According to Edelyn Bayaras, his brother Jesus Noel Buenvenida was found dead with a rope around his neck.

Bayaras said his brother had been acting strange.

She said Buenvenida began having nightmares after floods brought by tropical storm Sendong ravaged their village.

“Marami daw siyang nakikitang tao na sumisiksik sa kanya. Gusto niyang umuwi na kami sa Acacia,” said Bayaras.

Last January, a Sendong survivor committed suicide inside an evacuation center due to depression.

Meanwhile, a man was arrested recently in Capitol Grounds for allegedly molesting a 6-year-old girl inside one of the tents.

Because of these incidents, experts advised authorities to continue stress debriefing programs for the victims of the calamity.

Most of the victims who lost their homes are beginning to lose hope because their future remains unclear.

“Ang isyu sa mga tao hindi na about the flood, [kung hindi] living in the tent, questions about relocation. Let’s move on, let’s start looking for jobs,” said psychologist Dr. Benson Go.

Some of the evacuees are undergoing stress debriefing at the Consolacion Elementary School to help treat their trauma. — Report from PJ dela Peña, ABS-CBN News Northern Mindanao

Phivolcs said the earthquake, which was tectonic in origin, was recorded at 1:42 p.m.

Intensity 3 was felt in Dapa and Gen. Luna Surigao Del Norte, Siargao Island; Surigao City; and Cabadbaran, Agusan del Sur.

The quake was felt at an intensity 2 in Carrascal, Surigao del Sur and Butuan City.

No damages or casualties were reported as of posting. (abs-cbn)

Rosalia Galuran, 36, ended the life of her son, Mark Justine Lintero, by slitting his neck using a kitchen knife.

The killing occurred inside the house of a certain Analiza Francisco in Barangay Sta. Cruz, where Galuran and Lintero were temporarily staying.

Francisco said she accepted Galuran and Lintero in her house after she saw them wandering around the public market.

“Pagbukas ko [ng pinto] nakita ko na agad ang bata na nakatalukbong na ng green na kumot,” Francisco said.

Galuran’s father, Ramon, admitted that his daughter suffered from a mental illness after her husband died.

“Kung kaya lang namin pigilan yan eh itatali namin talaga. Anuhin na daw yung bata, patayin na daw, dahil yan daw ang alay,” Ramon said.

She is now facing a charge of parricide. – report from Pia Gutierrez, ABS-CBN News

The body of the victim, identified as Carmela Paula Valencia, was discovered in a grassy lot in Barangay Sto. Cristo at around 10 a.m. on Thursday.

Based on her bruises, Valencia’s head seemed to have been bludgeoned with a rock.

Police suspect Valencia was raped, since her underwear was discovered to have been pulled down.

A pair of men’s underwear and 2 packs of cigarettes were also discovered at the crime scene.

Police said several witnesses claimed to have seen Valencia joining 2 unidentified men in a drinking session.

“May kasamang dalawang lalaki itong biktima, at allegedly nalasing ang biktima at sinakay nila sa sasakyan na parang tri-bike,” said Superintendent Joyce Patrick Sangalang, Concepcion Police chief.

Valencia’s adoptive mother, Luz, said that aside from being a deaf-mute, the victim also had a mental disability.

Luz added her daughter had a habit of wandering around town.

“Masakit, kasi nga isipin mo, abnormal na nga ang bata tapos ginawan pa ng ganyan. Kailangang mahuli ang gumawa ng ganoon sa kanya. Dapat pagbayaran iyon,” Luz said.

Valencia’s body is set to undergo an autopsy to verify if she was really raped.

An operation was launched to capture the two suspects, who are facing rape with homicide charges. – report from Nevi Calma, ABS-CBN News Dagupan

The suspect, identified as Adorable Caligan Jr. alias “Boyet”, is believed to be the gunman who shot and killed forestry specialist Melanie Dirain last February 7 in Sanchez-Mira, Cagayan.

Caligan was tagged as the suspect after he was identified by a caretaker who was with Dirain at the time of the incident. Another witness has also linked him to the crime.

Provincial director of Cagayan police Senior Superintendent Mao Aplasca said they had been negotiating with Caligan’s family prior to the suspect’s surrender.

Caligan will face murder charges.

Dirain was killed inside the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) in Sanchez-Mira.

Authorities earlier said Dirain’s strict campaign against illegal logging may be related to the incident. — Report from Edwin Sevidal, dzMM

Big Guys Pizza offers 36-inch pies that can feed up to 20 people. Lao said he came up with the concept after paying a huge amount for small boxes of pizza that he ordered for his party.

“It started out as an idea when I was in college. I hosted a pizza party for my friends since it’s my birthday. I ordered several boxes of pizza and when I got the bill, I was shocked because it was so expensive,” Lao said in an interview on ANC’s “Shop Talk.”

“So right then and there, an idea came up to me: why not one big pizza? Why hasn’t anyone in the Philippines thought of this idea?

“I was able to get the market from big players because for the Filipinos, it’s their first time to see a pizza this big,” he said.

The 36-inch pizza costs a little over P1,000. Big Guys Pizza also offers pies in 10-, 15- and 20-inch diameters.

Best-selling flavors include All Meat, Super Supreme, Italian Supreme and Big Gal, with the last three having an assortment of meat and vegetable toppings.

Not always easy

Lao’s business seems to be doing well with five branches in Manila in two years, and five more set to be opened soon.

But he said things weren’t always easy. “The first [challenge] is how to make the pizza because it’s so big, no one has ever tried doing this… Our oven is customized for 36-inch pizzas. When I started, there was no oven for these kinds of pizzas,” he shared.

Lao added that he also had a hard time delivering the huge pies, which are usually ordered by office workers and big groups of friends.

As he plans to expand in provinces, Lao said his pizza chain may soon offer buffalo wings and pasta in — not surprisingly — big servings.

“Everything must be big. So wings must be two to three pounds,” he said.

Asked to give some advice to those who want to venture into the food business, Lao said: “If you have an idea, just try to experiment and maybe sometime, someday, you’ll be able to make it.” (abs-cbn news)

Miami’s swarming defence saw Lin deliver his worst numbers since his breakout run began, scoring eight points on 1-of-11 shooting with three assists and eight turnovers.

Meanwhile, Chris Bosh scored 25 points, Dwyane Wade scored 22 and LeBron James added 20 for the Heat, who won their eighth straight game and will take a league-leading 27-7 record into the All-Star weekend that starts on Friday.

“The speed and the athleticism… credit to them,” Lin said. “Hopefully when we play then next time, it can be a different story.”

Lin has been the NBA’s biggest story this month, coming off the Knicks bench after being cut by two other clubs to put in the best performance of any NBA player in his first 10 starts since 1976.

Lin, whose parents are from Taiwan, became a phenomenon because of his scoring, averaging nearly 24 points a game, his passing skills and his clutch shooting ability, including a last-second game winner at Toronto.

Even President Barack Obama publicly expressed his regret that he wouldn’t be able to extend his stay in Miami on Thursday to watch the Knicks and Lin take on the Heat’s established stars.

Plenty of other celebrities were in attendance, including boxer Floyd Mayweather and film-maker Spike Lee.

Lee scolded Mayweather earlier this month after the fighter complained that the buzz surrounding Lin was due to his Taiwanese and Chinese heritage, rather than his basketball skills.

“The atmosphere was great,” said Miami center Joel Anthony. “We wanted to step up.”

The Heat defence certainly did, forcing 15 turnovers in the first half and limiting New York to 4-of-15 shooting in the third quarter.

“It’s not a specific plan,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Miami’s strategy to neutralize Lin. “What we wanted to do was treat him with the adequate respect he deserves.”

“We just wanted to come out and dominate the game,” Bosh said. “When we’re all three playing well, that kind of feeds energy on this team.”

Lin wasn’t the only Knicks player to struggle.

Carmelo Anthony shot 7-of-20 and power forward Amare Stoudemire committed six of the Knicks’ 19 turnovers.

“We just probably played arguably the best team in the NBA,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “That set a bar to get up to.” (AFP)

Floyd’s adviser tells White to mind his own business
Leonard Ellerbe, the adviser of undefeated American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., fired back at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White in defense of his boxer.

White recently slammed Mayweather for his racist comments directed towards New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin and Filipino boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao.

“Yes, Floyd, you’re racist with the stuff that you said,” White said in a UFC video entitled “Presidential Address.”

But Ellerbe told Yahoo! Sports that White needs “to shut the (expletive) up and mind his own business.”

“(White needs to) stay in his own lane and keep on taking advantage of the UFC fighters, while underpaying them,” Ellerbe added.

Ellerbe threatened that if White continues his criticism of Mayweather, “we may decide to give a free seminar to all of the UFC fighters on how the pay-per-view revenue should be distributed.”

White also told Mayweather to stop tweeting and instead try to make the fight with Pacquiao, but Ellerbe dismissed his words.

“This is typical Dana, who is always prone to ignorant outbursts. He should be the last person to try to judge someone else,” Ellerbe said.

In response, White sent a message to Yahoo! Sports telling Ellerbe to “shut the (expletive) up (because) I wasn’t talking to you.”

“I was talking to Floyd. We’re doing something amazing. We’re building a sport while you guys are destroying one,” he added. (abs-cbn news, ANC)

The members of PAPRB sit as chairmen and members of the different professions of the Professional Regulatory Board.

The workshop held at the OMB Function Room on Feb. 23-24, 2012 enabled professional board members to acquire skills, knowledge of processes, and strategic capabilities for efficient and effective discharge of their authority and investigation functions.

Prosecutor Bienvenida A. Gruta, Office-in-Charge-Director of Center for Integrity and Professional Development (CIPD) pointed out that the skills training was an offshoot of the PAPRB Orientation and Planning Workshop conducted in November 2010. CIPD is under OMB’s Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention Office (PACPO).

Pros. Gruta added that the chairs and members of the professional boards who attended the said workshop made commitments to assist the Office of the Ombudsman in the areas of community coordination, fact-finding, and providing expert advice in the prosecution of cases involving expert’s testimonial evidence.

On their own respective fields, the boards have committed to developing integrity of and exacting accountability on their members many of whom are employed by the government.

Presently, according to Pros. Gruta, “these commitments are the boards’ major immediate concern considering the numerous complaints now pending before them and awaiting resolution for many years.”