5 cops, 9 others hurt
as van slams into tree
BY GILBERT BAYORAN & PATRICK PANGILINAN

Five policemen, including a town police chief, and nine civilians, were injured when the L300 police van they were riding smashed head-on into a tamarind tree, while negotiating a curve along the national highway in Brgy. Tinongan in Isabela, Negros Occidental at about 5 a.m. yesterday.

Initial police investigations showed that Senior Inspector Alexander Munoz, and the four other policemen and nine civilians, among them drama talents of MBC Aksyon Radyo, were on their way home after performing in a fiesta in Brgy. Sikatuna, Isabela. Police Officer 1 Emmanuel Trinidad, Isabela PNP Desk Officer, yesterday said the police vehicle developed mechanical trouble. Human error is also being eyed. Isabela police chief, Munoz whose left leg was fractured in the accident, is now being treated at the Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod City.

Nobel peace prize
eyed for Meloto

The Visayan DAILY STAR is nominating the Gawad Kalinga moving spirit, Antonio Meloto, for a Nobel Prize, its president and editor-in-chief Ninfa Leonardia said yesterday.

Leonardia made the announcement during the celebration of the STAR's 25th or Silver anniversary where Meloto was the guest of honor and speaker. Meloto who used to be the executive director of the highly successful project of building houses for the poor in the country, is now in charge of the GK global partnership and advocacy campaign.

Meloto, in his speech, lauded the DAILY STAR for being a respected advocate of truth and for its continued support for GK in its campaign to provide hope to the poor through homes that allow them to live in dignity.

Aquino, Roxas say
CARP needs review
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Senator Mar Roxas yesterday stressed the need to improve on the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, saying it has not been as successful as it was hoped to be since it has not alleviated poverty. Liberal Party senatorial candidate Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III said CARP needs to be reviewed because the government has spent P119 billion so far on a program that has ineffectively addressed the plight of farm workers.

Roxas, who accompanied Aquino on his campaign sortie to Negros, said the CARP expires next year and by law there is a need to review it, and, "as in life, what may have been appropriate 20 years ago may not be appropriate anymore today."

"So, if CARP is to be continued, it must be in a different form with more resources," Roxas said.