NBI joins manhunt for 2 Bacolod ex-police chiefs

One is often tempted to comment on spectacular goings-on. For example, the aborted impeachment complaint against President Arroyo and how it got junked. A predictable outcome.

So with the ongoing House probe on the P728-million fertilizer scam with former agriculture undersecretary Jocjoc Bolante on the hot seat. Bolante, however, continues to stonewall and insists that there was no scam. And the Ombudsman, too, just recently decided to summon DA regional directors to its investigation into the case.

That, of course, should have been done a long time ago, as pointed out by former solicitor general Frank Chavez.

So what’s new on the national scene? There is the current hullabaloo about the possibility of extending the term of Mrs. Arroyo and the Palace dishing out the usual “leave it to Congress to decide on what to do with the proposed Charter change.”

Thus, early this week, I opted to focus on the slow grind of justice and how the National Bureau of Investigation has intensified the manhunt for two former Bacolod police chiefs who have been issued arrest warrants in connection with the August 2003 abduction and murder of former Pahanocoy barangay captain Eleuterio Salabas and two companions.

The warrants for Superintendents Vicente Ponteras and George Baljelot were issued by Guihulngan Regional Trial Court Judge Mario Trinidad on July 24 yet. Both were denied bail.

Although the Salabas case had hogged the local headlines for a long time, the investigation and the filing of the case before the court had dragged on for years. Salabas’ widow, Elizabeth Orola-Salabas, head of the Visayan Maritime Academy, has been bearing her anguish for quite a while.

The case became celebrated when several members of the Bacolod police were tagged as having a hand in the abduction and subsequent killing of Salabas and his companions – Maximo Lomoljo and Ricardo Suganob.

After a prolonged preliminary investigation that included an appeal to Malacañang, the case was finally endorsed by the provincial prosecutor’s office to the Guihulngan RTC.

And then, so far, only Chief Inspector Clarence Dongail had been arrested. He was flown back to Manila after incarceration in Guihulngan, Oriental Negros.

But many of the other police officers included in the charge, plus several civilians, including among others, businessman Manolo Escalante and Ramonito Estanislao, are still at large. So with Inspector Bonifer Gotas, SPO1 Nelson Grijaldo, PO1 Dennis Belandres, Richard Salazar and Ruel Villacana.

NBI Bacolod chief Mamerto Cortez said the agency has the duty to serve the arrest warrants on the two former police chiefs. But he appealed to them to surrender voluntarily instead.

The puzzle: How could such high-profile personalities remain virtually out of touch with the police or the NBI? The Bacolod police force seems just as ignorant of the whereabouts of those accused.

Ah, one can just speculate. Either there is a cover-up or the police simply don’t want to touch their own comrades-in-arm.

Perhaps, this time, we can expect faster developments. I hope the President can do something to prod the police agencies to speed up the arrest of the accused and give justice to the Salabas family.

ADDENDA. Again, Ramon Hofilena, the inveterate tourism and cultural icon of Negros Occidental, is reading his 36th cultural tour of Negros. A Western Visayas Excel Excellence Award for a Lifetime Achievement by the Department of Tourism, Mon is enthusiastically crowing about innovations introduced in his cultural tour of northern Negros, which includes a visit to the Victorias Milling Company. His first tour will be on Dec. 6. Then, two other Saturday’s – 13 and 20. Every guided tour by Mon Hofilena is something to really watch. And one can learn a lot more per trip. This time the tour includes visits to the Dizon-Ramos Museum in Bacolod, the Bernardino Jalandoni House Museum, the Stradivarius violin, old books, century-old pieces of furniture wooden refrigerator, visual art collection, and hangenderous’ kitchen ware. And others, Mon will also talk on conservation framing, folk’s arts, and a lot of other things, including what he says are the correct interpretation of Negros history. He makes history a live. But, despite the number of years, the tour de Negros has been going, Mon remains committed to it. And we look forward more Negrenses making part in this great adventure.