Bishop, priests, laymen protest Jarque harassment

I still have to monitor the reaction of Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra and members of the local clergy to the violent rally dispersal involving Vice President Teofisto Guingona, three Catholic bishops, and several prominent church and political leaders Saturday.

Until then, I must concentrate on something that touched the hearts of about 90 clergymen and lay Catholic leaders of the Diocese, headed by Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra.

They dispatched a request to Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, chair of the Senate foreign affairs committee, to investigate thoroughly the inhumane treatment of retired Gen. Raymundo Jarque and his wife, Xenia, last Sept. 20 when the couple were intercepted by immigration agents in Houston, Texas, and later lodged at the Eulis City jail.

Rodolfo "Babes" Alvarez also included in the complaint the Philippine Embassy in Washington D. C. and the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles for allegedly not lifting a finger to help the Filipino nationals subjected to harassment by Immigration authorities.

The Jarques said they were not even allowed to call for a lawyer nor even their daughter, whom they had wanted to visit post the demise of their son, the late Capt. Rene Jarque, a former topnotch Filipino officer who resigned from the service in protest of what he considered as injustices and corruption in the AFP.

Jarque, incidentally, was consultant of the National Democratic Front in the peace negotiations. He joined the NDF after he suffered harassment from landowner Magdaleno Pena. The charges against Jarque and some of his men were later dropped by the Sandiganbayan and the Ombudsman for lack of merit.

Jarque said he had already resigned as NDF consultant when he applied for a US visa.

Masskara draws thousands

As expected, this year’s Masskara festival drew to Bacolod streets a huge crowd who wanted to catch a glimpse of the best-ever streetdancing presentations.

As expected, Villamonte Baragangay Captain Andre Victor Las Piñas, romped off with the top cash prize of P100,000. The second place was clinched by Barangay Alijias, which took home the P75,000 prize. Second runner up was awarded to Barangay 23 and the P50,000 prize.

Villamonte choreographer Jesus Cabalcar said the dance steps combined those of 11 Southeast Asian countries which he and Dominic Dioson had dutifully researched on.

The board of judges was headed by Peque Gallaga, vice chair of the National Commission on Culture and Arts cinema committee; Modesto Saonoy, consultant of the Silver Masskara Festival; and Gener Caringal, chair of the NCCA dance committee.

Nimfa Leonardia of the Visayan Daily STAR said that there was a truly big crowd who attended the affair, resulting in traffic jams in the downtown area.

Negros Press Club

One of the main highlights of the Masskara festivities was the Negros Press Club celebrity night held at the Bacolod City Plaza.

NPC president Primo Eslever considered it one of the best ever staged celebrity nights planned by the executive committee headed by Armando Villacarlos.

The affair was hosted by Rep. Charlie Cojuangco but Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Maranon also donated two lechons. Rep. Monico Puentebella, City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Vice Gov. Isidro Zayco, Ceneco General Manager Ed Guillem and Masskara Foundation chair Eli Tajanlangit with San Miguel Corp.’s Laarni Aguilar also pitched in with their respective donations of more lechons and drinks.

Siquijor facelift

The recent arrest of Siquijor Governor’s nephew, Anthony Fua and his wife, Liezl, over an illegal drugs case by the National Bureau of Investigation, led the governor to announce recently a determined bid to rid his province of illegal drugs in the island province.

Fua, one of the most respected governors of Central Visayas, said one of the main trusts of his infrastructure program is the preservation of the white beaches of the island province which has attracted foreign and domestic tourists.

This also means improvement and rehabilitation of bridges and roads and the campaign against illegal drugs.

Fua pointed out that the recent arrest of Anthony and his wife shows that insofar as the authorities are concerned there are no sacred cows in the province.

IRA bonanza

It pays to have no less than President Arroyo as guest of the Buglasan Festival of Negros Oriental over the weekend as she brought with her the good news.

According to the President, the P17.5 billion withheld from the IRA funds of local government units will be released soon.

For Negros Oriental Gov. George Arnaiz that was indeed a most welcome news. He said that some local government units will secure their collections through loans from the Land Bank of the Philippines for local projects.

DA-6 to control irregularities

Department of Agriculture’s Regional Director Jindra Linda Demeterio said she has introduced steps to control the perceived irregularities in the DA regional field unit 6.

These steps include re-examining the procurement system, revamping the members of the bids and awards committee headed by Peter Sobrevega, centralizing procurement and seeds requirement, streamlining job processes, asking the Commission on Audit if there are dubious transactions at yearend.

Demeterio also entrusted to DA-RFU 6 Executive Assistant Larry Nacionales the investigation on the "perceived anomalies" exposed recently by Panay Media.

Among these were the purchase of 500 heads of swine amounting to P4.95 million, which was considered illegal. Regional Technical Director Nachito Baylon signed the negotiated control of sale, which was declared by the COA as null and void. There were also several incentives and reimbursements for certain benefits which were thumbed down by COA.

But the most scandalous was the purchase of 1,662 bags of hybrid corn seeds under the GMA Hybrid Promotion Program amounting to P1.4 million.

Well they said they still have to track down DA Undersecretary E. Bolante while several anomalies are also under investigation.