Phil-Asia employees
close office, join PEP
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The employees of Phil-Asia Care Plans Inc. in Bacolod have shut down their office and joined the Parents Enabling Parents (PEP) Coalition that is working on prosecuting the owners of the pre-need firm for fraud, PEP national president Philip Piccio said yesterday.

On Thursday, Piccio had warned that Phil-Asia Care Plans Inc., the latest pre-need company exposed by the PEP Coalition as fraudulent, was operating under the name of Apo Credit Cooperative at Room 256 of the Plaza Mart Building in Bacolod City.

The Phil-Asia sign had been removed from door of Room 256 and its door was padlocked yesterday. 

Not only one, but two former policemen are allegedly involved in the failed assassination of businessman Benedict Gochangco in Bacolod City last week, City Police officer-in-charge, Senior Supt. Celestino Guara, yesterday said.

Guara, who refused to name the suspects, said he has received raw intelligence reports that they were the “executioners” hired to ambush Gochangco.

Guara pointed out that the two were not former members of the Bacolod City Police Office or of Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office. He also said they do not know whether they are still in Bacolod and in Negros Occidental.

The newly-organized 82nd Infantry Battalion overran two suspected New People’s Army camps in Brgy. Lab-on, Igbaras, Iloilo, following a series of encounters with members of the Southern Front Committee of the Kilusang Rehiyon-Panay on Wednesday, the military said.

Capt. Mark Andrew Posadas, regional military spokesman, yesterday said the 82nd IB troops recovered an exploded improvised anti-personnel landmine, electrical and electronic accessories, kitchen utensils, personal belongings and subversive documents left behind by the fleeing rebels.

Posadas said the anti-personnel landmine, which had reportedly been prematurely exploded during the gunbattle, caused injuries to the two rebels.