192 OFWs leave Lebanon,
Negrenses waiting for turn
Bacoleña escapes, 7 from WV in Beirut church
BY CARLA GOMEZ & CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

The first batch of Filipino evacuees left Beirut yesterday, but many Negrenses still remained trapped in war hit Lebanon, including a Bacoleña domestic helper who escaped from a basement where her employer locked her up.

Robert Bassig, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration regional chief, said of the initial 100 or more Filipinos in the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Sassine, Beirut, seven have been identified to be from Western Visayas but he is not sure if they were among the first batch evacuated out of Lebanon yesterday.

He identified the seven as Marie Grace de la Peña of Poblacion 2, Sagay City and Marichu Delarita of Ma-ao Central, Bago City in Negros Occidental; Daisy Baling of Pavia, Michelle Gomez of Lemery, Meloma Rebuste of Carles and Lolita Allas of San Miguel in Iloilo; and Sheila Mae Siazon from Tigbauan Buenavista, Guimaras.

NBI to conduct
lifestyle checks
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The National Bureau of Investigation in Bacolod City is awaiting guidelines for the conduct of lifestyle checks on government employees and officials, especially those in the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

To be investigated, NBI Bacolod chief Philip Pecache yesterday said, are those who have lifestyles that are not commensurate with their legal incomes.

If we can prove they have sources other than their legal income, we will file appropriate charges, he said.

16 killed, 31 injured
in La Libertad
BY ALEX PAL & JUANCHO GALLARDE

Sixteen farmers were killed and 31 others were injured in La Libertad town, when a truck carrying farmers and their produce from the mountain barangays for the town's market day turned turtle about 15 kilometers from the highway in Sitio Malaete, Barangay Guihob, Oriental Negros at 3:45 a.m. yesterday.

The 10-wheeler Cobra truck, owned by the municipality of La Libertad, about 100 kilometers north of Dumaguete City, was making the dawn trip as part of the regular livelihood assistance provided by the local government.

"The truck suddenly flipped without warning, pinning many of the victims," Eduardo Banogon, a trader said, quoting a passenger from another vehicle which was right behind the ill-fated truck. The driver of the truck, whom passengers identified as Bordet Menoy, survived.