Laguna’s most wanted man arrested in Nueva Ecija after 13 year manhunt
By Jason de Asis

SCIENCE CITY OF MUNOZ, Nueva Ecija, February 2, 2011-The long arm of the law has finally caught up with the most wanted man of Laguna province who was arrested in nearby Guimba town yesterday by local police, ending a 13-year manhunt for the murder of his own sister-in-law.

Police Supt. Jonathan Cabal, Munoz police chief, identified the suspect as Darwin Anoyo, 59, listed as Laguna’s most wanted man.

Anoyo was nabbed by the Munoz police at around 11 am yesterday by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by San Pablo City Regional Trial Court Branch 32 Judge Zorayda Salcedo.

Cabal said Anoyo was unarmed and did not resist arrest. He was detained at the police stockade here.

The suspect was long wanted for the killing of his sister-in-law Denia Anoyo on December 28, 1998 in San Pablo City. The Laguna Provincial Police Office has tagged him as no. 1 on its most wanted list with a reward of P75,000.   

Cabal said after the killing, Anoyo went into hiding in Guimba where he posed as a certain Rey Deveza to unsuspecting residents. “Because he has been using an alias, he was able to elude arrest in Guimba,” Cabral said, adding an intelligence build-up made possible his arrest.  

He said they are checking with other law enforcement agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation if Anoyo has other pending cases. (Jason de Asis)

SENATE OFFICE, Manila, February 2, 2011-Senator Edgardo J. Angara, bats cybercrimes and protect users of cyberspace despite the numerous benefits of information and communication technology (ICT), saying that the anonymity and freedom offered by the Internet are both its strength and vulnerability.

Angara who filed a bill to combat cybercrimes and protect users of cyberspace said that the internet use in the country has grown rapidly in the past decade and has made possible countless opportunities for many Filipinos in every field imaginable such as businesses, trade, education, engineering, arts and sciences adding that it has sped up the exchange of information about practically in all aspects of life but, with the progress of ICT also comes the proliferation of cybercrime.
 
"The inherent lack of security in the Internet architecture and relative user anonymity make the Internet an attractive medium for extortion and crimes involving theft of personal information for illicit financial gain," he said.

Recently, Britain and US stock exchange sought help from the security services after finding out that they were victims of cyber attacks designed to spread panic among markets and destabilize western financial institutions. According to a British newspaper, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is investigating a terrorist cyber-attack on its headquarters last year while US officials have traced an attack on one of its exchanges to Russia.
 
Cybercrime is defined as any illegal and criminal activity committed on the Internet. These include unlawful acts where information technology is used either a tool or target, or both, in the commission of such unlawful acts. Any criminal activity that employs a computer either as an instrumentality, target or a means for the commission of other illegal acts also goes within the range of cyber crime.
 
Cybercrime has emerged as the latest and most complicated problem in the cyber world. Criminal activities in the cyberspace are on the rise. Computers today are being misused for illegal activities like e-mail espionage, credit and fraud, spams, and software piracy, which not only invade privacy but also offends senses. On many instances, the computer have been utilized as an instrument in illegal activities such as financial crimes, sale of illegal or stolen articles, pornography, online gambling, crimes impinging on intellectual property rights, e-mail spoofing, forgery, cyber defamation, even cyber stalking, illegal access or hacking, theft of information contained in electronic form, e-mail bombing, virus attacks, internet time thefts and so forth.
 
“Cyber crime is an actual danger to democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It is a dangerous reality, which has to be taken seriously at the highest level. It is of utmost importance that an efficient protection and prevention method be developed to combat cyber crime,” said Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology.
 
Senate Bill 52 is a measure to fight and prevent cybercrime based on laws that fully respect civil liberties.
ANGARA FELLOWS TO BE HONORED
 
Four Angara fellows will be honored by the University of the Philippines officials and donors on Wednesday.

The honorees and the subject of their respective policy papers are: Prof. Raul Fabella of the UP School of Economics (UPSE) to study government procurement procedures in aid of legislation; Prof. Raul Pangalanan of the UP College of Law on the ASEAN experience of constitutional adjudication; and Prof. Ramon Pedro Paterno of the Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies in UP Manila on financing universal health care through Philhealth.

The four were chosen from among leading university professors whose policy research works have been exceptional.

The endowment known as the UP President Edgardo J. Angara (UP PEJA) Fellowship Award, was established by the UP Board of Regents during the UP Centennial, to extend reward and recognition to high-level research and discussion of the country’s development goals and policies, in the areas of science and technology, fiscal, budget and financial studies, agriculture and rural development, environment and climate change.
 
An initial Php50 Million was endowed by the family and friends of Angara, who served as UP President from 1981-1987.

The four awardees were chosen by the members of the Fellowship Committee, namely, School of Economics UP President Edgardo J. Angara (UP PEJA) Fellowship Award Dean Arsenio Balisacan, University Professor Emeritus Edgardo Gomez, UP engineering alumnus and former Energy secretary Delfin Lazaro, former UP College of Medicine Dean and Health secretary Alberto Romualdez and NEDA Director General Cayetano W. Paderanga Jr.

Legarda Urges Climate and Env’t Stakeholders to Help Address PH’s State as Biodiversity and Climate Hotspot
 
Senator Loren Legarda today called on individuals and various groups concerned on the issue of environment protection and disaster risk reduction to help alleviate the country’s current state as a biodiversity and climate change vulnerability hotspot.
 
Legarda, during her speech at the International Conference on Biodiversity and Climate Change, said that the country’s biodiversity, which has been degrading due to man’s development and economic activities, is also affected by climate change that is likely to cause the loss of thousands of species as well as changes in natural ecosystems.
 
“As the ill effects of global warming, increased precipitation and extreme weather events adversely affect the high concentration of species found endemically in our country, we as humans who are dependent on the very plants and animals that make up our natural ecosystems for livelihood and sustenance are directly affected as well,” the Senator said.
 
“We cannot sit idly by as our fragile ecosystems are destroyed by unsustainable development practices and climate change. We must begin with addressing a more imminent issue – that of existing local and regional non-climate stresses our natural ecosystems are already facing. These stresses have more potential to be mitigated and managed more readily than climate change,” she added.
 
Legarda explained that while several bills on environment protection and climate change are already pending in the Senate, various stakeholders, particularly those present in the conference, should provide insights to further enhance such legislative measures, which include: Senate Bill 1353 or the Sustainable Forest Management Act; Senate Bill 1370 or the Integrated Coastal Management Act; Senate Bill 1369 or the National Land Use Act; and Senate Bill 2558, which seeks to create a People’s Survival Fund that would finance climate adaptation programs and projects.
 
“The ground level work and the parallel environmental initiatives at the Senate may not get screaming headlines. But they represent big, determined steps for the Filipinos and the rich biodiversity we thrive in,” she said.
 
“Today we have an assembly of people from different countries, from government, non-government, higher educational institutions, academe and research community, civil society and private sector who are all here to exchange knowledge and devise strategies. We must use this opportunity not just to gain knowledge from one another, but to transform that knowledge into concrete actions. The minutes and the hours on the global environmental clock are ticking to sunset. We must all work together and forge a network of cooperation to reverse this,” she concluded.

SENATOR LOREN LEGARDA
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BIODIVERSITY
AND CLIMATE CHANGE
"Conserving biodiversity amidst climate change"
Tuesday, 1 February 2011, 8:30 a.m.
Philippine International Convention Center
 
 
It is with great pleasure that I take part in this event, the International Conference on Biodiversity and Climate Change, where we see partnership among various sectors of society at work.
 
I am aware of the enormous efforts made by all, especially by the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, to make this important gathering happen.
 
A few decades back, man and nature used to be the best of friends. We used to savor the goodness that nature brings—the right warmth of sunshine that energizes our mornings, the occasional rain showers that bring excitement during summer days, the fresh air and clean water that invigorate our bodies, the green fields that allow us to de-stress and daydream, the fireflies that light the rich meadows during the night, the butterflies that fly from flower to flower to sip its rich nectar. These are just a few of nature’s wonders. Mother Nature took care of us because we also took care of her.
 
Today, however, our own environment has started turning into a foe that connives with natural hazards to reciprocate the kind of treatment that we give it. Pollution, illegal and excessive mining, logging and fishing activities, and deforestation–among many other abuses, have contributed to the degradation of our environment. These dangers that we bring upon nature ultimately affect us too. When disasters strike, our ailing environment will have no power to defend itself and would even intensify the risks in our communities.
 
 
The State of Biodiversity in the Philippines
 
The Philippines is blessed with rich biodiversity. With its high concentration of species per unit area compared to its neighboring marine biodiversity hotspots, our country has been hailed as the World’s Center of Marine Biodiversity – the epicentre of biodiversity and evolution.1 In fact, the Philippines is one of the eighteen (18) mega-biodiversity countries in the world.
 
However, while we boast of high levels of life forms in our country, the unfortunate reality is that we are also one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots, with a large number of species that are endangered or threatened of extinction.
 
The mindset of an extractive and consumptive economics intends to destroy what took thousands of years to form. The rate of extraction and consumption is way, way faster than the rate at which the Earth can replenish her resources. This is consistent with the Millennium Ecosystems Assessment, which revealed that humans have altered ecosystems more rapidly and extensively in the past 50 years than in any period in history.
 
This is the unreported truth in our growth stories: for every percentage rise in our economic activity aimed at meeting our growing demands, hectares of wondrous and thriving biodiversity are extracted from our natural environment.
 
The increasing loss of biodiversity, particularly in Asia, is being attributed to development activities and land degradation, especially overgrazing and deforestation, as well as pollution, overfishing, hunting, infrastructure development, species invasion, land-use change, and the overuse of freshwater.
 
 
The threat of climate change
 
Further endangering the precarious situation of our country’s biodiversity is the challenge that is climate change. Among the projected impacts of climate change is the loss of thousands of species as well as changes in natural ecosystems. The rise in average global temperatures will render many species unable to adapt quickly enough to these new conditions or to move to regions more suitable for their survival. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that with a 1.5 to 2.5-degree Celsius rise in temperature in a span of 50-100 years, 30% of species would be at risk of extinction.
 
These conditions present to us a rare scenario – the Philippines as both a top hotspot for biodiversity and a top hotspot for climate change vulnerability. As the ill effects of global warming, increased precipitation and extreme weather events adversely affect the high concentration of species found endemically in our country, we as humans who are dependent on the very plants and animals that make up our natural ecosystems for livelihood and sustenance are directly affected as well.
 
We cannot sit idly by as our fragile ecosystems are destroyed by unsustainable development practices and climate change. We must begin with addressing a more imminent issue – that of existing local and regional non-climate stresses our natural ecosystems are already facing. These stresses have more potential to be mitigated and managed more readily than climate change.
 
 
Protecting ecosystems
 
The 2009 Global Assessment Report of the United Nations found that in addition to the general decline of ecosystem services, we are also creating trade-offs between ecosystem services - mangroves have been destroyed to create shrimp ponds thereby increasing storm surge hazard, wetlands have been drained thereby increasing flood hazard, and deforestation has increased landslide hazard.
 
The decline of our ecosystems has been found as one of the underlying drivers of disaster risks and poverty, in the context of climate change. Therefore, protecting ecosystems – which involves rehabilitating our forests, cleaning our rivers, and stopping pollution, among other actions, need to be done as soon as today.
 
Legislative Interventions
 
At the level of legislation, several proposed measures aimed at strengthening climate adaptation mechanisms and conserving biodiversity are pending in the Senate. I have filed Senate Bill 1353 or the Sustainable Forest Management Act, which mandates the development and adoption of a sustainable forest management strategy based on rational allocation of forestland uses and promotion of land use practices that increase productivity and conserve soil, water, and other forestland resources, as well as the protection of existing forest resources and conservation of biodiversity, rehabilitation or development of denuded areas to expand the forest resource base and promote food production activities. I have also filed Senate Bill 1370 or the Integrated Coastal Management Act which seeks to put in place a comprehensive framework that will promote the sustainable development of the coastal and marine environment and resources. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 1369 or the National Land Use Act seeks to institutionalize a national land use policy to ensure a rational, holistic, and just allocation, utilization, management and development of the country’s land resources.
 
The Committee on Climate Change, which I chair, is also deliberating amendments to the Climate Change Act of 2009. To support local governments in undertaking climate adaptation programs and projects, especially in the areas of water resources management, land management, agriculture and fisheries, fragile ecosystems and integrated coastal zone management, we recognize the need to establish the People’s Survival Fund.
 
With the expertise of everyone in this hall, I encourage everybody to give your insights to further enhance these legislative measures.
 
The ground level work and the parallel environmental initiatives at the Senate may not get screaming headlines. But they represent big, determined steps for the Filipinos and the rich biodiversity we thrive in.
 
 
Closing
 
Today, I see before me an assembly of promising individuals—a congregation of people from different countries, from government, non-government, higher educational institutions, academe and research community, civil society and private sector who are all here to exchange knowledge and devise strategies. We must use this opportunity not just to gain knowledge from one another, but to transform that knowledge into concrete actions.
 
The minutes and the hours on the global environmental clock are ticking to sunset.
 
Let us all work together and forge a network of cooperation to reverse this.
 
Let us renew our friendship with nature and not wait for the time when its wrath reaches its peak.
 
Thank you and good day.