Days after ‘people’s initiative,’ Bacolod City Hall still gathering signatures

Until yesterday, the Department of the Interior and Local Government insisted it had nothing to do with the "people’s initiative." And Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said he had nothing to do with it, too. It was just a spontaneous reaction by the registered voters of the different barangays in last Saturday’s consultations.

But ABS-CBN torpedoed that yesterday. The television station in Bacolod showed clips of interviews with vendors in the Libertad market. Several of them mentioned the name of a supposed executive assistant of Mayor Leonardia as having solicited their signatures for the "people’s initiative."

And as several of them pointed out, there was the promise that they may no longer be ejected from the area outside the public market.

The ABS-CBN crew tried to get hold of Mayor Leonardia for his explanation on the behavior of his executive assistant, which contradicted the city executive’s declared innocence. That was a perfect picture of the opposite of what the mayor claimed never happened.

Worse, the signatures were being solicited long after the termination of the barangay assemblies.

And, yes, some Bacolod middle-class observers are asking a lot of questions. These invariably involved how the Commission on Elections employees (meager as claimed by poll supervisors) are verifying the signatures on the petitions. Based on the claim that the voters’ list was being retrieved for comparison, does this mean that they are wading through the list of signatures or just checking the names against the registered voters?

Nobody seems to have questioned the verification process. And in the face of the counter-signature campaign by Bayan and other non-government or political organizations, soon the two campaigns may be joined if both are submitted to the poll body for verification — or even if the original signatures are contested in court.

Well, it seems a major sleight of hand has been foisted on the public. How shall we know if the signatures of the people’s initiative are really genuine or fake?

That’s a question that both the Comelec and the Sigaw ng Bayan must be able to answer since the latter keeps telling the media that more signatures are coming in from outside Metro Manila.

The political exercise is sure to rouse more strident debates in the days ahead. And the Holy Week may instead be marked by more political diatribes and exchanges instead of focusing on the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of the Christ.

Iloilo counter-drive

While Bayan in Negros is talking about its counter-campaign against the people’s initiative, the Ilonggo Movement Against Arroyo’s Charter Change launched its own signature campaign to oppose the move to amend the Constitution through the people’s initiative.

Dubbed as I-March, the campaign had for its first signatories former Iloilo vice governor Ramon Duremdez, Bishop Gaspar Banes of the Aglipayan Church, Msgr. Meliton Oso, executive director of the Jaro Archdiocese’s social action center, and key officials of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Gabriela and the Promotion of Church People’s Response.

The poser: To whom will the I-March and the other groups submit their signatures opposing the people’s initiative?

That puts the Comelec in the bind, I think.

Honasan spotted in Bago resort

SunStar’s Erwin Ambo Delilan headlined yesterday the story about former Sen. Gregorio Honasan reportedly having been spotted at the Buenos Aires Mountain Resort in Bago City, 21 kilometers south of Bacolod.

During the weekend, according to somebody who knows Honasan very well, the former lawmaker was reportedly with a known sugar farmer in Negros Occidental.

Col. Jerry Jalandoni, chief of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, also admitted to having received several text messages on Honasan’s alleged presence in Bago.

But Jalandoni said a check on the ground turned negative.

Negros Occidental police chief Charles Calima said they are still analyzing the information they have been receiving from members of the intelligence community on Honasan’s presence here. Police are not discounting the possibility that Honasan may really be in the province.

Earlier last month, Supterintendent Doroteo Reyes of the Western Visayas police confirmed an intelligence report that Honasan was spotted in Western Visayas. The Army also received the same report, he added.

Well, until they finally bag him, if ever, there will always be a lot of "reliable reports" about Honasan. Incidentally, a former sugar farmer earlier told me that Honasan, at the height of the 1989 coup, was also in the town but that his family refused to give him shelter.

But, as they say, a bird in hand is worth than a thousand tales of sightings.

‘Interpol’ general dead

"General" Julio Quirino, the fabled "World Commander of the International Police," died Wednesday of what still remains a secret cause.

Quirino was recently gratified to note that the RTC dismissed the illegal possession of a firearm filed against him and a companion, "Captain" Norman Bitar. The court pointed out that the charge is already included in the case of direct assault filed against him by the police.

Quirino’s group reportedly assaulted police precinct 3 in Barangay Mandalagar on Feb. 2. Jailed with Quirino were Bitar, "Colonel" Manuel Basa, and two "captains."

Quirino had become a front-page personality in Bacolod and Western Visayas. He had been involved in a lot of fracas and even ran for mayor of Bacolod City.

He openly flaunted his Interpol card as a "World commander." And he invariably had a string of subordinate officers who swore by him.

His legal counsel, Lorenzo Alminaza, claimed that his client had fulfilled his "Interpol" mission. He said Quirino’s record could be counter-checked in the historical records of the Philippine military.

He even claimed that while local officials and many others simply dismissed Quirino as a crank, foreign dignitaries, including President George W. Bush, reportedly respected and trusted Quirino.

The puzzle about Quirino may be solved soon. His remains are now at the Rolling Hills Memorial Chapel in Mandalagan with an honor guard of two "Interpol" members clad in camouflage uniforms.

Threats against VMC officials

Victorias Milling Company officials and employees have been receiving death threats recently, according to VMC president Abelardo Bugay in his letter-appeal to Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon and Calima.

These threats are reportedly in the form of letters, text messages, and packages which contained, among other things, live bullets.

The threats reportedly stemmed from the management’s action against some mill personnel allegedly involved in the loss of 500 bags of refined sugar from VMC.

Road safety ordered

On Thursday, Marañon called on town and city mayors of the province to ensure road safety, especially during the Holy Week holidays.

Marañon said the Provincial Road Safety Task Force should take preventive measures against road mishaps, although he pointed out that traffic enforcement is the job of the Land Transportation Office and the Philippine National Police.

The governor directed Vifran Dante, head of the task force, to coordinate with local officials for the creation of road safety task forces in towns and cities.

This move by the governor came in the wake of the death of two sons and a relative of a policewoman in a vehicular accident in Manapla town Thursday.

The fatalities were Neil Edwin Alimpolo and his brother, Neil Irwin. Their cousin, Arlete Batolina, was declared dead on arrival at the Our Lady of Mercy Hospital in Bacolod City.

The mother of the two fatalities, SPO3 Sherlita Alimpolo, and her brother Neil Edward, are now being treated in a private hospital.

The tricycle they were riding in reportedly slammed into the rear of a cargo truck parked on the shoulder of the highway. The driver, Aloy Repaso, fled after the mishap and is being sought by the police.

ADDENDUM. The Dumaguete police remained puzzled by two holdups during the weekend that victimized a housewife and a warehouse. Elisa Martin was held up Friday while buying liquefied petroleum gas in Tubog. Three motorcycle-riding men ordered the pedicab driver to stop and at gunpoint, grabbed her handbag containing P100,000.