Air Force ships books to schools in ARMM
By Julmunir I Jannaral
THE C-130, the Philippine Air Force’s biggest cargo plane that is usually used to transport soldiers and war armaments to the war zone, delivered a total of 3,682 books yesterday from Manila to Jolo, Sulu.
Carol Capan of the Rotary Club of Makati said “it’s the first time we had this many books sent to our recipients”.
The Rotary Club, in partnership with Pittsburgh-based Brother’s Brother Foundation, has been running a nationwide literacy programme called Books Across the Sea (BATS) since 1988.
Recently, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) extended assistance to BATS and funded a three-year project with the Rotary Club to distribute books specifically to public schools in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Capan said.
She said the books were brand new, hardbound and published by one of the world’s leading publishers, McGraw-Hill.
Call for joint study of Spratlys
THE Philippines will encourage other claimant-countries of the Spratly Islands to join the Philippine-China-Vietnam tripartite study on potential oil and gas resources to fully transform the disputed islands into an area of cooperation.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo yesterday said “we have to invite other claimants to join us if we really want to convert this sea of conflict into an area of cooperation”.
The tripartite agreement, signed early this year, will be enforced for three years, and will cover an area of 143,000sqkm, Romulo said.
The tripartite agreement was signed by Eduardo Manalac, president of the Philippine National Oil Co and his counterparts from the China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp.
Suspects in killing arrested
THE Manila Police District (MPD) made arrests in the killing of a University of Santo Tomas (UST) student and several other holdup cases in Manila yesterday.
Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong, MPD director, identified the suspects as Raymund Lee, 21, of Binondo, Manila; Alfie Connosido, 23, of Basan Street, Quiapo, Manila; and Eduard Samontina, alleged leader of the Blondie robbery group, of Sampaloc, Manila.
Bulaong said the three were identified by witnesses as the men who robbed several Internet and computer shops in Sampaloc, Manila. They are also implicated in the holdup of a number of jeepneys and FX taxis in Manila the past few months.
At police headquarters, Lee confessed that he and the two other suspects were responsible for the holdup-slay of 18-year-old Jeff Marty Longyapo, a UST student.
The suspects were charged before the Manila Prosecutor’s Office with robbery with homicide and four counts of robbery. |
