A communication problem in arrest of Jarque

The detention of retired Brig. Gen. Raymundo Jarque and his wife, Xenia, in Dallas, Texas, is a puzzling thing. To a certain extent, it shows problems in the communication links between the Philippine government and the US State Department and US immigration authorities.

It’s over. Past is past. Jarque and his wife were returned to the Philippines yesterday on a Korean Airlines flight.

But that does not remove the apparent failure of communications between the Philippine and US governments insofar as the status of Jarque is concerned. He still remains identified with the National Democratic Front, which the US government has dubbed as a foreign terrorist organization. Apparently, that was the reason for his arrest by immigration authorities in Dallas.

The first thing that should be asked is why did the US consulate grant him and wife, Xenia, US visas. Surely, the consular office could not have been blind to the fact that if Jarque is still with the NDF, he should not have been granted the visa. He is now a low-key personality. Sen. Rodolfo Biazon is right. To avert any similar fiasco in the future, the Philippine government should make representations with the US to come up with agreements on how to handle such cases as Jarque’s.

Incidentally, he could not have been named security consultant of the Philippine National Oil Co. if he remains identified with the NDF, for which he served as a consultant in its negotiations with the government. In short, he has been rehabilitated.

A call to the National Bureau of Investigation could have clarified his status. But what seems to be a puzzle was the reported answer by an NDF official that they still have to check whether Jarque has a pending warrant for his arrest. Usually, a departing passenger is supposed to seek an NBI clearance.

This simply shows that among our law agencies, plus between the Philippine and US governments, there is a yawning communication gap that makes such mistakes (if they are) glaring. Worse, the Jarque couple just suffered the loss of their son, Capt. Rene Jarque, who died in Jakarta recently.

What happened to Jarqs, as he is commonly called in Negros, was a double blow. He was not even allowed by Dallas immigration authorities to call his daughter, Melissa Cunanan, in Dallas.

The problem is that Jarque and his wife immediately signed a waiver for voluntary repatriation instead of challenging the decision of the US immigration authorities. Sayang, that could have exposed a lot of problems in the communication links between the Philippine and US governments.

Yorac Burial

Negros Occidental was again in the spotlight last Thursday with the interment of the late PCGG chairwoman Haydee Yorac at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, Makati City.

Most Negrenses had to content themselves with viewing the impressive tribute to their favorite daughter, Haydee.

First, there was the 21-gun salute to a remarkable public servant and a Huey helicopter of the Philippine Air Force showering rose petals during the funeral with military honors.

Negrenses are aware that Yorac was also a lieutenant colonel in the reserve force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Actually, she was assigned to the Philippine Marines.

Five Gang Members Killed

Talisay City is just seven kilometers north of Bacolod City. But on Thursday, five alleged bandits, including their leader, died in a 30-minute gunbattle with policemen in Barangay Epfenio Lizares in Hacienda Tibay Lacson.

The slain bandits were members of a robbery-holdup gang.

The killing came just a week after the arrest of Arnold Torchie, another gang member, in Silay City on charges of robbery in band and forcible abduction.

The police group was led by Chief Inspector Jerry Bartolome of the Talisay police. Bartolome said they surrounded the safehouse of the armed group and called on them to surrender. But instead they were met by a hail of gunfire, hitting one of his men in the left shoulder.

This immediately led to a half-hour gunbattle after which the bodies of the five casualties were discovered. They allegedly belonged formerly to the New People’s Army. Their leader, Morito Artus, was a rebel returnee who became a security guard. Two of the fatalities were as identified Genaro de la Cruz and Rolly Palermo. Three others, one of them wounded, reportedly managed to escape.

The police recovered several firearms and documents detailing the organizational structure of the gang, which was patterned after the NPA.

The Artus group, reportedly made up of 14 members, was responsible for a series of robbery-holdups in the cities of Talisay, Silay and Victorias and in F.B. Magalona town.

Last week, three suspects in the holdup of a passenger jeepney in Barangay Matab-ang, Talisay, were also arrested by a police team led by Bartolome.

Senior Superintendent Charles Calima, Negros Occidental police director, said the documents recovered showed that members of the Artus group used to be affiliated with the rebel movement but bolted it and shifted to criminal activities.

Well, what happened certainly gave a boost to the image of the local police. It shows that they are not sleeping on their job.

Ethanol Bill In The Senate

Nothing buoys Negrense sugar producers than the breakthrough in the bioethanol bill. Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri of Bukidnon reported that it was unanimously approved by the House members.

But the more encouraging news was that he told members of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Inc. (Confed) last Wednesday that Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairwoman of the Senate energy committee, will tackle the bill just as fast.

But even before the bill is signed into law, the mere prospects of its passage have already prodded three minor oil firms paced by SEAOIL to launch a 10 percent ethanol-gasoline blend.

Petron and Shell reportedly intend to follow suit with their respective 10 percent gasoline-ethanol mixes before the yearend. Petron is reportedly poised to do it in November.

Zubiri told the Confed trustees, headed by Reynaldo Bantug, that the slogan of sugar producers now is "if we can’t dig for oil, we plant them."

But what could have boosted the enthusiasm of sugarmen was the report of San Carlos bioethanol plant official Lucio Villaabrille that the northern Negros alcohol refinery has priced its standing sugarcane purchase at an equivalent of P920 to P930 per lkg.

Of course, he stressed that it is because the present price of oil is more than $60 per barrel.

Zubiri, who admitted that he has been engaged in sugarfarming since "I was 18 years old," greeted that report with enthusiasm. "I never enjoyed that price for the sugar I produced," he said.

But even before the approval of the bill into law, there were reports of scramble among potential ethanol investors for areas of possible investment in an ethanol distillery site.

During Wednesday’s meeting of the Confed trustees, several of them from Batangas and Pampanga told me that have been contacted by ethanol investors on the possibility of putting up refineries in their respective areas.

In short, with oil reserves pumped out double time to meet the rising demand, sources may dry up faster than what has been originally anticipated. Thus, the promise is that ethanol and other alternative energy sources are the future. Hence, it is manifesting itself as a very promising investment area.