Rebs ambush Lanao man, seize 4 teens

Communist rebels ambushed a local leader in Lanao del Sur and seized four teenagers in Albay early this week, the Army’s public affairs office said.

Citing belated reports, the military said about 10 armed men ambushed a certain Alexander Amatonding along the national highway in Barangay Kabasaran in Lumbayanague, Lanao del Sur last Monday afternoon.

Amatonding was wounded in the 10-minute fight that ensued between the rebels and his group.

In Albay, four teenagers aged 14 to 18 were forcibly taken by guerrillas from their respective residences.

Lt. Col. Joselito Kakilala, Army spokesman, said the abduction could be part of the rebels’ recruitment campaign.

Soldier, 3 Other Drug Pushers Fall

COTABATO CITY — Four suspected drug pushers, one of them an Army soldier, were arrested by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) yesterday.

Chief Inspector Romeo Espero, deputy chief of the regional PDEA office, identified the four as Cpl. Rudolfo Dasas, Alice Upao, Merriam Adzal and Alexander Umal.

Dasas, who claimed to have gone absent without official leave (AWOL), was nabbed in his safehouse in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat town, about a kilometer away from the 6th Infantry Division headquarters.

Upao and Adzal fell during a drug buy-bust in Tamontaka district here, while Umal was collared by plainclothes policemen in the public market. — John Unson

Landslides Displace Cotabato Folk

COTABATO CITY — Landslides triggered by torrential rains have displaced 43 families in a mountainside farming community in Magpet, North Cotabato, radio reports said.

The residents of Barangay Bantak were forced to abandon their homes after mud and boulders cascaded from the nearby hills and buried more than a dozen houses.

The landslides destroyed some P200,000 worth of palay and corn crops, and more than two kilometers of the farm-to-market road leading to the Magpet town proper. — John Unson

Teacher, 3 Others Caught In Shabu Session

MANGALDAN, Pangasinan — A public high school teacher, an employee of the Department of Public Works and Highways and two others were nabbed while allegedly engaging in a shabu-sniffing session in an abandoned house here Wednesday night, police said.

Chief Inspector Harris Fama said they, along with Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents, swooped down on the abandoned house on Cortes street after receiving a tip from a concerned resident.

Arrested were Federico Manuel, 33, of the Calasiao Comprehensive National High School; Albert Pasiliao, 35, a DPWH contractual worker in Rosales town; and Ricardo Calamiong, 33, and Edwin Valenzuela, both of Lingayen town.

Seized from them were a torn plastic sachet containing suspected shabu residue, three pieces of six-inch aluminum foil and a disposable lighter. — Eva Visperas