Showing posts with label Philippine Airlines | News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philippine Airlines | News. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Drug abuse cuts across social class, says PDEA chief



CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Feb. 1 (PIA9) – Rich and poor people are all vulnerable to drug addiction.
This was how Director-General Jose Gutierrez Jr. of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) described the prevalence of drug abuse not only in this country but all over the world before a group of media practitioners here yesterday.
“In the past, most drug users usually came from affluent families, but nowadays people from all walks of life have become victims to drug abuse,” stressed Gutierrez.
While rich countries are tight in running after drug dealers and dismantling drug trade, poor countries like the Philippines are made transshipment centers as drug dealers put up their shabu laboratory plants in these places, the PDEA chief reported.
Drug dealers also find it easier to look for couriers in poor countries because of unemployment. “The poor, the unemployed and the less educated easily fall prey to these drug dealers,” stressed Gutierrez.
To protect ordinary people against unscrupulous drug dealers, Task Force Drug Courier (TFDC) has been organized with PDEA as chair and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as co-chair. The member-agencies include the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Department of Education (DepED), Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID), Bureau of Customs (BoC), National Bureau of investigation (NBI), Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), Department of Justice (DOJ), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Office of the President (OP), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) through the Police Aviation Group (PAG).(PIA-ZN).




By

NEHA JAIN
www.aerosoft.in                                                                                                                









5 cops face raps over US Navy officer's death



MANILA, Philippines – Five officers of the Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group (PNP-ASG) will face homicide charges for negligence in connection with the death of Filipino-American US Navy Lieutenant Commander Scintar Mejia last December 26, 2010.

Pasay police chief Senior Superintendent Napoleon Cuaton made the recommendation after an investigation into Mejia’s death.

The US Navy officer allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the PNP-ASG headquarters.

Cuaton also recommended additional investigation for 11 other police officers led by Chief Inspector who Norberto Lumbera, Jr., who could face administrative charges.

Doubts over the cause of Mejia’s death surfaced following an autopsy made by Dr. Joseph Palmero, medico-legal officer of the PNP.

The autopsy showed that Mejia incurred a deep wound and a chest fracture.

Pasay investigators found out that the US Navy officer did not have the injuries before an attempt was made to revive him.

Cuaton said Mejia reportedly had a psychological problem amid his ongoing divorce with his wife in the United States.

Mejia was arrested by PNP-ASG personnel for alleged drug possession.

An investigation by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, however, showed that the white powder supposedly found in Mejia's luggage tested negative for cocaine.






By

NEHA JAIN
www.aerosoft.in                                                                                                                










Monday, January 31, 2011

DOTC chief says 'Category 1 status within reach'





MANILA, Philippines – “We are leaving no stone unturned in getting back our Categoy 1 status,” declared Secretary Jose P. De Jesus of the Department of Transportation and Communications as he keynoted the 2nd Philippine Aviation Summit held at the Main Function Hall PAF Aerospace Museum Col. Jesus Villamor Airbase Pasay City, on Jan. 19, 2011.

In a speech read for him by DOTC Undersecretary Glicerio Sicat, Secretary de Jesus said only two key remaining items remain to be accomplished for Philippine aviation to get back to its Category 1 status – and thus enable Philippine carriers to expand routes in the United States and to be allowed once again to land on European soil.

“We are leaving no stone unturned in improving, upgrading, expanding and modernizing all aspects of Philippine aviation,” the secretary pointed out.

“The good news is that we are only a few steps away from getting back our Category 1 status,” De Jesus said.

De Jesus also cited a feasibility research entitled “Greater Capital Region Airport Rationalization Study” on a planned integration of operations of the NAIA in Metro Manila and the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark, Pampanga.

The scope of the study includes three key areas: analysis of issues on airport development in Metro Manila, formulation of an optimum airport security plan; and preparation of a development plan for DMIA and NAIA.

He added that the aviation sector is being geared up “for the next challenge which is the Open Skies policy that may govern our flying community whether in its pure or altered form.”

The Transportation chief also said changes in the aviation sector include strengthening the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) by separating its operational functions from its regulatory duties, resulting in “efficient, responsive, and even caring airport operations.”

“It is a maxim of good governance that the functions of regulation shall be distinct and separate from the purely operational in order to install a built-in check-and-balance system within one sector,” the secretary stressed.

De Jesus recently appointed seven aviation professionals to key posts in the CAAP while its database undergoes modernization “for easy access and retrieval” of vital information about Philippine aviation.

The package of reforms unwrapped by De Jesus during the aviation conference also consisted of the commissioning of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA3) for full commercial operations by yearend, and the construction or rehabilitation of many more international airports nationwide.

Underscoring the government’s thrust in developing further the country’s civil aviation sector, De Jesus described the projects he cited as “notable examples of our earnest and vigorous initiatives to build new international airports, to upgrade or modernize existing ones, and to pursue a sustainable program of airport improvements.”






By

NEHA JAIN
www.aerosoft.in