GMA presides over mass oathtaking of elected officials

Tuesday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo capped her visit to Panay and Negros Occidental with the swearing in of rep-elect Monico Puentevella at the newly renovated Rizal Memorial Elementary School.

Again, as in Iloilo’s Jaro Cathedral Monday, GMA gladhanded her way through the crowd of supporters and fans. The Negrenses, pointed out Puentevella, had seen GMA’s love for them, having visited them four times just shortly before the May 10 balloting.

And they reciprocated the gesture by the 250,000 majority they gave the President, as Puentevella put it.

Also present at Monico’s oath-taking was former Mayor Luzviminda Valdez and mayor-elect Evelio Leonardia together with former Gov. Lito Coscolluela, GMA’s and K-4 campaign manager.

An overflow crowd attended the early morning rite and GMA spent more than an hour greeting old friends and acquaintances.

In Iloilo on Monday, the President had actually landed in the city on Sunday but immediately closeted herself at the Assumption Convent. In Bacolod, it was at the Carmelite Monastery where she spent the night.

The Jaro Cathedral was filled almost to the rafters with admiring Ilongos when the President marched in with Senate President Franklin Drilon. She patiently attended the thanksgiving Mass concelebrated by Archbishop Angel Lagdameo and seven clerics. It was highlighted by the pomp and pageantry of the Catholic liturgical ritual.

Mass Oathtaking

After the thanksgiving mass, Archbishop Lagdameo walked from the main altar and greeted the President. He also sat down for a while with the presidential party.

What caught my attention was Presidential Adviser on Development Rene Villa escorting the sweating Rep. Oscar Garin to sit near Rep. Augusto Syjuco (2nd District). It was Syjuco who had convinced Garin to run against Gov. Niel Tupas and then left him to campaign alone against Tupas. Garin lost to Tupas by a wide margin.

Gov. Tupas was also present. But his running mate Vice Gov. Roberto "Obet" Armada was missing at the swearing in. The Comelec’s Second Division still has to hand in its decision on the election protest filed against Armada.

The others who took their oath before the President, with Drilon as witness, included Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar Perez, Gov. Vicente Bermejo of Capiz, Carlito Marquez of Aklan and Guimaras’ Rahman Nava.

The newly elected congressmen were also sworn into office by the President. These included Janette Garin (1st district) Judy Syjuco (2nd), Ferjenel Biron (4th), Guimaras’ Edgard Espinosa and Raul Gonzales (Iloilo City). Rep. Arthur Defensor (3rd) could not attend the ceremony. He was in Manila as a member of the 22-man Board of Congressional Canvassers.

After the swearing in, the President asked the individual elected officials to pose for souvenir photos with her together with their families and loved ones. That photo session lasted for almost an hour. And she was there completely at ease in front of the main altar as wave after wave of those recently sworn in trooped to her side.

Concepcion Project

After that, the Present went up the Archbishop’s residence for breakfast with local officials. Later, she proceeded to Concepcion town, Northern Iloilo’s poorest community, where she awarded 23 sub-projects under the government’s anti-poverty program, Kalahi-Cidsss. She also turned over housing units to beneficiaries of the Local Government-Gawad Kalinga Housing project in Barangay Loong.

The LGU-Kalinga project is located on a two-hectare municipal lot in Loong. When completed, it will have a total of 122 houses. The community will have a chapel, communal gardens, a day-care center, a children’s playground, a tilapia pond.

The recipients were Ricardo and Herminia Alerta, Edgar and Erna Asturias, Ben and Ma. Elena Balayo, Johnny and Myrna Deciembre, Narciso and Marlen Faustino, Ricky and Josephine Ginez, Nicomedes and Sony Guinez, Danilo and Zenaido Navarro, Isidro and Elsa Valdevieso, and Gaspar and Nida Zamora.

But before leaving Iloilo, I toured the city and found out that there are four additional posh hotels being completed, including a 145-room towering one just beside the SM City.

Johnny Kwok, a Hong Kong visitor of Lions District 301-Gov. Felipe Lim, seemed awe-struck by that, especially when informed that the investments were domestic and not foreign.

That, I understand from Francis Trenas, brother of Mayor Trenas, indicates that Ilonggos themselves are confident about the future of their city where the tourism program is fast generating a lot of conventions and enticing more tourists.

Well, that deserves a separate article later. But, for the moment, kudos to Mayor Trenas for instilling among Ilonggo investors faith and confidence in their city’s future.

PA After Top NPA Rebel Frank Fernandez

The military dubbed it Oplan Ka Frank. Ka Frank is the nome de guerre of renegade priest Fr. Frank Fernandez.

This is the first time that the military had focused on Fernandez as the target of their operations, indicating that the recent assault on a PA engineering battalion in Guihulngan, Negros Occidental, must have riled the military to the point that they finally shifted their attention to the capture of the priest-turned-guerrilla fighter.

Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sodusta, 303rd Brigade Commander, also made an unprecedented admission that the early morning June 12 raid on the Larangan Gerilyan under Frank Fernandez resulted from a tip from a deep penetration agent (DPA) among the ranks of the NPA.

Killed in that raid was Dominador Justiniani III, alias Junjun. The rebelsreportedly dragged their wounded companions. But the military also lost one killed and suffered two wounded in that clash.

Justiniani’s M-14 rifle and personal belongings were also seized by the military. But more important was the capture of a computer printer with power supply plus sketch maps and voluminous subversive documents of "high intelligence value which are now being reviewed by the combined PNP and PA intelligence specialists.

What makes the operations worth watching was the announcement by the PA that special assault teams are standing by with two helicopters in nearby Cebu Province indicating the possibility that they may actually be closing in on "Ka Frank."

Warning From Tupas

Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas Monday warned groups harboring the notorious Prion brothers of Cabatuan that they could be charged with harboring criminals if they continue protecting them.

That was an unprecedented warning from the Iloilo executive pointing out that the provincial governor and the PNP are serious in filing charges against those arrested harboring the Prion brothers.

He also revealed that among those to be charged are police officials, citing among others PO3 Ruperto Badol of the Regional Intelligence Office. The latter was reportedly seen with Joel Prion during a recent raid in Barangay Jelicuous-Montinola in Cabatuan.

The Prion brothers are suspects in the series of robbery holdups and cattle rustling incidents in the province, especially in Cabatuan.

The provincial government put up a P100,000 cash reward for the arrest of the Prion brothers. P50,000 is for Joel and P50,000 for his brothers, Logen and Ben.