Apayao, Philippines

Armed robbers ran away with P3 million worth of payroll money for provincial employees as they held up the provincial treasurer of Apayao Tuesday afternoon, ABS-CBN Regional Network Group reported.

An initial report said the incident took place at around 1 p.m. in Barangay Lenneng, Kabugao when Conrado Sipsip, provincial treasurer of Apayao, and four other people aboard a Mitsubishi Pajero were held-up by four armed men.

The men were reportedly wearing bonnets during the heist.

Aside from the money. The suspects also took away a cellular phone and a bolo.

ABS-CBN News

APAYAO Governor Elias Bulut ordered the release of P10 million for the Provincial Anti-poverty Program as an immediate response to this pressing problem of the province.

The funding was initiated through the Apayao Solidarity Movement Against Poverty (Asmap) conceptualized as one of the poverty alleviation programs of the Provincial Government which aims to help the poorest families by providing them financial assistance for various livelihood projects.

An initial 1,000 families were identified, oriented and trained from the three towns of Upper Apayao — Kabugao, Conner and Calanasan — as priority beneficiaries.

Each family beneficiary will receive P10,000 as seed money for their livelihood projects.

The barangays of Sabangan and Eleazar both of Calanasan, Talifugo of Conner and Karagawan of Kabugao were the first to receive their livelihood allocations. Other barangays are scheduled to receive their allocation this May until December.

Meanwhile, the governor ordered the release of another P2 million to fund the province’s Community Health Insurance Program (Chip) which is also intended for the poor and marginalized families of the entire province. RO

Sun.Star Baguio 

SPEAKER Prospero Nograles yesterday said the bill extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program law will be approved before Congress adjourns in June.

Nograles also said the new CARP law will improve on the existing agrarian reform law which is set to expire on June 2008.

The 20-year-old law has encountered many problems and failures in the implementation of agrarian reform, the Speaker said.

“After 20 years of implementation, we have seen many loopholes in the CARP law so we have to correct them through this proposed extension,” Nograles said.

Last Wednesday, the House Committee on Agrarian Reform chaired by Apayao Rep. Elias Bulut, approved on committee level a consolidated bill seeking to extend the CARP for another five years.

Nograles added that the lawmakers agreed to include in the bill a provision prohibiting conversion of agricultural land to stop the decline of agricultural production and boost food security.

A flaw in the CARP implementation, Nograles noted, is the lack of government support and monitoring of the distributed lands to ensure that each piece of land awarded to farmer-beneficiaries are productive.By: Jester P. Manalastas

Journal Online

By Kayceline Buted

AFTER President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s call for wage boards to study the possibility of increasing the salaries of workers across the country, the regional tripartite wages and productivity board-Cordillera Administrative Region (RTWPB-CAR) will conduct a special board meeting on April 22 to decide if there are enough reasons to raise wages.

Aimed at determining the existence of “supervailing conditions” in the region such as the extraordinary increase in the prices of petroleum products, basic commodities, and services, the special board meeting will be attended by representatives of the sectors forming the tripartite body: government, management, and labor. These three sectors, united as one body, will find out whether there is a need to grant relief to private sector workers in CAR and help them cope with the rising cost of living without impairing the productivity and viability of businesses and industries in the region.

However, Wage Order 12 is still in effect in the region; and according to Manny Dominguez of the RTWPB-CAR, implementing another wage order while the last one still exists is not one to be counted on.

Sun.Star Baguio

MANILA, Philippines - The National Food Authority (NFA) closed down two government-accredited rice outlets in Apayao province which the agency is investigating for alleged irregularities in their operations.

Radio dzRH reported Friday that NFA Cagayan provincial manager Rocky Valdez would not name the two outlets, which the NFA found to be hoarding rice.

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