Some Negros LGUs buck STL; Church braces for campaign

Even while Church authorities were still girding to campaign against the small town lottery of the Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office, several local government officials of Negros Occidental bucked the proposal to introduce it in their respective jurisdictions.

But the reality is that Manapla Mayor Manuel Escalante, president of the Negros Association of Chief Executives, said majority of the 32 mayors of the province are set to pass resolutions endorsing STL starting next week.

Escalante admitted that he is almost 80 percent sure that STL will be in Negros Occidental before the end of the year.

Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon said he would toss the issue to local government officials, although the provincial board has already passed a resolution objecting to STL.

The five mayors who opposed STL in their respective communities are Kabankalan’s Pedro Zayod, Bago City’s Janet Torres, Himamaylan City’ Carminia Bascon, E. B. Magalona’s Alfonso Gamboa, and Valladolid’s Richard Presbitero.

For Gamboa, neither jueteng nor the "daily double" exists in his town, so he does not see why STL should be introduced there.

"Why create a problem where none exists?" was how Gamboa put it.

Zayco, on the other hand, said he is not a gambler and is not in favor of STL. Besides, he added that the revenues, which STL will generate for a local government unit, could be raised through other means like stepping up real estate tax collections.

Both Mayors Torres and Bascon have almost similar reasons. The money poor folk would bet on STL would only make them poorer. Besides, the money should be spent on food instead of used in gambling.

PCSO officials explained to Marañon that STL will benefit indigent patients of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, the regional health facility in Bacolod.

Marañon pointed out that if the purpose is to improve their public relations in the province, they should also included the district hospitals.

Although there is the promise of local government units sharing a percentage of the STL’s daily income, many do not realize that STL would siphon off from the province the income from the legalized gambling. In short, it will leave only a pittance of what it earns for the local government units.

That may explain the point raised by Zayco — that the money could be flushed out from the population some other way, perhaps more creatively with also a share of the income generated. There is no reason why local executives cannot adopt an approach which the public would go for if the intent is to raise the income of municipalities.

STL is reportedly intended to replace jueteng. But while jueteng is illegal, at least it does not drain local money and channel it to Metro Manila. STL, on the other hand, will siphon off local bets into the national capital.

On another front, while many of the country’s Christians hailed the abolition of the death penalty law, there were reverberations from among the average folk that might undercut the praises heaped by Church authorities on the action of Congress and the possible signing into law by the President.

Vice Mayor Renecito Novero of Bacolod yesterday told the local TV audience that the removal of the death penalty leaves much to be desired. And several people on the streets interviewed by ABS-CBN TV Patrol also aired similar reservations about the wisdom of such a move.

"You remove the threat of a punitive measure and criminals would think they can get away with (crimes)," said a 46-year-old woman.

True, another commented, that most of those meted the death penalty are the poor who cannot afford to hire lawyers to defend them in criminal cases. Still, he pointed out that the fear of the death penalty would discourage would-be criminals.

I have personally been against the death sentence. But there is another side to the issue. Our prison system may be, by law, rehabilitation-oriented, but it is not so. We lack prison facilities. Neither do we have the rehabilitative personnel in such numbers as to justify the institutionalization of the intent.

But Fr. Felix Pasquin, pastor of the Silay City parish church, stressed that the Church has always been against the taking of one’s life. In short, the Church posture against death penalty if not something new but has always been the precept of the Church.

Well, the irony of the whole thing, as pointed out in the pastoral letter of Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, while the death penalty has been abolished, the killings of militants, journalists, and other people continue in the country.

The Jaro prelate issued the CBCP pastoral letter "Let Us Keep Human Life Sacred," pointing out that the country’s bishops have been disturbed by the killings of activists, journalists, and defenders of the poor suspected as communists as well as policemen and soldiers.

The pastoral letter cited the recent assassination of peace adviser Sotero Llamas.

It considered the killings a sad commentary on our country and the government, which wants to abolish the death penalty.

Lagdameo said it is not right that people are killed simply because they have different political beliefs and are suspected of being subversives or of plotting against the government.

Extrajudicial killings, he pointed out, is a sin against life, a sin against human dignity. He added that retribution and vengeance simply perpetuates the cycle of violence.

That, I think, is the irony. While we hail the repeal of the death penalty, the killings continue. All of this, to a certain extent, indicates that summary justice, whoever are behind it, has become a popular means to seek redress. And it continues uncontrolled.

Bantay Dagat tussle

It is about time that Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon expressed his willingness to mediate in the Negros-Masbate tussle over the recent arrest of five alleged sea pirates at Isla de Higantes in Iloilo by crewmembers of FB Cadiz City.

The five suspects are Allan Son, Rolando Gabriel, Diosdado Briones, Nilo Mercader, and Douglas Jeraspa. The five, tagged as extortionists, claimed that the Cadiz fishermen killed two of their companions.

The Cadiz City police has filed a case of piracy against the suspects before the Cadiz City regional trial court. Cadiz police director Norberto Boston said the five are now detained at the Cadiz City jail.

The Negros Press Club, on the other hand, has asked DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno to investigate the incident and to determine the veracity of the claim of Jun Briones, purportedly the president of the Masbate Tri-Media Club, that the arrested members were bona fide personnel of the Masbate Bantay Dagat. And he threatened to file charges of murder and frustrated murder against the Cadiz fishermen.

What caught the attention of the Negros Press Club members was the report of Super Radyo that the Masbate legal officer has disclaimed that Gov. Anthony Kho had appointed Briones as Bantay Dagat director of the island-province.

Briones also accused Mayor Bernardito Abapo of Milagros, Masbate as a protector of illegal fishing. The latter, in turn, accused Briones and some Masbate mediamen as the real protectors of illegal fishing.

That’s the situation at the moment. But we hope that Gov. Kho would, once and for all, clarify the issue of whether Briones and company were appointed as Bantay Dagat members and officers or not.

Antique P142-M road rehab

Rep. Exequiel Javier recently said on radio that the rehabilitation of the San Jose-Patnongon Road will be finished soon. The project costs P142 million.

The Department of Public Works and Highways cancelled the earlier contract with O.R. Sarmiento and awarded it to E de Luna in September 2005.

ADB is financing the rehabilitation project, together with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Philippine government.

The project actually involves the overlay of the 27-kilometer asphalt road from the capital town of San Jose to Patnongon.

It is part of the P1.2-billion road improvement program for Antique.

Well, as they pointed out, both Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez and Javier could have accelerated the development of Antique if they just bury their political differences.