Then, the latest word from abroad, reflected locally by another oil price increase. There are market predictions that the prices of oil will continue rising. There is the specter of the country digging into its dwindling foreign reserves.
But, well, there is also a story of hope. Now, sugar leaders and possibly the government, are finally realizing that we have indigenous sources of fuel. All it needs is the political will to manufacture ethanol. The issue is fuel and food security. The solution is right in our hands.
But what to write about first?
It was a poignant story. And the policeman who sawed off the chain was visibly caught by the TV gritting his teeth, gingerly trying not to hit the girl’s right ankle.
And then the tearful reunion between the girl and her parents — Teodoro Librando and her spouse, Virginia, of Barangay Bunga. The face-to-face meeting was arranged by Mayor Cynthia de la Cruz.
The couple asked for forgiveness from the girl. They admitted having chained her to a corner of their house since last year.
It took the police about five minutes to cut the five-foot long metal chain from her right foot which was also wound around her waist and her arms to prevent her from dragging it.
Teodoro righteously stressed that he did it to protect his daughter, then a pupil at the Bunga Elementary School, from possible rape because he caught her with a group of boys on their way home last year.
He added that a woman had been raped and killed by two men near their barangay. He did not want the same thing to happen to her. And he did not want her to get pregnant.
The mother also asked for forgiveness "if we had done wrong." And she persistently denied having maltreated their daughter. But she did admit that she agreed to have her daughter chained "for her own good." She said she knew that mauling her daughter would violate the law but putting her in chains would not.
It was on July 23 when the girl escaped from their house. She walked and hid in a cave several kilometers from their house, eating wild bananas to stave off hunger.
Two days later, she continued walking until she reached the house of a sympathetic citizen with whom she stayed for one night. On July 27, she trudged again until she reached Barangay Quezon where she stayed for two days and two nights. Her kindhearted host informed kagawad Johnny Pedrosa about her plight. Later, Pedrosa and her host brought her to the Municipal Social Welfare Office and the DSB police.
She was caught by her father the next day. And he reportedly mauled her and shaved her head.
It was during her second attempt to escape when she was severely beaten by her father. Her mother did nothing to defend her. She even agreed with her husband’s idea of chaining her.
Surprisingly, her three sisters and a brother cried with their mother and begged her to forgive their parents, especially their mother.
Of course, the problem is that imprisoning the couple would pose a problem. Who will feed her four siblings with Teodoro’s first wife and 13 others with Virginia? That means the social welfare office will have to care for them, although Mayor De la Cruz said she is willing to send the child to school so she can live a normal life.
The second point: It seems that teachers never go out of their way to impress upon children about their rights. This is based on the reaction of the girl’s siblings who joined the chorus for her to forgive her parents.
Apparently their mindset is that their parents had the right to do what they did to their sister. A true tragedy. They never lifted a finger to report her maltreatment and abuse to the authorities. Not even to their teachers.
The police, meanwhile, said they plan to include the girl’s older brother in the charges which they are readying against the Librando couple.
The girl will be taken into the custody of the DSWD regional office in Iloilo. That, after she undergoes a battery of psychological tests.
But Arroyo said he wants to be sure about the safety of the 13 Binalbagan residents still on board the boat off Palawan.
The first group, six of eight who were released by the San Pio, arrived in Bacolod last Monday. But Remy Granada said that aside from them, there are still about a hundred Negrenses, mostly from Negros Oriental, on board the vessel.
Two of the 100 men are reportedly from Isabela and Hinigaran, according to Granada.
Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Francis Gerard Tuvilla is readying a resolution asking the Office of the President to conduct an investigation into the reported continued use of the banned muro-ami fishing method.
Tuvilla is also proposing a resolution supporting Rep. Arroyo in the effort to have San Pio apprehended by the Philippine Navy. The resolution will also call on local government units to rally support behind the move.