NBI search Ubay again fail
to find Magsie, son
BY CARLA GOMEZ

PULUPANDAN – “They can search the nation, we're out of the country.”

That was the reaction of Pulupandan Mayor Magdaleno Peña to the National Bureau of Investigation's second search of his house in Barangay Ubay here, for his 3-year-old son yesterday morning.

The Supreme Court Third Division has ordered the NBI to get the boy from Peña and turn him over to his mother, movie actress and television host, Marie Roxanne “Plinky” Recto.

PhilHealth claims
probe expanded
BY NESTOR BURGOS JR.

ILOILO CITY – The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has widened its investigation on irregularities in claims related to cataract operations.

PhilHealth Acting President and Chief Executive Officer Lorna Fajardo said they have sent investigators to communities where medical missions related to cataract surgeries have been held.

“People are coming out with information on similar practices. It looks like the modus operandi of some doctors and hospitals are being copied,” Fajardo in a telephone interview said.

Consider peace,
guv asks reds
BY NIDA BUENAFE

Negros Occidental Governor Joseph Marañon yesterday asked rebels who remain at their camps in the mountains to consider the peace negotiation offered by the provincial government.

The governor said his administration has been trying to reach out to the rebels for many years and he is hoping they will evaluate the offers made to them this year.

“A peaceful 2008 and a more progressive Negros is what I am wishing for,” Marañon said.