Legarda doesn't think
CARP needs renewal
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Senator Loren Legarda yesterday said she does not think that there is a need to renew the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program law, but simply to make funding support available to the existing agrarian reform beneficiaries.

At a press conference in Bacolod City yesterday, Legarda said the CARL expires next year and it should be reviewed because "off hand, it had not been successful."

There is a need to assess how much land was distributed and if the beneficiaries were emancipated from poverty, Legarda said.

We have to determine whether the beneficiaries have actually tilled, utilized and benefited from the land, sold their Certificates of Land Ownership Awards or abandoned their areas, she said.

Pushes bill to hike
teachers' benefits, pay
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Senator Loren Legarda yesterday urged government to focus on "viable and relevant" education to make effective use of the P150 million proposed in the 2008 national budget, which is the biggest allocation for the sector so far.

"The contribution to our highly-skilled and highly-competitive human capital should be a sizable portion of our GDP. Only a competitive education system can lay the foundation for this," she said. The P150 million proposed budget could be a big boost to education if wisely spent on programs that really matter, she said.

Legarda, who spoke before members of the Negros Occidental Teachers Federation in Bacolod City, also said she is filling a bill that seeks to give a fair and just compensation package to teachers, enough to give them decent lives.

Frustrated murder
raps filed vs. shooter
Media groups condemn attempt on Yngson's life
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The police filed attempted murder charges against a deputized agent of the Land Transportation Office tagged as the suspect in the recent shooting of a broadcaster in Sagay City.

Supt. William Senoron yesterday said a criminal complaint was filed against LTO deputized agent Romeo Corbo, 39, before the City Prosecutor's Office of Sagay.

Corbo, who is also an employee of the Sagay City government, invoked self-defense in shooting Ferdinand "Bambi" Yngson, station manager of RGMA Super Radyo-Bacolod.