The Supreme Court has moved the trial venue of renegade policeman Rizal Alih accused of killing two high-ranking police officials from Zamboanga City to Manila.

In an en banc resolution, the High Tribunal ruled in favor of the urgent petition filed by Mayor Celso Lobregat for the transfer of case venue and directed the Regional Trial Court Branch 15 Clerk of Court in Zamboanga to immediately forward the records of the two murder charges against Alih to the Office of the Clerk of Court in Quezon City.

A former city councilor lost P80,000 to three holduppers who walked into his copra buying station in Guiwan and announced a holdup before noon yesterday.

The incident took place a day after a lending firm also fell victim to holduppers in Tetuan.

Lt. Col. Oscar Lasangue, outgoing commander of the 4th Civil Relation Group, relinquished his post to Lt. Col. Susthenes C. Valcorza in a simple ceremony at the conference room of the CRG headquarters in Camp Navarro yesterday.

Col. Gilberto B. Abanto Jr., deputy commander of the Civil Relation Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, was the presiding officer and the guest of honor during the turnover ceremony.

Two weeks ago the French government made an 180-degree turn on its "easy hire, easy fire" job program intended to solve the soaring rate of youth unemployment.

Bending the government''s will to the clamor of protesting workers and students, French President Jacques Chirac scrapped the labor-contract law that created the program.

The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia must act jointly against the regional militant network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) to dismantle its camps and limit its movements, a security expert said.

Rohan Gunaratna, head of the political violence and terrorism center at Singapore''s Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, said Indonesia must ban JI as an organization and oppose moves to free the group''s spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, in June.

City Police Director Sr. Supt. Francisco Cristobal presented Wednesday night one of the most notorious leaders of the militant Abu Sayyaf accused of bombings and the kidnappings of Filipinos and foreigners in Sipadan and Dos Palmas a few years ago.

In a press conference, Cristobal presented Al-Sharie Amiruddin y Mohammad Nur, alias Abu Omar, Abu Taufig, Abu Samurai and Abu Taliban. Amiruddin was nabbed by police and military intelligence agents in R.T. Lim Boulevard last Monday.

"We cannot just respond to terror with terror", Ambassador-at Large for Counter-Terrorism Benjamin P. Defensor made the statement as he opened the three-day 1st Philippine Counter-Terrorism Experts'' Conference (CTEC) at Shangri-la Mactan Island Resort in Lapu-lapu City last Friday aimed at identifying key dilemmas to counter terrorism in a local, regional and global perspective.

Defensor said using force to crush out terrorists in the conventional method highly prioritized before but that terrorism is such a complex global phenomenon. There is a need to look at issues beyond the economic condition that moved terrorists to violence such as injustice and feelings of self-denial. While stamping out hatred and violence with vehement physical actions can only breed more violence and death, according to Defensor.

The open invitation extended by the United Opposition for Cong. Erbie Fabian to join their group is indeed flattery in its highest form. And there is this June 12 deadline for the good Congressman to accept this offer or not. For the meantime, before the deadline, this invitation is a good topic for noisy political pundits populating Barangay Hanazono every night. (DZT April 24, 2006).

This political opposition story insinuates that Cong. Fabian has to perform a Judas Escariot and betray his present party mates just to join their group.

The picture of the young woman in graduation cap and gown with an angry expression caught my attention and I quickly read the caption. My immediate reaction on reading the caption was one of sadness, for the seeming failure of the training this person had just completed and for which she was being given a diploma.

The news item said this young woman (I refuse to call her a lady) was the president of the student government of her university. I can presume that having been chosen for this position she had an academic standing proving she is at least of normal intellect. However, from the behavior she showed in this incident I can say that she was schooled, but not educated.

A married man was jailed after he was caught in the act by the mother of a seven-year-old girl raping her daughter in Barangay Tumaga, this city last week.

Arrested was Adonis Escala, 33, a resident of Mango Drive, Tumaga, this city.

Three men believed to be members of a con gang called "Budul-Budul" victimized two female boat passengers bound for Manila yesterday morning.

A police report identified the victims as Sahara Ibrahim and Aida Ladja, both natives of Cotabato City.

The Regional Trial Court, Branch 16, will hear tomorrow a special civil action against Insular Life Assurance Company filed by an aggrieved party claiming to have been duped by the former after she had bought an Insular Diamond Jubilee policy.

In her complaint for declaration of nullity and/or recession of insurance contract with damages, Mrs. Nelida Atilano alleged that she was offered an Insular Diamond Jubilee plan by Insular Life Assurance Company, Ltd sometime in September, 1995.

The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia must act jointly against the regional militant network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) to dismantle its camps and limit its movements, a security expert said.

Rohan Gunaratna, head of the political violence and terrorism center at Singapore''s Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, said Indonesia must ban JI as an organization and oppose moves to free the group''s spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, in June.

REMEMBER IPIL BECAME THE CAPITAL TOWN OF THE NEWLY CREATED ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY PROVINCE ONLY ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO. NOW HIGH RISE BUILDINGS ARE CHANGING ITS SKYLINE SUCH AS HOTELS, BANKS, AND OTHER COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL COMPLEXES. WITH

MORE AND MORE BIG TIME INVESTORS SCRAMBLING FOR BUSINESS LOCATIONS IN IPIL, IT IS MOST LIKELY THAT IT

Military and police intelligence agents captured last Monday a top leader of the militant Abu Sayyaf accused in bombings and the 2001 kidnapping of 20 people, including three Americans, at a Palawan beach resort.

Agents of the City Police Office''s Intelligence Division, Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division (RIID) and Military Intelligence Group (MIG-9) arrested Al-Sparie Amiruddin y Mohammad Nur, alias Abu Omar, Abu Samurai, Abu Taliban and Abu Taufig in RT Lim Boulevard, this city last Monday afternoon.