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Mar
21
Makati South Supermarket robbers may have used manhole as access
Filed Under Muntinlupa, News | Leave a Comment
From inquirer.net:
By Nathaniel Melicon
Police said the group that broke into the Makati South Supermarket in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, on Monday morning may have used a manhole near the supermarket as the starting point for the tunnel they dug to get into the establishment.
“There is a construction site near the supermarket, and a manhole also near it,” Superintendent Federico Castro Jr., Southern Police District deputy director for operations, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “The suspects could have applied as construction workers and used the power tools to dig underground and break into the supermarket.”
The burglars—dubbed by the police as the “Acetylene Gang” because they use acetylene torches to pry open vaults—took a still undetermined amount of cash and four .38-cal. pistols from the supermarket’s vault.
“The suspects might have been aiming for a bank, which is also near the supermarket, the manhole and the construction site. However, they might have dug a hole to the supermarket instead,” Castro said.
He added that the police were still investigating the robbery, which was discovered just before the supermarket opened Monday morning.
Mar
1
Muntinlupa leads Metro Manila cities in fight vs Styrofoam
Filed Under Muntinlupa, News | Leave a Comment
By Carmela Lapena
From gmanetwork.com:
For banning business establishments from using plastic and non-biodegradable materials, Muntinlupa City has become a model for the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s campaign against environmental degradation.
In what MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino described as a “bold move for the sake of environment,” Muntinlupa City started implementing Tuesday last week Ordinance No. 10-109, which prohibits the use of plastic bags on dry goods and regulates its utilization on wet goods, and totally prohibits the use of Styrofoam.
To remind the public of the ban, several posters had been placed in highly visible places within the city. In convenience stores, drugstores and public markets, brown paper or cloth bags are used instead of plastic bags.
At Super Mightee Mart, items are wrapped in recycled paper bags. If necessary, wet items like tube ice are packaged using oxo-biodegradable plastic.
At the newly-opened Muntinlupa Save More Supermarket, not a plastic bag is in sight. Groceries are instead placed in brown paper bags or in green cloth bags.
Mixed reactions
Apart from business owners, consumers are also pleased with the ordinance. A large tarpaulin bears signatures and encouraging messages from people supporting the effort.
“Maganda po ito!!! Para po sa kinabukasan naming mga bata at mga susunod pang mga bata (This is good, especially because the next generation will benefit from this),” wrote one Karlo.
A scribbler, however, pointed out the ordinance is not as environment-friendly as everyone thinks it is since the paper bags used as replacements for plastics are made from trees.
And then there are those who refuse to cooperate.
“Marami pa rin ang hindi sumusunod (Many still do not cooperate),” says Aling Lisa, a public market vendor. She says although they had been informed of the ordinance since December last year, some vendors still package their goods using plastic.
“Sayang din kasi yung mga plastic na nabili na (They don’t want the plastics that they have bought to be wasted),” she says.
Many violators, she says, had been caught and fined.
Violators are fined and given a warning, and business establishments found violating the ordinance may have their licenses to operate suspended for up to one year.
Model city
Muntinlupa is the first city in Metro Manila to ban the use of plastic bags for wet and dry goods and Styrofoam as food containers. While the city government admits that successfully implementing the ordinance is no easy feat, they expect the intervention will deter the rampant use and disposal of non-biodegradable materials into the environment.
The Muntinlupa City Council noted that disposed plastic bags and other non-biodegradable containers are the major causes of flash floods in the city during heavy rains as it clogged canals, three creeks, 11 rivers and other waterways that all drain into the nearby Laguna Lake.
Tolentino, meanwhile, lauded city for the ordinance and encouraged other local government units in Metro Manila to do the same.
“The MMDA strongly encourages local government units to adopt similar strong measures such as these to combat the dangerous effects of environmental degradation which leads to massive flooding and climate change,” Tolentino said in an article posted Friday on the MMDA website.
Tolentino said he would push for the adoption of this measure as a model ordinance to be adopted by the 15 other cities and one town comprising Metropolitan Manila.
Hazardous waste
Styrofoams are made of polystyrene, a petroleum-based plastic with insulation properties and is used in all types of products such as beverage cups and food containers.
A 1986 US Environmental Protection Agency report on solid waste named the polystyrene manufacturing process as the fifth largest creator of hazardous waste. The process of making polystyrene is reported to pollute the air and create large amounts of solid and liquid waste. On the other hand, toxic chemicals leach out of these products into the food that they contain, especially when heated in a microwave. These chemicals threaten human health and reproductive systems. Polystyrene foam is often dumped into the environment as litter which breaks up into pieces that choke animals and clog their digestive systems.
Cities and counties such as Taiwan, Portland (USA) and Orange County, CA have outlawed polystyrene foam. - KBK, GMANews.TV
Feb
20
From Philippines Today:
MUNTINLUPA CITY — Barangay (village) officials, homeowners association, residents and the city government of Muntinlupa have banded together to prevent the repeat of the incident at the posh Ayala Alabang Village were some houses were converted into illegal drugs laboratory.
Alabang Barangay Chairman Alfred Burgos told the Muntinlupa City Council Blue Ribbon and Public Order, Safety and Security Committees that they are doing everything to address the matter.
Burgos said the village is monitoring four areas of concern of the barangay for security purposes and coordinating with law enforcers.The street value of 10 kg of shabu is about P50 million, at P5,000 per gram.
“We are closely coordinating with the security personnel of the Ayala Alabang Village Association and the three non-government organizations namely Morito, Alabang Town Center and the Madrigal office complex and of course the police for the security of the residents in the area,” Burgos said.
Leonardo De Leon, president of AVA, said they are looking at the lease contracts of leased properties’ possible inclusion of visitation rights of the owner anytime they want.
“We will put it into the contract, and to give the security personnel of AVA the authority to check the premises of leased property if the need arises,” De Leon said.
Burgos said that under the lease agreement, one family is allowed to occupy one property but the situation changes so they have to address the matter and residents should also be part of the adjustments they are going to make.
Burgos also added that they are now establishing strong relations with the foreign embassies so they can prevent possible entry of persons with suspicious background.
“This is for prevention purposes and close coordination with embassies so we can get information to the people and of course the residents should also know their neighbors,” Burgos said.
Councilor Raul Corro said he will sponsor a proposed ordinance that will regulate the lease of commercial, industrial and residential properties within the city of Muntinlupa.
Agents of the PDEA raided a medium-scale drug laboratory on a sprawling property in the plush subdivision, confiscated drug equipment and paraphernalia, and arrested the suspects before dawn on January 6, 2012.
Based on their inspection of the facilities, PDEA agents said the entire production line could manufacture a minimum of 10 kilograms of shabu per cycle, although the scale of the production and the frequency of each cycle was still being investigated.
Jan
30
Muntinlupa eyes stricter leasing laws
Filed Under Muntinlupa, News | Leave a Comment
By Nathaniel R. Melican
From: inquirer.net
Owners of rented houses and other properties in Muntinlupa City, along with police and local government authorities, will soon be empowered to conduct periodic inspections on leased properties to ensure that their tenants are not involved in illegal activities.
Local legislators have proposed a city ordinance that would add restrictions to current laws on leasing after the discovery of three shabu laboratories inside the posh Ayala Alabang Village earlier this month.
City Councilor Raul Corro unveiled Wednesday the proposed ordinance that would compel property owners to conduct regular inspections on their rented properties, among others.
More comprehensive
The barangay (village) council of Ayala Alabang Village has proposed similar measures, but Corro said the city ordinance would be more comprehensive.
“This will not only cover Ayala Alabang Village, but the entire Muntinlupa,” Corro said when he presented the proposal in a city council inquiry into the circumstances behind the recent Ayala Alabang drug raids.
The ordinance specifically states that the property owner or representatives, along with officers of homeowners’ associations, should be “allowed to enter the leased premises on any day to check if the lessee is complying with the rules.”
The measure also prohibits subleasing the property to another party for another use without the consent of the owner.
Penalties
Violators will be fined not more than P5,000 or imprisoned for one year, which Corro said is the limitation set by the local government code on such violations.
Alfred Burgos, barangay chair of Ayala Alabang Village, welcomed the ordinance.
“This is a very good idea. We’ll see how we can impose it if it is enacted. The tighter lease measures and the visitation rights will only make our barangay more secure,” he said.
During the inquiry, Burgos and officers of Ayala Alabang Village Association were asked about specific tight measures they have been implementing in the wake of the raids involving illegal drugs.
Contract review
Leandro de Leon, president of Ayala Alabang Village Association, said they are currently reviewing the contracts of leased houses inside the village and installing more security cameras, especially on secondary roads.
Another policy the village is looking into is the issuance of a different colored sticker to cars of individuals who just rent houses inside the village to differentiate them from homeowners.
Meanwhile, Burgos said they were implementing a deeper background investigation of possible tenants and coordinating with the Bureau of Immigration and foreign embassies to find out if potential lessees have any criminal record.
He said Ayala Alabang Village only allows the leasing of houses for residential purposes, particularly for single families.
“We are in the process of implementing these changes. Some of them might be completed by next month,” Burgos said.
Nov
24
Yes, Festival Mall is open.
Filed Under Muntinlupa, News | Leave a Comment
Yup, the mall opened a couple of hours after the fire that went on there last Monday. So for all those that are asking, yes, it’s open.
Here is the news report of what happened:
By Karen Boncocan, Totel de Jesus
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines – The Festival Mall in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, reopened at 4 p.m. after it closed following a fire Monday morning.
Fire razed a portion of the mall around 11:05 Monday morning and reached first alarm before it was put out around 11:45 a.m., said Senior Fire Officer 1 John de Guzman of the city’s fire department.
De Guzman said the fire started at the Bench store on the second level of the shopping center, adding that they had yet to determine what caused it. The store and a few other stores nearby remained closed. The area still smelled of smoke.
De Guzman said there was no reported injury during the fire.
Six firetrucks responded to the area, De Guzman said.
Thanks to all those who confirmed this.
