Mother strangles
2 daughters to death
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

A 24-year-old mother confessed to the killing of her two minor children Monday at a sugarcane field in Brgy. Calapi, Hinigaran, Negros Occidental, police said.

A day after, the suspect identified as Mira Lacson, 24, was arrested by the police. She is now detained at the Hinigaran Police Station, pending the filing of two counts of parricide charges, Police Officer 3 Ma. Victorina Oychocde, local police Women’s and Children Complaint Desk chief, said.

Oychocde said Lacson told police investigators that she drowned the two children, both girls, aged 1 and 3 years old, in a canal at about 1 p.m. of May 21.

Bacolod Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson yesterday said most of the gasoline stations they have inspected in Bacolod City have not completed the requirements for their business permits.

Although they have paid the fees, their business permits have not been released since most of them have not yet secured the required Environmental Compliance Certificate, he said.

He added that the owners claim that based on their contracts, it is not the operators who should secure an ECC but the gasoline company operating the stations.

The Philippine sugar industry delegation to Washington has assured the continued supply of sugar to the United States in the coming years and support for the US Farm bill, Sugar Regulatory Administrator Ma. Regina Bautista Martin said yesterday.

“We confirmed our appreciation for the US (sugar) Quota especially as our country prepares for 2015 when imported sugar will have 5 percent tariff. An assured market is necessary for our continuous growth and development of the sugar industry beyond 2015," Martin said.

She said the Philippine delegation met with officials of the United States Department of Agriculture, United States Trade Relations, and the American Sugar Alliance.