Punto!PANANAW NG MALAYANG PILIPINO!

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LuzonCentralP 8.00

Volume 8 Number 43Thu - SaT

December 18 - 20, 2014

Page 8 PleaSe

CLARK FREEPORT – A Binay presidency promises to bring the long awaited full development of the Clark International Airport here as the country’s premier international gateway.

WITh ‘PREsIdENT’ BINAY

More Clark flights, less at NAIA by boNg lacSoN

READY TO CARE. The Medical City-Clark, the region’s most modern health care facility and one of the country’s best, stands majestic and ready to serve. Photo by bong Lacson

“We need to lessen flights at NAIA and increase those in Clark,” replied Vice President Jejomar Binay to the query whether the Clark airport is in his priority agenda should he win the presidency. This, as he cit-

ed the “overcapacity” of the Ninoy Aquino Internation-al Airport and the traffic congestion not only on air but also on land that currently obtained in the metropolis.

by DiNg cerVaNTeS

MABALACAT CITY – Traffic congestion is not a sole monopoly of Metro Manila. In this city, traffic woes have spun ideas on how to untangle the daily gridlock, even be-fore it gets worse by the time nearby Clark Free-port hosts the Asia-Pa-cific Economic Coopera-tion (APEC) summit this January.

Mayor Marino Mo-rales and members of the city council have passed a resolution urg-

BOKING AsKs CdC

Open old Dau Gate to solve traffic gridlock

Page 8 PleaSe

by aShley maNabaT

CLARK FREEPORT – The Medical City-Clark (TMCC) is now ready to be one of the pri-mary recipient hospitals for the

The Medical City Clark now ready for APEC, CIAupcoming Asia Pacific Eco-nomic Conference (APEC) in this freeport.

Evelyn “Ebong” Lucia-no-Yumul, TMCC sales and marketing director, said TMCC

will be fully operational by Jan-uary but will start with an initial 100-bed capacity from its full capacity of 150.

According to Yumul, there will be an estimated 200 per-

sonnel for the TMCC, exclud-ing doctors.

During a tour of the hospital on Thursday, Yumul showed reporters the different facilities and equipment of TMCC.

Yumul said TMCC is clas-sified as a Level 2 hospital by the Department of Health (DOH) even if its capability is already a Level 3 hospital.

CLARK FREEPORT - Re-ports that Pope Francis hint-ed that animals go to heaven has elated Filipino lovers, in-cluding businessman Robert Yupangco, who owns over 100 various animals, includ-ing an albino tiger that re-portedly costs P10 million, in zoo-theme parks in various parts of the country.

“It’s an affirmation of my belief that intelligent ani-mals were designed by God to complement humans,” Yupangco said in an inter-

Zoocobia owner happy over ‘animals going to heaven’

Robert Yupangco feeds his camel and donkey at his Zoocobia theme park at Clark Freeport. Photo by Ding cervantesPage 8 PleaSe Morales

Page 8 PleaSe

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ANGELES CITY – Plantilla personnel of the city govern-ment will each be getting an additional Php10,000 Produc-tivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) bonus before Christmas as Mayor Edgardo Pamintu-an approved the passage of Supplemental Budget No. 3, ordained by the Angeles City Council during a Special Ses-sion on Wednesday, 17 De-cember 2014.

“Our permanent, co-termi-nus, contractual and casual employees deserve this addi-tional productivity bonus es-pecially those at the front line services. This is based on Ex-ecutive Order No. 80 issued by President Benigno Aquino III and its implementing guide-lines, DBM Memorandum Cir-cular No. 2014-3 dated De-cember 2, 2014,” Pamintuan said.

“Actually, we wanted to grant this incentive even to our Job Order personnel. Howev-er, rules and regulations of the Civil Service Commission as well as the Department of Bud-

ON TOP OF CNA INCENTIvE, 13Th MONTh ANd 5K CAsh GIFT

AC employees to get 10K bonus eachget and Management prevent us from doing so,” he added.

DBM MC No. 2014-3 states that local government units have the discretion to set the amount “depending on the LGU finance capability” and subject to certain conditions.

Section 4.0 of the said cir-cular excluded the following from receiving the PEI bonus: consultants and experts hired to perform specific activities or activities with expected out-puts; laborers hired through job contracts; student laborers and apprentices; and, individ-uals and groups whose ser-vices are engaged through job orders, contracts of services or other similarly situated.

This PEI bonus is on top of the Php12,000 received by each city government employ-ee as part of the new Collec-tive Negotiation Agreement (CNA) signed by Mayor Pa-mintuan and the employees union AGENDA, as well as the 13th month pay and the Php5,000 cash gift.

–Angeles CIO

GOOD COps. Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, together with Vice Mayor Vicky Vega-Cabigting, hand out certificates of commendation to several members of the local police force for their outstanding work and bravery in the apprehension of several criminal elements in the past few months. The cops received certificates and cash gifts from the mayor during Monday’s regular flag raising rites. Photo courtesy of angeLes cio

by DiNg cerVaNTeS

BALANGA, Bataan -- Past World War II, folk in this province are moving anew for yet another defense of his-toric Bataan.

This time, they are shielding their vulnerable coastal province from storm surges that had caused severe devastation in Tacloban City during Supertyphoon Yolanda last year.

Students of Bataan Peninsula State University (BPSU) joined Mon-

Folk rising anew to defend Bataanday a bayanihan-themed run in Bal-anga City to raise funds for mangrove planting.

Some 1,200 students under BP-SU’s National Service Training Pro-gram (NSTP) joined hundreds more of employees and athletes in the five-ki-lometer Bayanihan fun run themed “Survive. Sow. Save. Strive. Strength-en” which started at Balanga City pla-za towards the BPSU campus.

“Proceeds of the run will be used to buy mangrove propagules to be

planted in the storm surge-prone ba-rangays of Sta. Elena and Camachile in Orion town, and Barangay Sapa in Samal town,” said Department of Envi-ronment and Natural Resources-Bata-an chief Raul Mamac.

Mamac noted that “mangroves along the shoreline serve as stur-dy and natural barrier against waves that bang into coastal communities of ocean-bound Bataan.”

“We won’t let poverty, typhoons or the culture of neglect to ruin what

a beautiful country we have, and in your case, a beautiful province,” said Jose Mari Oquiñena, director general of Philippine Information Agency, who keynoted the Bayanihan para sa Ka-likasan forum in BPSU.

This, even as Mamac stressed the “need to protect Bataan.”

“More projects involving youth par-ticipation are needed more than ever to raise awareness on the importance of volunteering oneself for critical pro-tection of environment,” he said.

CAROllinG. Mayor Edwin D. Santiago sings Christmas carols to bedridden senior citizens in Barangay Del Carmen as part of the city government’s program for the Yuletide season. The mayor also distributed gift packs consisting of medicines to the elderly. contributeD Photo

FLYING to the Philippines is not only more affordable than ever, but also more conve-nient, now that tickets aboard the country’s largest airline, Cebu Pacific Air (PSE:CEB) can be purchased through PayPal, a global leader in on-line payments. With PayPal, millions of travelers around the world will be able to pay

Flying with Cebu Pacific Air just got easier with PayPalholds a PhP999 seat sale to the Philippines

for CEB air tickets to and from the Philippines in just a few clicks.

The Centre for Aviation’s (CAPA) low-cost carrier of the year, CEB is the first carrier in the Philippines to offer PayP-al as a payment option. Pay-Pal has over 157 million Pay-Pal customers in 203 markets around the world. This part-

nership will help improve the customer experience for in-ternational travelers, making it more convenient and secure for them to purchase CEB tick-ets online.

“From planning a trip to booking flights, travelers are doing more online than ever before. Together with CEB, PayPal wants to make it even

easier and quicker for travel-ers to book and pay for their flights online. We are delighted to be working with Cebu Pacif-ic Air to provide a seamless online booking experience for their customers and help ex-pand their international sales.” said Rahul Shinghal, Country Manager for PayPal South-east Asia.

“CEB’s partnership with PayPal expedites CEB’s flight booking process for more global travelers. The addi-tion of this seamless payment platform to our list of payment center options complements our efforts to boost inbound tourism from key markets such as the US and Europe. Now, it’s all the more easier to book and fly to fun Philippines,” said CEB VP for Marketing and Distribution Candice Iyog.

After selecting their flights at www.cebupacificair.com, passengers may choose Pay-Pal at the payment page. To make payment, they will sim-ply need to login to their Pay-Pal account and confirm pay-ment, without having to enter their credit card or financial information. CEB ticket itiner-ary will be finalized after a suc-cessful payment is made.

The airline currently offers PHP999 seats between the Philippines and 9 countries: Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Viet-nam. PHP599 seats are also up for grabs for those travel-

ing from Manila to some of the Philippines’ popular tourist at-tractions: Boracay (Caticlan), Coron (Busuanga), Cebu and Palawan (Puerto Princesa). The seat sale is available un-til December 19, 2014 or until seats last, for travel from Jan-uary 15 to March 31, 2015.

CEB flies between the Phil-ippines and 28 international destinations: Australia (Syd-ney), Brunei, Cambodia (Siem Reap), China (Beijing, Guang-zhou, Shanghai, Xiamen), Hong Kong, Indonesia (Bali, Jakarta), Japan (Nagoya, To-kyo, Osaka), Kingdom of Sau-di Arabia (Dammam, Riyadh), Korea (Busan, Seoul), Ku-wait, Macau, Malaysia (Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur), Sin-gapore, Taiwan (Taipei), Thai-land (Bangkok, Phuket), Unit-ed Arab Emirates (Dubai), and Vietnam (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh).

It also operates the most extensive network in the Phil-ippines, with over 60 domes-tic routes from six operational hubs. This allows for conve-nient inter-island connectivity, on the lowest fares possible. Destinations include world-re-nowned diving, surfing and beach spots such as Boracay, Cebu, Palawan and Siargao.

For bookings and informa-tion, guests can visit www.ce-bupacificair.com. The latest seat sales and details may also be found on @CebuPacif-icAir, the official Facebook and Twitter pages.

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SILAY CITY, Negros Occiden-tal – About 1,000 local folks here and in neighbor areas like Bacolod City on Monday, December 15, received med-ical care and attention from the World Medical Relief, Inc., (WMRI) a Detroit-based chari-table institution that has been helping the sick and the poor for decades now.

The medical mission, com-plete with free medicines and other supplies, was organized by the Montelibano family and is part of the global outreach by the WMRI, in coordination with the city government here.

WMRI President and CEO George Samson said that the outreach is part of the Phil-ippine medical missions that have also been conducted in Luzon and Mindanao islands for the past several years.

Samson and wife Shei-la and son Christian George were part of the six-man team who flew in to Philippines to conduct medical mission and meetings with select lo-cal government units seeking much-needed medical help.

“WMRI is here to help not just our fellow Filipinos but also other nationals who need medical care,” Samson said.

WMRI President and CEO George Samson and Silay City Mayor Jose Montelibano (3rd and 4th from left, respectively) share a light moment before a patient gets a tooth extraction by volunteer dentist Dr. Rey Locson during a recent medical mission in Negros Occidental province. With them are Ambassador of Health Dr. David Zarate (left) and Mike Montelibano (right).

US-based NGO conducts Christmas outreach

Part of the outreach he recent-ly led was a mission to war-torn Somalia in East Africa.

Mayor Jose Montelibano welcomed the WMRI delega-tion and expressed thanks to the group that included some members of the La Pieta Inter-national Prayer Group. John and Marilyn Hinton of Circu-lo Capampangan Chicago Chapter also joined the mis-sion.

“We are thankful to Dr. Samson and his team. They are busy with their world out-reach and yet they found the time to accommodate our re-quest,” Montelibano said.

Samson was accompa-nied by Ambassador of Health Dr. David Zarate, his wife Dra. Jinky Zarate and some doc-tors from the US and Negros Occidental province. Zarate also serves as WMRI country manager for Philippines.

Local residents here with various illnesses such as dia-betes, hypertension, respira-tory problems, cholesterol and other health problems have been given free consultation and take home medicines. Among those treated were also pediatric and geriatric pa-tients and those with dental

problems.The mercy mission of

WMRI was started in 1953 with Mrs. Irene M. Auberlin, a housewife from Detroit, who organized and gathered her friends to help about 400 chil-dren who were orphaned by the Korean War.

With her mission, she was called “Mother Teresa of De-troit” in a tribute to her by the US Senate. She received countless awards and cita-tions, including a recogni-tion given her by no less than President Ronald Reagan at the White House.

Samson, on the other hand, has been recognized for leading charity work in var-ious parts of the globe. He is a recipient of Most Outstanding Kapampangan Award in 2010. He was also a finalist in the TOFIL Awards (The Outstand-ing Filipino) in 2011.

WMRI recently obtained a 4-Star Rating from the Charity Navigator, America’s premier evaluator of charity firms. The rating highlights WMRI’s ad-herence to best practices and policies for “sound fiscal man-agement and commitment to accountability and transparen-cy.” –Press Release

SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that JG Summit Hold-ings Inc., one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines, went live on SAP Screen Personas and SAP Fiori. This imple-mentation makes JG Summit the first company in Philippines to implement both SAP Screen Personas and SAP Fiori to modern-ize user experience and empower greater enterprise mobility.

JG Summit wanted to spruce up its existing front-end sys-tem, Robinsons Retail Store Application Launchpad, to improve productivity, and at the same time, enhance the user interface to excite employees who perform day-to-day operations on the system.

Using SAP Screen Personas, JG Summit recreated a simple and intuitive interface that has dramatically reduced the number of days taken to log a repair request from an average of five to two days and the number of screens and clicks needed to create a maintenance order from 12 to two and five to one respectively.

With the refreshed Robinsons Retail Store Application Launchpad, each transaction performed by employees is well-documented, saved and easily retrievable, making report-ing and tracking of end-to-end workflows a breeze.

In addition, JG Summit also deployed SAP Fiori for its pet-rochemical business, JG Summit Petrochemical Corporation, to provide managers with the power to manage workflow requests from internet-enabled smartphones and tablets. With SAP Fiori, managers can approve purchase orders in three simple steps, and track purchases in real-time from anywhere and at any time. This new flexibility not only improves productivity but also as-sists in shortening the turnaround time for certain operation-crit-ical tasks.

“Technology is a game-changer and a differentiator that will set companies apart from competition. At JG Summit, we be-lieve in investing in the right technology to help employees do their job simpler and faster. By simplifying complex processes into straightforward steps, it improves efficiencies and produc-tivity, and creates a better experience for employees. Ultimately, our goal is to establish an enterprise-wide, collaborative platform for all our employees through SAP applications on mobile,” said James L. Go, Chairman of the JG Summit Group.

Commenting on JG Summit’s forward-looking plans to im-prove productivity and embrace mobility, Darren Rushworth, SAP Managing Director for Philippines expressed: “Increasing-ly, we are seeing customers in the Philippines adopt SAP solu-tions to run their businesses better, smarter, and simpler. While consumer technologies have long focused on the user experi-ence, enterprise vendors like SAP have realized that people are an equally important factor in design. Now, more employees are getting the same level of simplicity from applications in the office as those that they use at home.”

Moving forward, JG Summit aims to extend the use of SAP Screen Personas and SAP Fiori to other business groups. The team at JG Summit’s Center of Excellence is working hand-in-hand with local Information and Technology teams to propel the business towards improved levels of efficiency.

About sAPAs market leader in enterprise application software, SAP

(NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organi-zations to work together more efficiently and use business in-sight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP ap-plications and services enable more than 263,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

JG Summit runs simple with SAP Screen Personas

and SAP FioriFirst company in the Philippines to improve productivity through personalization with sAP screen Personas

Ni rommel ramoS

LUNGSOD NG MALOLOS -- Labin-dalawang kabataang lalaki ang isinu-god sa ibat-ibang pagamutan sa Bu-lacan matapos mabiktima ng food poi-soning dahil sa pagkain ng tuba-tuba nitong Linggo.

Ang 12 biktima ay pawang nasa edad 9 hanggang 10 gulang mula sa Baranggay Matimbo dito.

Sila ay isinugod sa pagamutan matapos sabay-sabay na makara-nas ng pananakit ng tiyan, pagkahilo, pagsusuka, tuloy-tuloy na pagdudumi at hirap sa paghinga.

Walo sa mga ito ang isinugod sa Bulacan Medical Center habang ang

apat ay isinugod naman sa ibat-iba pang pagamutan.

yon kay Julita De Guzman, ina ng isa sa batang nabiktima, galing sa isang resort ang mga kabataang ito at nagsipaligo nang madaanan ang puno ng tuba-tuba sa isang bakan-teng lote.

Nakatuwaan daw ng mga ito na magsikain ng bunga ng naturang puno hanggang sabay-sabay na sa-maan ng pakiramdam kayat agad na nilang isinugod sa mga pagamutan.

Nasa ligtas naman na kalagay-an ang mga nabiktima ngunit sila ay iko-confine sa pagamutan ng hang-gang apat na araw upang obserbahan at paglalapat ng karampatang lunas.

12 bata na-food poisonsa tuba-tuba

CLARK FREEPORT ----Hindi na inabisuhan ng Saudi government ang Pilipinas sa pagpu-pugot ng ulo kay Car-letto Lara, convicted sa pagpatay kay Saudi na-tional Nasser Al-Gahtani noong 2010.

Ayon kay Vice Presi-dent Jejomar Binay, hindi naman daw siya nabigla sa parusang ito dahil di gaya ng ibang bansa, hindi naman nagbibigay ng abiso ang Saudi kung kailan ipapataw ang pag-pupugot ng ulo sa isang nasa death row.

Ayon pa kay Binay, ang isang binitay sa Saudi Arabia ay hindi na naiuuwi ang bangkay sa Pilipinas kayat doon na ililibing si Lara.

Nakahanda naman aniya na tumulong ang gobyerno sa pamilya ng OFW na pinugutan ng ulo.

Ayon kay Binay, sa ngayon ay bineberipi-ka na ng kaniyang tang-gapan kung document-ed OFW si Lara nang sa gayon at makakuha din ng tulong mula sa OWWA.

Ngunit bukod doon ay magbibigay pa rin daw ng tulong pinansyal ang gobyerno para sa mga naulila ni Lara dito sa Pilipinas.

Maging si Binay ay personal din daw na magbibigay ng tulong sa mga naulila ngunit tumanggi na siyang ide-talye ito.

Ayon kay Binay, sa pagkakaalam niya ay ta-ong 2010 pa ng masang-kot sa krimen si Lara sa Saudi at malagay ito sa death row.

–Rommel Ramos

Pagpugot ng ulo sa isang Pinoy sa Saudi, hindi ipinaalam sa gobyerno ng Pilipinas

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lll Trimedia Coordinators, inc.Publisher

General ManagerEditor

Marketing ManagerLayout

Circulation

Atty. Gener C. EndonaCaesar “Bong” lacsonJoanna niña V. CorderoDondie B. VenturaJojo Manalo/lacson Macapagal

Business & Editorial office at Unit B Essel Commercial Center,McArthur Highway, Telabastagan, City of San Fernando

Tel. No. (45) 625•0244 Cel. No. 0917•481•1416puntogitnangluzon@yahoo.com or marketing@punto.com.ph

http://www.punto.com.ph

Punto! Central Luzon is a proud member ofThe Philippine Press Institute

E d i t o r i a lacaesar.blogspot.com

Zona Libre Bong Z. lacson

Opinion

TODAY in philippinE hisTORYSource: www.kahimyang.info

Vigilantes unleashed

DRUG PUSHERS, beware. And that includes those merely suspected as

ones. The weekend just past, ironically mere days

after the international celebration of Human Rights Day, the right to live of three “suspected pushers” was exterminated with extreme prejudice.

In the City of San Fernando, one Raymundo Reyes, 47, “known in the community for his alleged involvement in the illegal drugs trade” was shot to death by motorcycle-riding men, even as he sought refuge in the house of a barangay official.

Aside from the nine spent shells and six slugs of .45 pistol police collected at the crime scene, a “sachet of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) was also found in the victim’s pocket.”

In Apalit town, Perry Española, 39, and Homer Calara, 46, were on their way home in Barangay San Vicente when “unidentified motorcycle riding-in-tandem gunmen shot them from behind at point blank range, killing them on-the-spot.”

Police said the victims were among the target personalities of the local anti-drug council for their alleged involvement in the illegal drugs trade, including the operation of a drug den.

Aside from the 12 spent shells and deformed slugs of .45 pistol police collected at the crime scene, “quantitative amount of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) was found in the suspects’ pockets.”

Two incidents, one pattern: 1) motorcycle-riding hitmen; 2) weapon of choice: .45 pistol; 3) multiple gunshots to guarantee the kill; 4) victims are suspected drug dealers; 5) shabu in the pockets of the targets.

Police seemingly more interested in establishing the involvement of the victims in the illegal drug trade than in determining the identity of the killers.

It is as though the victims took it upon themselves to be killed.

Yeah, but for the absence of the overused placard “Drug pusher, huwag pamarisan” at the crime scenes, everything had all the makings of a “salvaging.”

Vigilantes on the loose. MRCs taking on the new, nobler, meaning of motorcycle-riding crusaders.

Be afraid drug dealers. Be deathly afraid.

Terminal case TIMED WITH the Giant Lantern Festival last Dec. 13 was the opening of the inter-regional terminal hub at Robinsons Starmills.

Although already the third in the country – after Robinsons Novaliches and Robinsons Place Dumaguete – the Robinsons Starmills hub is in a league all its own as it will interconnect Regions 1, 2, 3 and CAR with NCR and even Region 4 and 5. It will also host a shuttle service to and from the Clark International Airport for seamless air travel for the areas it serves.

In the offing is a lounge for CIA commuters, and free parking “in a well-lit and guarded lot so travellers can leave their vehicles and take the shuttle to the airport.” Some convenient – and safe – parking-and-flying there.

Robinsons Starmills with a designated 1,760-square meter lot for the hub, makes an ideal location, indeed, being the virtual nexus of the Olongapo-Gapan Road, aka Jose Abad Santos Avenue (JASA) and the North Luzon Expressway (near the San Fernando Exit), onto the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway. Hence the inter-connectivity of the four regions north of Manila.

With operating hours of 6a.m.—9p.m. daily, the terminal hub will have four ticket booths, a convenience store, a hobby shop, an appliance store, three ATM machines, and 12 food and services kiosks. Not to mention the regular shops and stalls in the mall.

At Friday’s official opening, City of San Fernando Mayor Edwin Santiago was profuse with thanks to Robinsons Starmills and representatives of bus lines – notably Genesis, Victory Liner, Bataan Transit, First North Luzon, and Baliwag Transit – for the unified terminal that truly makes his city the gateway to North Luzon and the heart of Central Luzon.

In this respect, Santiago did one over his predecessor and mentor 3rd District Rep. Oscar S. Rodriguez who, during his mayorship, established the City Central Terminal at the western part of the capital along JASA where all buses going through the city were enjoined to hub.

A defiant Victory Liner maintained its own terminal near the junction of JASA and the MacArthur Highway in Barangay Dolores.

When mayoral push turned to judicial shove though, Victory Liner opted to route its buses to Robinsons Starmills to load and unload passengers.

Victory Liner’s move to the Gokongwei-owned mall was soon followed by other bus lines with SM City Pampanga as terminus. And the City Central Terminal of Rodriguez has since fallen to disuse.

Where Rodriguez obviously failed, Santiago seemingly excelled. So all’s well ending well with the inter-regional terminal hub at Robinsons Starmills now?

What is pure perfection on paper though is starting to get rip apart in actual application.

Already a choke point, the main ingress of vehicles to SM City Pampanga from JASA was further gridlocked when its opposite end on the Robinsons Starmills side was made the direct egress of buses from the terminal hub. With the Christmas shopping rush peaking, traffic at various times of day and night virtually stands still there.

It is not readily known whose bright idea was this. Prior to the opening of the terminal hub, buses from Robinsons Starmills made a U-turn at a small roundabout a kilometre away in Barangay Lagundi, Mexico and then proceeded to SM City’s designated bus stops to load and unload passengers too. The way the new traffic set up goes now, SM City has been scratched off the buses’ route.

Not only that. It is SM City too that suffers more from the traffic gridlock, with its entry point routinely blocked. While Robinsons Starmills’ egress, further west and directly opposite the NLEx exit, is easily accessible.

As much a synergized traffic system as cutting edge marketing strategy looks the inter-regional terminal hub to us.

Great move, Robinsons. Suffer now SM. Yeah, hosting the city government’s Giant

Lantern Festival and the Sinukwan Festival pays. Handsomely, at that.

Pray and tell, CSF, this ain’t some payback, er, instant ROI for investments in the form of sponsorships to those events.

ON DECEMBER 18, 1856, Graciano Lopez Jaena, one of the pillars of the Reform Move-ment during the Spanish occu-pation, was born in Jaro, Iloilo.

At a young age, his reli-gious mother sent him to a seminary in Jaro, feeling that priesthood was the noble pro-fession for her son. However, his study of religion and the at-mosphere in the seminary did not prevent him from unleash-ing his energies against the oppressors of his country and people.

His frequent visits to the poor and ordinary people in the remote areas made him re-alize how bad their living con-ditions were under the Span-ish rule.

Lively and intelligent, he took writing early in life and produced a tale entitled “Fray Botod” in 1874. The satirical

Graciano Lopez Jaenais born in Jaro, Iloilo

novel ridiculed the friars as abusive, cruel, lazy, greedy and immoral, who spoke of saintly verses but could not see their own wrongdoings.

This infuriated the Spanish clergy and Lopez Jaena was forced to leave for Spain to study medicine (which he did not finish) at the University of Valencia to avoid threats to his life.

In Spain, from huge gath-erings (social and political clubs), he bravely spoke about the evils of the Spanish rule in his country; denouncing vigor-ously the role of the friars in in-troducing and maintaining ob-scurantism in the Philippines and in obstructing progress of the people.

Historians regard Lopez Jaena, Marcelo del Pilar and Dr. Jose Rizal as the triumvi-rate of Filipino propagandists.

He was one of the founders and editors of La Solidaridad in 1888, which served as the mouthpiece of the Filipinos in Spain. As editor, Lopez Jaena did not receive any salary. His only compensation was free lodging, meals, clothing and a little pocket money for trivial expenses.

He also wrote in many pub-lications in Europe, where his name became famous as the “Fighting Filipino Journalist” abroad.

His obsession to free his country sapped his physical strength, until he died of tuber-culosis on January 20, 1896 in Barcelona, Spain. This was fol-lowed by the death of Marce-lo H. del Pilar on July 4 of the same year, and of Dr. Rizal by firing squad on December 30, thus ending the great triumvi-rate of Filipino propagandists.

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Napag-uusapanLangFelix M. Garcia

Effectivepublic serviceSA PANGUNGUNA ni City Mayor EdSanitong City of San Fernando, Pampangapinasinayaan ang ‘ceremonial’ napagsindi sa bagong ilaw sa kalsada

Sa kahabaan ng Lazatin Boulevard,nitong nakalipas na Lunes, sa tapatng Heroes Hall ang ginawang paglulunsadsa anila’y “hi-tech” na ‘modern street lights’

Kung saan maliban kay Mayor, kasamasina Fer Limbitco, Fer Caylao at sakaang city treasurer at si Aling Edaupang saksihan ang simpleng seremonya

Na tinawag nilang ‘ceremonial lightingsof the new street lights’ na siyang gagamitinbilang ‘replacement’ sa old type na ‘halogenbulbs’ na lumang uso’t napakamahal din Na mas mababa ang ‘wattage’ nitong isakaysa ‘incandescent bulb’ na sinauna,At ang lalong pinakamahalagaay mas maliwanag ang pinalit nila.

At inaasahang ang ‘city government’ay maka-menos ng halos forty percent’sa ‘electric bill’ nito kapag itong ‘target’na pagpapalit sa mga ‘incandescent’

Ay tuluyang nang maisakatuparanng butihing Mayor ang pagnanais niyangpalitan lahat ang sinaunang ilawnitong makabago’t mahabang ang buhay

At maliban pa sa ya’y talagang ‘hi-tech’na klaseng bombilya’t mababa ang ‘wattage,’ay napakaganda at lubhang matipidkaysa ‘incandescent bulbs’ at saka ‘fluorescent’.

Kung kaya naman ang butihing city Dad,kasama ang SP, si Vice at ang lahatng may malasakit sa kanilang siyudaday di matawaran ang kanilang galak

Sa tuloy-tuloy na pag-unlad ng lungsodat mai-angat pang lalo ang bantayog,sa kabila nitong ito’y nasa rurokna ng katanyagan at pagiging bantog.

At sanhi na rin ng pagiging masipagnitong magkasunod na naging city Dad,na sina Oca at EdSa na matapatsa panunungkulan kaya mas umangat

Ang kabuhayan ng mga Fernandinoat umunlad pati kalakalan dito,dala tiyak nitong ang pagnenegosyodito sa siyudad ay ligtas sa peligro

Ng pangingikil at itong tinatawagna ‘under-the-table,’ na ngayo’y talamakpartikular na sa malalaking siyudad,pagkat sa Pampanga ay bawal ang ‘corrupt’

Dala na rin ng pagiging ‘business friendly’ ng siyudad ay tunay din namang maramiitong negosyanteng lubos pumupurisa ganda at bilis ng serbisyo pati

Ng mga kawani sa pag-asikaso ng mga papeles na kailangan nito;Dahilan na rin sa mulat lahat ito sa ‘effective service’ ng pinuno rito!

CHRISTMAS is just around the corner and gift-giving is usual-ly associated with the celebra-tion of the season. As such, a Christmas bazaar helps con-sumers in finding unique gift items. This is one of the aims of the Santa’s Helpers Christ-mas Bazaar in Angeles City as it opens on December 6. It runs every weekend until De-cember 21.

The organizers of this ba-zaar said that in various plac-es, these kinds of set-up al-low the people to see what else is available in the market apart from those seen in malls. There are branded items that have more affordable prices.

They even added, “It is not only about shopping and find-

ing items to buy. Our Bazaar also helps budding entrepre-neurs put their goods out in the market. In fact we have in our line of sellers newly put up businesses, home-made food items, and even young entrepreneurs who wish to try out how their products will be accepted by the community. There are even celebrities and public figures who took part in this bazaar.”

To elevate this shopping experience, Santa’s Helpers Christmas Bazaar included special activities for the pub-lic. They have Acoustic Nights. They also had cooking demo from the International School for Culinary Arts and Ho-tel Management (ISCAHM),

one of the premier Culinary Schools in the country on De-cember 13 and 14. Kids en-joyed the bubble show pre-pared for them on December 14, Sunday.

“We have put up dining area for people to try out the products from the food booths. Visiting the bazaar can be a good bonding experience for the family on a weekend. Mai-ba naman from the usual ac-tivities,” said Anna Tayag-Ca-pati, one of the organizers.

Santa’s Helpers Christmas Bazaar is open from 1PM to 9PM on Saturday s and 8AM to 8PM on Sundays, Decem-ber 20-21 at VILLA ANGELA SUBDIVISION, near the club-house. –Press Release

Santa’s Helpers Christmas Bazaar opens in Villa Angela, Angeles City

IN THE wake of the scandalous discovery of luxurious quarters and amenities for privileged convicts at the National Bilibid Prison and the recent revelation of Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu (SEE http://www.inter-aksyon.com/article/101069/ampatuan-mas-sacre-suspects-able-to-use-cell-phones-inter-net-inside-bicutan-detention—mangudadatu) that the principal accused in the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan Massacre enjoy the use of cellular phones and Internet access while in detention in Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, the National Union of Journalists of the Philip-pines reiterates its call for authorities to allow unscheduled inspections of the detention fa-cility and to strictly implement the rules for de-tainees.

The revelation of Governor Mangudadatu is of particular concern since it was made follow-ing the attempted assassination of prosecution witness Akmad Ampatuan, former mayor of Datu Salibo town, and the murder of another witness, Dennis Sakal.

Allow unscheduled inspections of detention facilities – NUJP

The implication is that those accused of the worst incident of electoral violence in Philip-pine history and the single deadliest attack on the press ever – 58 people died in the massa-cre, 32 of them media workers – remain free to issue orders to their underlings. It is just as troubling that the disclosure of these perks follows the arbitrary banning, by the Philippine National Police and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, of journalists covering the trial sans a court order.

The authorities’ inaction on these pressing matters is certain to further delay, if not ulti-mately derail, the search for justice for the vic-tims of this most heinous crime. We call on Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to apply the same zeal she displayed in uncover-ing the Muntinlupa scandal to ensuring that the detention of those accused of the Ampatuan Massacre are not, in any way, allowed access to perks and luxuries that less privileged de-tainees are deprived of and, more importantly, that may thwart the interests of justice.

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From Page 1

Binay engaged the local media in an im-promptu press confer-ence while in-between functions he attended in Pampanga – stand-ing as principal spon-sor to the daughter of former Magalang May-or Lyndon Cunanan and guesting at the Giant lantern Festival in the

More Clark flights, less at NAIACity of San Fernando.

While he did not elaborate how he, as President, would bring in more flights to the CIA, it was enough for the frontrunner for the 2016 presidential der-by to outshine his ri-val, presumptive Liber-al Party standard bearer Mar Roxas, on the issue of the Clark airport.

Since his stint as

Secretary of the Depart-ment of Transportation and Communications when the Clark Interna-tional Airport Corp. was taken under its wing from the Bases Conver-sion and Development Authority, Roxas has been criticized here as an “obstacle” to the full development of the CIA.

The advocacy group Pinoy Gumising Ka

Movement even called for the resignation of Roxas as DOTC head, branding him as part of a so-called “Imperi-al Manila conspiracy to sabotage the develop-ment of Clark.”

This, after the Clark airport lagged in the DOTC budget allocation of hundreds of millions of pesos to the develop-ment of airports in the

country.Former Mayor Jer-

ry Pelayo of Candaba town who is “now do-ing full time work” with Binay said he is con-vinced that “only Presi-dent Binay can fully take Clark to its full potential as premier international gateway.”

“He has a full grasp of the need to decen-tralize Metro Manila

and create new hubs of development all around the country. And Clark, with Subic, is it for Cen-tral Luzon,” said Pe-layo.

“That is simply trans-lating his slogan ‘Ganito kami sa Makati, ganito sana sa buong Pilipi-nas,” added the man the Vice President called “CSSB,” meaning “Cer-tified Sipsip kay Binay.”

TMC’s MEDiCAl EQUipMEnT. The stationary bed bath at the burn unit, the first ever in a private hospital in the Philippines. Photo by bong Lacson

ing the Clark Develop-ment Corp. (CDC), a state-firm that manag-es the Clark Freeport, to open the Dau-Clark Gate along the Mabalacat Road of the freeport to decongest the business district in Barangay Dau.

Morales said the re-opening of the gate, once extensively used during the times of the Americans at the for-mer US Clark Air Force Base, would decongest not only Dau but also Ba-rangay Mabiga. These

Open old Dau Gate to solve traffic gridlockFrom Page 1 areas provide routes,

especially the MacAr-thur highway, towards the freeport from other northern provinces, as well as the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx).

“It will also allow con-venient transport for tens of thousands of workers at Clark and thus boost even their work efficien-cy,” Morales said. Clark provides employment to over 70,000 folk from provinces around the freeport.

“The rush hour at the central business dis-trict of Dau has reached

alarming proportions. There is a need to de-congest the old MacAr-thur Highway,” Morales noted.

CDC Environmental Department chief Juan Miguel Fuentes said the CDC had earmarked P90 million for the further de-velopment of the Mabala-cat East Road, the back-road that will link Maba-lacat Gate to the SM City Clark mall at the free-port’s main gate in neigh-boring Angeles City.

Morales urged the CDC to open the Dau-Clark Gate in time for

Clark’s hosting the Asia-Pacific Econom-ic Cooperation (APEC) summit this January. About 1,700 participants, including foreign gov-ernment ministers, are expected to attend the month-long summit at Clark.

Morales said the im-provement of the Maba-lacat East Road would “provide seamless in-gress and egress within the city limits because the central business dis-trict of Dau is already congested particularly during peak hours.”

Morales said “the city government would like to see the opening of the vi-tal road (East Road) for the benefit of the travel-ling public.” “Residents from the villages of Do-lores, Atlu-Bola, San Joaquin, Poblacion, Sta. Ines, San Francisco and so forth can utilize the Mabalacat East Road in going to SM Clark or An-geles City.”

The Dau-Clark Gate was built during the time of the US military base which abandoned Clark in 1991 after almost a century of stay. Filipino

workers at the former US facility used the gate for entry. When Mt. Pinatu-bo erupted in 1991, the gate provided access to a “tent city” built within Clark for victims of the eruption.

Morales and other Mabalacat officials ex-pressed confidence that CDC President Arthur Tugade would act favor-ably on their petition.

“The Mabalacat Busi-ness Club earlier also supports the opening of Dau-Clark Gate,” said businessman Alex Pine-da said.

view as he fed a camel at the Zoocobia theme park on the hills of this freeport.

Yupangco hailed the report on the Pope’s statement as a “welcome development” for ani-mal lovers. He recalled that as a youth living in Bel Air in Manila, he had owned a tiger inherited from a German who was to be deported from the country. This experience nurtured in him a deep love for animals, he not-ed.

Yupangco, head of the Zoomanity Group Inc., owns not only Zoo-

Zoocobia owner happy over ‘animals going to heaven’From Page 1 cobia here, but also Zoo-

colate Thrills in Loboc, Bohol, the Zoobic Safa-ri at Subic Freeport, the Paradizoo in Mendez, Cavite. So far this year, these sites have hosted some 1.2 million visitors.

Pope Francis has created new headlines when he reportedly “sug-gested” that animals go to heaven. He was re-ported to have confirmed this during his weekly address at the St. Pe-ter’s Square in late No-vember.

Reports conflicted on whether the Pope made such a statement, with the New York Times say-ing the declaration was a

quote from Paul VI and attributed to Francis.

But in his purported address last November, Pope Francis was quot-ed to have said: “The Holy Scriptures teach us that the creation of this marvelous design con-cerns all that is around us, and all that came out of the thoughts and heart of God.”

Huffington Post, translating the Pope’s address published in It-aly’s Resapubblica, was further quoted to have said: “Paradise is open to all creatures, and there we will be vested with the joy and love of God, without limits. And

it’s so beautiful to think of being face to face with Him who gives strength to the soul.”

The New York Times reported that animal groups such as the Hu-mane Society and Peo-ple for the Ethical Treat-ment of Animals ap-plauded the pope’s com-ments, although there were also critics.

The Huffington Post also quoted Fr. James Martin, SJ, a Jesuit priest and author of Je-sus: A Pilgrimage, as saying that the Pope’s comments shouldn’t be dismissed.

“This is not an offi-cial pronouncement. By

the same token, he was pretty clear about what he was talking about and we can’t simply dismiss it. He wasn’t putting forth any major church teach-ing. [But] overall I tend to agree with him. One way to look at it is that people have loving relationships with their pets and why would God destroy those loving relationships?” Fr. Martin noted.

Yupangco said his theme parks promote healthy interaction be-tween humans and ani-mals.

The Zoocolate Thrills in Bohol also promotes a river cruise around the Loboc River, tram rides

and horse and buffalo rides, while Zoobic Sa-fari in Subic allows close encounter between hu-mans and lions wander-ing in their natural habi-tat.

Zoobic Safari also has a Serpentarium that showcases exotic reptile collection and Rodent World with its assortment of rodents.

He said that on the other hand, Paradizoo in Cavite is “one-of-a-kind theme park and farm zoo that is full of rich gardens and animals. Some an-imals are free to roam around, while some can be seen inside their fenc-es.” –Ding Cervantes

“Capability is Level 3 but in so far as technical-ities are concerned it is Level 2,” Yumul said.

She explained that a Level 3 hospital requires a residency program and the TMCC has so far not partnered with any medi-cal school that’s why it is classified as Level 2.

Yumul said by Jan-uary, TMCC will also be opened to patients in the region but the grand launching will be in March.

“We will first give way to APEC in January and in February we will have the hot air balloon event,” she said.

Meanwhile, Yumul said the TMCC is also slated to be the trauma center for the Clark Inter-national Airport (CIA) not only because of its loca-tion but also because of its state-of-the-art facili-ties and equipment. She said the TMCC Burn Unit

The Medical City Clark now ready for APEC, CIAFrom Page 1 is also the only one of its

kind in the region.Yumul said TMCC

has a 128-slice CT scan, the first and only one in the region. CT scan or computerized tomogra-phy combines a series of X-ray views taken from many different angles and computer process-ing to create cross-sec-tional images of the bones and soft tissues inside the human body.

Yumul said another high-end medical equip-ment of TMCC is the 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Reso-nance Imaging or MRI. Tesla is the unit of mea-surement quantifying the strength of a magnetic field.

She said all TMCC X-rays are fully digital including the portable X-ray. All these com-bined, according to Yu-mul, makes TMCC a modern medical facility.

Dr. Cenon Alfonso is TMCC’s chief executive officer.

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