Setback for Guimaras tourism

During the oil spill crisis, some island resorts of Guimaras province remained untouched and continued to draw in tourists, including foreign aid workers. And one of the most famous was Naburot Island, the favorite of mostly European visitors.

Recently, Naburot’s promise of attracting more foreign visitors to Guimaras plummeted with the loss of an estimated P1.1 million in cash and valuables by two Norwegian nationals to robbers.

The loot consisted of valuables and cash, according to a report from Naburot Island in Barangay Sinapan, Jordan.

This happened only Monday morning. The Norwegians were identified as Eric Olsen and Steve French.

The two reported that their bags were missing from the cottage they were renting at Naburot Beach Resort owned by Ann Saldana.

French reportedly lost a Rolex wristwatch, a white gold diamond bracelet valued at P70,000, two Nokia 2310 cellular phones worth P35,000, and Philippine currency worth P85,000. He also lost his passport, plane ticket, Hermes card holder with an assessed value of P40,000, a Gucci wallet priced at P16,000, and two pairs of Louis Vuitton sunglasses worth P20,000 each, as well as credit cards and driver’s license.

Olsen claimed he lost his Mulberry bag worth P48,000, his Louis Vuitton wallet worth P36,000; passport holder worth P36,000; Canon digital camera with case worth P70,000, P66,000 and $1,200 in cash plus 400 Singaporean dollars and 1,000 Norwegian kroner, and Tag Heuer wristwatch valued at P340,000. He also lost his Sony Ericsson cellphone priced at P58,000, credit cards and driver’s license.

Police reported that Olsen is a Filipino-Norwegian.

The two reportedly arrived in Naburot Island Monday afternoon with four other Filipino companions.

SPO2 Rock Dumampit, OIC chief of the Jordan police station, said they have invited several people for questioning.

Naburot, however, is 28 kilometers from the Jordan mainland and can be reached only by pumpboat, so it is presumed easy to determine who left the island Tuesday morning.

Superintendent Wilfredo Dulay, Western Visayas police director, ordered provincial director Modesto Samson to personally take over the investigation into the incident, which may have implications on Guimaras’ tourism program.

Well, as they say, often when things are calm and comfortable, something usually goes wrong. Guimaras, incidentally, banks on tourism as a means of retrieving what it had lost to the oil spill. But the Naburot incident is bound to get the notice of the largely European clientele of the island. Naburot was saved from the oil spill, but this latest event may tar its image among its largely European clients.

Sayang.

And speaking of Iloilo, the Senate committee looking into the storming of the provincial capitol, came up the other day with a strong denunciation of the DILG for having precipitated the ouster of Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas and the installation of Vice Gov. Roberto Armada as acting governor.

The onus of the Senate findings zeroed in on Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Undersecretary Wencelito Andanar plus the Mobile Regional Group of the PNP headed by Senior Superintendent Pedro Merced.

The Senate panel headed by Sen. Franklin Drilon also lashed out at the forceful and vigorous dispersal efforts that amounted to a violation of the rules of engagement.

In short, the police over-reacted.

But the question with the Senate finding is that Sen. Drilon is the patron of Gov. Tupas. Thus, he elicited mostly contrary evidence against Puno et al.

But the more dispassionate development was the warning to Vice Gov. Armada that he could be held criminally liable for usurpation of authority for claiming to be governor and pretending to be clothed with authority.

The warning came from lawyer Ferdinand Panes, legal counsel of DILG-Region 6.

A crisis of sorts developed in the provincial board when Armada failed again to attend the regular session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan last Tuesday.

Twenty days earlier, the DILG ordered Armada to re-assume the post of vice governor. On Sunday, he declared that he would not be going back.

Armada has not filed any leave with the office of the governor or the SP.

The Tuesday meeting was presided over by senior provincial board member Emmanuel Gallar.

Panes earlier pointed out that Armada could be held liable for gross dereliction of duty and could be charged with absence without official leave (AWOL) should he continue to absent himself from presiding over the SP session.

The DILG installed Armada as governor last Jan. 15 following the Ombudsman order dismissing Gov. Tupas for grave misconduct. The Court of Appeals’ 19th division, however, issued a 60-day temporary restraining order on Jan. 17, suspending the implementation of the Ombudsman’s order.

Armada, in Sunday’s Reklamo Publiko program, said he would wait until Feb. 17 since he could not lay claim as vice governor because he would be abandoning the question of the TRO.

By Tuesday, if Armada fails to show up during the SP session, provincial board member Domingo Oso Jr. said the members of the board may exercise their right under Section 50 b(5) of the Local Government Code to mete the necessary punishment on any member of the legislative body who absents himself from four consecutive sessions without justifiable cause.

But while everybody is watching what happened with Armada and the DILG and PNP officials involved in the storming of the Iloilo provincial capitol, only a handful seem to be aware that Tupas is also facing investigation for obstruction of justice.

And, yes, the PNP is readying to confer honors on members of the regional mobile unit for their work in crowd dispersal at the Iloilo capitol. Puno himself defended the police for coolly handling the situation that could have resulted in bloodshed had there been hotheads.

Well, as they say, there are always many sides to a problem. One’s opinion is influenced by the angle from which one watches events unfold. And the Iloilo dispersal remains one of those issues with one side crying human rights violations.

Husband’s ‘ghost’ prods Gardose widow to run

The police still have to unravel the assassination of Vice Mayor Victor Gardose of Tapaz, Capiz.

But it seems that, based on the statement of his widow, Rosemarie Gardose, the apparition of her slain husband prompted her to run for Tapas mayor if only to give justice to him.

"One night, I saw my husband inside our room as if he was alive. I took it as a sign that I should run so I can continue his mission," Mrs. Gardose told local newsmen.

Gardose, his bodyguard Antonio Gequillo, and punong barangay Leonardo Gimeno were shot dead near the civic center of Barangay Taft in Tapaz last Dec. 30.

Capiz police tagged politics as motive for the killing. Gardose and Gimeno were reportedly planning to run for mayor and vice mayor of the town.

Noel Fuentesfina, driver of Capiz provincial board member Ronaldo Exmundo, was identified as one of the gunmen in the triple slay. Fuentesfina denied the allegations.

Exmundo, meanwhile, is being groomed as successor to his cousin, incumbent Tapaz Mayor Romualdo Exmundo.

The investigation into the Gardose case has been stymied temporarily by the relief of former CPPO director Cipriano Querol.

The Exmundo family, however, has asked the NBI to conduct its own investigation into the case.

Meanwhile, in Capiz, the talk is about the ghost of Gardose and the campaign of his widow for the mayorship of Tapaz.