues with local government executives, Ulamas and Catholic bishops on how to restore normalcy to the lives of the people in areas that were attacked by the MILF.

Among the issues to be discussed during these dialogues, Puno said, are the deputization of members of civilian volunteer organizations (CVOs) as police auxiliaries who will assist the Philippine National Police (PNP) in securing villages prone to MILF attacks.

PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. made it clear that police auxiliaries to be deputized by the PNP will be limited to their respective barangays.

These auxiliaries, he said, will undergo extensive background checks, training and “re-arming” before they can be deputized to assist the PNP in securing barangays.

Puno called on the people in Mindanao to leave the task of fighting rogue MILF members to the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) instead of taking it upon themselves to carry out this responsibility.

He said that the PNP “will see in the course of the next few days” how may police auxiliaries are needed to secure villages in certain parts of Mindanao

THE POWER OF TWO

by Nima S. Sevilla

Two of the most sought after and promising young lawyers of the Municipality of M'lang are now neophyte members of the 16^th Sangguniang Bayan of M’lang, Atty. Russel M. Abonado and Atty. Regerick L. Benito. Both lawyers were batchmates in high school at thr Notre Dame of Mlang for SY 1991– 1992.

Atty. Russel M. Abonado finished his preparatory Bachelor of Arts major in Social Science at the Southern Baptist College in 1996. He started his first year of law proper at the Ateneo de Davao University but was able to finish his Bachelor of Laws at the University of Mindanao in 2001.

Atty. Regerick L. Benito on the other hand, finished his preparatory Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy at Christ the King Seminary in Quezon City and graduated Magna Cum Laude. He was then a part-time instructor at the University of Southeastern Philippines in Davao City while earning his Bachelor of Laws at the Ateneo de Davao University where he finished in year 2001.

The two (2) lawyers took and passed the bar exams in 2002 and started practice with the same law firm in Kidapawan City, but eventually put up their individual law offices. Atty. Abonado became the Provincial Legal Officer of the Province of Cotabato from year 2004 to the early part of 2007, while Atty. Benito practiced his profession at the Public Attorney’s Office in Kabacan, Cotabato. The latter won the COTELCO Board of Director’s election in May 2005 but resigned in March 2007. In their fervent desire to serve their people in the municipality, both resigned from their respective positions, run and won in the May 2007 local elections as members of the Sangguniang Bayan,.

Armed and equipped with knowledge and experience in legal matters, both lawyers are no longer be confined to argue in the four walls of the court room, but also in the four walls of the Sangguniang Bayan’s Legislative Chamber.