Across The Country

Hopes dim for 6 missing in sea mishap

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Authorities are set to stop ongoing search and retrieval efforts for the six missing passengers of a ferry that sank off the coast of Aparri, Cagayan last Dec. 14 after no more bodies or survivors have been found for almost a week.

Senior Inspector Alex de los Santos of the Ballesteros police said hopes have dimmed that any more bodies or survivors from the sunken M/B Mae Jan could still be found.

Apart from the six still missing, the death toll has remained at 47, with 45 survivors rescued only hours after the mishap. – Charlie Lagasca

Death threats hound slain mayor’s kin

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – The family of the mayor of Rizal, Cagayan who was gunned down last Dec. 3 has left the town due to death threats, police said yesterday.

Senior Inspector Rogelio Caronan, Rizal police chief, said the family of slain Mayor Raul de la Cruz has decided to leave the remote town and stay in Metro Manila.

De la Cruz, 61, and his seven aides and security personnel were on board a Manila-bound municipal bus when 20 armed men waylaid them along the Tuguegarao City-Piat Highway.

Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian, Cagayan Valley police director, said investigators were zeroing on politics, the involvement of communist rebels and personal grudge behind the mayor’s slay.   – Charlie Lagasca