House Speaker Romualdez visits Army’s 4ID HQ in Cagayan de Oro
House Speaker Martin Romualdez visited the headquarters of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division in Camp Evangelista, barangay Patag here on Tuesday.
Major Francisco Garello, 4ID spokesperson, said Romualdez came here as part of a two-day Armed Forces of the Philippines and House of Representatives regular meeting.
Romualdez was met by Major General Jose Maria Cuerpo II, 4ID commander; Misamis Oriental Gov. Peter Unabia; Representatives Yevgeny Emano (2nd District, Misamis Oriental), Lordan Suan (1st District, Cagayan de Oro), and Jurdin Jesus Romualdo (Camiguin).
Romualdez’s visit to Camp Evangelista, the biggest military camp in Northern Mindanao, came amid talks of destabilization following the rift between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Garello, however, brushed this aside, saying that the meeting was two years in the making.
“Tapos na ang Luzon and Visayas leg. The Mindanao leg has been postponed twice last year,” he said.
Oxfam PH, et al. distribute water conservation kits to prepare for El Niño
Oxfam Philippines and a consortium of international aid agencies have distributed water conservation kits to 2,000 families in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao who would be badly affected by the impending El Niño dry spell.
In Northern Mindanao, government agencies formed the Region 10 Task Force on El Niño to prepare mitigation protocols and interventions on the adverse impact that will be brought by. the dry spell.
“The best time to take action was yesterday. The next best time is now. We need to intensify our collective efforts to mitigate the adverse effects of El Niño as it peaks,” Oxfam Pilipinas Executive Director Erika Geronimo said.
The PAGASA weather bureau and the Manila Observatory have already found a decrease in water supply from wells and parched farmlands in the Maguindanao provinces.
PAGASA said El Niño would be felt during the summer months of March and April.
BARMM workers get wage hike
Agricultural and non-agricultural workers in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) are getting a P20 daily or P600 monthly wage hike.
The BARMM Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board chaired by Labor Minister Muslimin Sema approved the new wage order on Wednesday, its third since the board was created in 2019.
Under the new wage order, the salaries of non-agricultural workers in Cotabato City was increased from P341 to P361 a day. For agricultural workers in Cotabato City, the new take-home pay is P336 a day.
The new daily wages for workers in Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur and the cities of Marawi, Lamitan and Basilan province will be P336 for agricultural workers and P316 for non-agricultural workers.
For the 63 barangays in North Cotabato that is now part of BARMM Special Geographic Area (SGA), the minimum wage for non-agricultural sector is P341 and P316 for the agricultural workers.
‘Big time’ drug peddler nabbed in Lanao Sur
Anti-narcotics agents nabbed an alleged “big-time” drug peddler and reportedly seized P6.9-million worth of shabu in Lanao del Sur on Tuesday.
The Philippine News Agency, quoting Director Gil Cesario Castro of the BARMM Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, identified the suspect as Lawa Abedin, 47, of Barangay Bugaran, Poona Bayabao town in Lanao del Sur.
Backed by Scout Rangers, PDEA agents arrested Abedin after he allegedly received the marked money and handed over a sachet containing 1,025 grams of shabu to an undercover cop.
Castro said a caliber .45 pistol and a Moro National Liberation Front identity card was seized from Abedin.
