MORE ‘BOTIKA NG BARANGAY’ SOUGHT
THE Department of Health on Friday encouraged the private sector to invest in the Botika ng Barangay program of the government. Dr. Eduardo Janairo, Department of Health (DOH) Center for Health Development-National Capital region (NCR) director, said that private can sector can join the growing number of operators in Metro Manila providing quality medicines at affordable cost. “DOH-NCR has already established a total of 910 outlets all over Metro Manila as of October this year, and we are encouraging more applicants to enlist in the program especially in priority areas identified by the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction and the Conditional Cash Transfer program of the government,” said Janairo. “Because of its significance, both in the provision of low priced quality medicines and its contribution to improvement in market contestability, we will advocate for its continued establishment by introducing a sufficient financial and management support system to make them sustainable,” Janairo added. JOVEE MARIE N. DELA CRUZ

UNPAID BENEFITS TRIGGER DOST WORKER PROTEST
SOME 200 employees of the Department of Science and Technology held a protest rally on Friday at the agency’s main office over the government’s failure to reinstate their benefits such as longevity pay, hazard pay and other allowances. Clad in black, the protesters carried placards which asked the government to reinstate their benefits as provided in the Magna Carta for Science and Technology workers. Protesters also said that they will eat porridge to let the government know that the benefits they receive are insufficient to buy rice and viands, and other necessities. While employees of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration already received their benefits, protesters lamented that they did not receive their hazard and longevity pay since January. NEIL A. ALCOBER

CLERK OF COURT CLEARED OF RAPS
THE Supreme Court (SC) has turned down a letter-complaint against SC en banc’s Clerk of Court Enriqueta Vidal, accusing her of favoring a party-litigant to delay the proceedings. In an 11-page full court decision signed by deputy Clerk of Court Felipa Anama, the court dismissed the complaint against lawyer Vidal for failure of the complainant, Dandy Quijano, “to show a prima facie case against the respondent.” The court ordered Quijano “to desist from making further baseless accusations against Attorney Vidal.” “Any violation of this directive by him may subject him to contempt proceedings,” the court said. In his letter, Quijano charged Vidal with bias for allegedly issuing, while she was still the Clerk of Court of the First Division of the court, two resolutions dated April 25, 2005 and July 13, 2005 in relation to a case involving Mercury Drug Corp. and the complainant. JOMAR CANLAS

KMU HAILS SURRENDER OF KAPUNAN
THE militant group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) on Friday hailed the surrender of former Air Force colonel Eduardo Kapunan, tagged as a principal suspect in the killing of the labor leader Rolando Olalia and his aide. “We welcome Kapunan’s surrender. He is one of the highest-ranking military officials in the list of suspects in the Olalia-Alay-ay double murder case,” KMU chairman Elmer Labog said. “We hope that all the other suspects will also surrender or be arrested. We hope they will disclose the real mastermind in the killing of our comrades as well as other fellow activists who were killed at that time,” he added. Kapunan surrendered on Saturday after the Antipolo Regional Trial Court Branch 98 issued a warrant of arrest against suspects in the case in February. In July, another suspect former sergeant Desiderio Perez also surrendered to police authorities. Olalia and his aided Leonor Alay-ay were found dead in Antipolo City on November 13, 1986. NEIL A. ALCOBER

BIRTH DELIVERIES AT HOME BANNED IN QC
To promote maternal health care and safe motherhood, Quezon City now prohibits home-based birth deliveries, especially those that are usually attended to by the traditional hilot. Last month, Mayor Herbert Bautista signed into law Ordinance 2171, making it mandatory for traditional birth attendants to refer their clients only to licensed medical facilities to protect the mother and her unborn child against any complication that may arise during childbirth. So as not to deprive these hilot of their right to earn a living, the city health department, as provided under the ordinance, shall extend livelihood training programs to help them find alternative sources of income. Among those being considered are training programs offering pre-natal and post-natal massage classes. According to city health officer Dr. Antonieta Inumerable, there are about 168 traditional birth attendants or hilot operating in the city. Of the total, 152 hilots are practicing in District 2, which constitutes majority of the city’s poor. Like the hilot, professional health practitioners, such as physicians, nurses and midwives in the city are also prohibited from practicing home-based childbirth services but, instead, are required to deliver babies only in legitimate health facilities. JING VILLAMENTE

JUDGE FOILS EXPORT OF DOLPHINS
A Quezon City (QC) court yesterday issued a Temporary Environmental Protection Order against the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) from issuing a re-export permit for the 25 dolphins at Ocean Adventure, which is applying to re-export the animals to Singapore. Executive judge Bernelito Fernandez of QC Regional Trial Court Branch 101 said that the order was issued after an environmental and animal welfare group filed a petition blocking the exportation of the dolphins. The animal welfare group claimed that BFAR and DA should stop the re-export of 25 Solomon Island dolphins to Singapore, which are now being held in Ocean Adventure Park in Subic and instead call on the government to return the dolphins back to their home in the Solomon Islands. Since 2008, a total of 25 wild-caught dolphins have been imported by Resorts World Singapore into the Philippines from the Solomon Islands despite scientific reports from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature showing that the harvest of wild dolphins from the Solomon Islands may not be sustainable and could further endanger the local population of dolphins in the island nation. JING VILLAMENTE