An overwhelming series of big stories

The best laid plans of men often sunder in the face of events. And that what happened to me this week. I had plans to visit Iloilo and proceed to Aklan. But suddenly, I found myself confronted by major stories insofar as Negros Occidental is concerned.

First, there was the “light” from warrant servers for retired police chief Vicente Ponteras of Bacolod. He had been issued an arrest warrant together with former Bacolod chief George Bajelot.

The warrants for their arrest were issued by the Guihulngan Regional Trial Court. Both were included in the case on the abduction and subsequent killing of former Pahanaocoy barangay captain Eleuterio Salabas in August 2003.

Ponteras told local mediamen that he has gone to a “safe place,” pointing out that he was innocent and that his inclusion in the kidnapping with murder case was unjust.

Last July 12, first assistant provincial prosecutor Fidel Macuyag filed an amended information which included Ponteras, Bajelot and police asset Cecil Brillantes in the case pending before the Guihulngan RTC.

The inclusion of Ponteras and Bajelot in the case raised to 12 the number of Bacolod policemen indicted in the Salabas case.

Ponteras, incidentally, ran for mayor of Bacolod City but lost to Evelio Leonardia.

The former police chief wondered why the family of Salabas included him and Bajelot in the case when they had no part in the kidnapping of the former Bacolod barangay captain.

Brillantes, in his affidavit, said he joined a meeting attended by Ponteras and Bajelot at the Bacolod City police office where the operation against Salabas was discussed due to his alleged involvement in illegal drugs in the city.

Ponteras said he filed a motion on Monday before the Guihulngan RTC to defer the issuance of the arrest warrant since he was filing a motion with the justice department for a review of the prosecutor’s decision including him in the case through an amended information.

He pointed out that at the time of the Salabas kidnapping, he was the Negros Occidental provincial police director and had nothing to do with the Bacolod police.

Besides, he added, Salabas was then not in the police list of suspected drug peddlers. In 2003, Ponteras said he was charged with negligence in the handling of the Salabas kidnap-slay probe, but this was dismissed.

Even Negros police chief Senior Superintendent Rosendo Franco said he does not understand why Ponteras and Bajelot were included in the case only now.

The funny thing is that none of the 10 cops, including Superintendent Clarence Dongail, remain at large. So with the 13 civilians involved in the case.

Well, as they point out, something very wrong is going on.

Radioman’s shooting

Police are investigating the shooting last Wednesday of Super Radyo OIC-manager Ferdinand “Bambi” Yngson. No less than Task Force Usig head Geary Barias and PNP chief Director General Oscar Calderon visited Yngson at his hospital bed in Bacolod.

That incident stirred a collective howl among media organizations in the province. Yngson’s attacker, Romeo Corco, is a casual worker of the Sagay City government and a deputized traffic agent of the Cadiz LTO. He is now under detention; the homemade shotgun used in the shooting had been recovered.

The International Federation of Journalists also condemned the shooting of Yngson. IFJ Asia-Pacific director Jacquelin Park underscored the incident as another example of the unsafe conditions which working journalists in the Philippines face.

But for Jessie Ortega, secretary-general of the United Drivers and Operators Center, the Yngson shooting will unearth alleged abuses by LTO men in the province.

“At least, massive and arbitrary detention of our members being done by LTO men is gradually being exposed in public with various radio commentators venturing into serious speculations in discussing the merits of the case,” Ortega said.

Police, however, initially said the incident might have been caused by a personal grudge between Yngson and Corco.

Be that as it may, it has become a cause celebre in the province.