GOVT POURS P18M INTO WAR-TORN SOUTH

by Jaime Pilapil, Reporter and Al Jacinto, Manila Times

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino 3rd, apparently throwing government modesty out the window, on Friday sent three members of his Cabinet to troubled southern Mindanao to hand over P18 million in assistance to beleaguered folk there.

The trip of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman and Peace Process Secretary Teresita Deles came more than a week after the killing of scores of soldiers and civilians, particularly in Basilan and Zamboanga Sibugay provinces, in clashes between government troops and rebels from the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).