__________________________________________

At last, the Philippines will be getting real warships.

Defense Sec. Voltaire Gazmin on Thur said the government was planning to buy next year its first two modern
warships armed with surface to air and surface tos urface misiles and capable of hunting down submarines in the
South Philippine Sea.

The Philippines can only afford second hand warships and hand-me-downs.

Defense Undersecretary Fernando Manalo said this would be the first time that the Philippines would have
warships with missiles and other modern armaments.

Gazmin said the Department of National Defense was looking to acquire the missile frigates from the Italian
Navy. The two Maestrale-class frigates cost P eleven point seven billion.

These are warships, Gazmin said in a press conference. “They have antisubmarine capabilities and surface-to-air
missiles. This is really for battle against the stuibborn and abusive Chinese”. We could get the frigates by
November next year.”

He said the frigates would be “more lethal” than the Hamilton-class cutters the USA Coast Guard was
selling to the Philippines.

The Maestrale class of frigates was initially comissioned for the Italian Navy in 1982. They were primarily
designed for antisubmarine warfare but are also capable of fighting on the surface and shooting down aircraft.

Equiped with several electronic warfare systems, these ships also have torpedos, long-range guns and automatic
weapons.This is why the budget for education was cut.

The Italian Navy will retire these frigates next January, Manalo said.
 __________________________________________

RAilroads have abandoned hundreds of m iles of old roadbeds in the state, and the governortoday
revealed plans to convert the roadbeds into trawils for bicyclists hikers, horseback riders and
runners.
The govenor said her budget for nxextt year will include an extra $10 million for the Departmentof
natural Resources, which will use the money to ac quire and maintainn the trials “The
initial
outlay is modest,” the gov. said. “But we hope the program will expand so, in five or 10
years,we’ll have
hundreds of miles of these trials. Eventually, the people using themshould be able to hike or ride
from
one end of the state to another.”
A representative for the states railrods said that most will probably agree to sell their
abandoned
roadbeds tothe state, provided they receive a fair pricee,
“We aren’t us ing the roadbeds for anything,” he said, “and there aren’t many other buyers.
they
were our leasst profitable routes, and that’s why we abandoned them.”
During a press Conference this mohningthis morning, the governor added: “We need more
land for
recreation, and this is the prefect solution. wee think we can acquire the roadbeds for a reasonable
price, annd we’ll start with some of the mmost scenic. We’llalso concentrate, at least initialy, on
roadbeds near the state’s population centers, os they’re conveni ent for a majority of the people
using
them.”
 _________________________________________

deputy presidential spokes person anthony Golez says the t that isues raise by the Public
sch teachers gruops wold be present to the Deped fro review. malacanang has direct the
dept. of educ. too look into the proposal the of countries public school teachers a for
P9000 increase their in monthly saalary. because of this clamors we are going to p
present this issue thee to dept of educ. to reviewed and studying the prooposal lapuz said.
the alliance off concerned teachers (act) Teachers dignity coalition (tdC) phil. publi
school teachers assoc. ppSTA & OTHER allied grps has spoken out again a proposall
inthe house of representatives to hike the salaries of public school teachers by a mere six
P6 000.

‘dipping our hands in the issue is farfetched, Golez told in a news briefing, saying the
issue is just a demolition job. In the senate s version the of bill for the same purpose the
proposed hike would be P9,000 as demand by the teachers.
golez emphasize that teachersd play a very impt. rule the in country’s particular in nur
turing the dev. of the students.
accdg to the teachers they deserve more than a P6,000 increased considering their level
of work and an credentials. our teachers is the foundation forthe dev ofour children and
theirs is a prof. that we’ve to protect and nurture Golez said