Breast cancer run draws bigger crowd

Protesters claimed to have mobilized thousands against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but it seemed that 10,000 people joined the Bosom Care fun run last Friday aimed at raising funds for breast cancer victims in Negros Occidental.

Dr. Cecile Nava, president of Bosom Care, considered the affair a great success. Actually, there were 10,000 students and professionals who participated in the affair that featured a "dancercise" that started at the ANP South Showroom and ended at the Capitol lagoon and park.

It was more fun than all the burning of GMA effigies and waving of red flags by the protesters.

At least, it was evident from the list of participating schools like Riverside College, La Consolacion College, University of St. La Salle, John B. Lacson Colleges Foundation, University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, Tay Tung High School, Jack and Jill Castleson High School, and St. John’s Institute.

Rep. Monico Puentevella (Bacolod City) said the fund-raising activity for Bosom Care is a wake-up call for the people to continue the fight against breast cancer.

Eighty-year-old cancer survivor Felina Ignacio, the oldest participant, said the activity provided her the oomph because of the many who expressed concern for cancer victims like her.

Riverside College bagged an award for fielding the most number of participants — about 2,000 students.

That Bosom Care fun run provided a respite from the political marches on Gloriagate.

Cha-cha stirs debates

Expectedly, President Arroyo’s call to amend the basic Charter has been the major topic of conversations and conflicting positions since Monday.

Local business leaders welcomed the move, with most Negrenses favoring the call for federalism.

Robert Montelibano, president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), said he favors a parliamentary-federal system. He said local government units should be empowered to spend their own funds.

Montelibano favors the automatic release of the Internal Revenue Allotment shares of the LGUs.

Similarly, James Chua, president of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCCI), said this shift will benefit the people in the provinces.

In Iloilo City, professor-journalist Leopoldo Causing invited members and officers of the Save Our Language for Federation to discuss their advocacy in a television interview.

SOLFED, according to national president Dr. Joey Dacudao of Butuan City, has started its campaign for the federal system. But Dacudao stressed that it is also emphasizing the protection of ethnolinguistic languages to preserve them from extinction. "Take away their language and the ethnolinguistic groups of the country could lose their soul," the noted neuro-surgeon stressed.

Fr. Gerson Balitor, of the Church People’s Response Promotion, scored GMA’s call for Charter change as self-serving.

He called the fast-tracked Charter change proposal by former President Fidel V. Ramos as "a life-saving raft by the fast-sinking Arroyo (administration)" and not for the good of the people.

Bayan-Negros secretary Felipe Levy Gelle also said it is a "diversion from the real issue" which is Mrs. Arroyo’s accountability for election fraud.

Partido ng Manggagawa-Negros spokeswoman Ma. Luisa Parroco said the President was deliberately silent on the fact that she is both the ultimate result and worst promoter of the degeneration of the country’s political system.

In Dumaguete, Oriental Negros, both Gov. George Arnaiz and City Mayor Agustin Perdices were quoted by Juancho Gallarde as favoring the change in the political system from presidential-unitary to parliamentary-federalism.

This was the same opinion aired by Bais City Mayor Hector Villanueva, pointing out that the League of Cities, led by Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, has unanimously pushed for Charter change and called for public support for it.

In Bacolod, meanwhile, Panay-Negros chapter chairman Luis Tongoy of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Inc. (Confed) said their board of trustees still has to define their position on Charter change. But he said off-hand, hardly anybody is against federalism.

It was Confed which earlier called for the adoption of the automatic tax retention scheme that will flesh out local autonomy.

Businessman Babes Alvarez, however, said in a television interview that proponents of federalization must be able to flesh out exactly that they envision.

"For example, do we favor a regional government for Western Visayas? Negros is separated from Panay by the Guimaras Strait. And we have some cultural differences. The same with other Visayan provinces. In short, such proposals must be studied carefully," Alvarez stressed.

And that’s just the opening salvo of Cha-Cha. And that’s going to gather momentum in the days ahead. And the prospects are dim that the Senate will go along with con-ass. Thus, the possibility is a piecemeal amendment by Congress. But that requires 12-percent endorsement by the country’s registered voters.

Oh, well, that may require a lot of hustling by GMA to concretize into an action plan.

PDEA raps three prosecutors

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Western Visayas filed on Tuesday criminal and administrative complaints with the Ombudsman-Visayas against Bacolod City prosecutor Augustus Rallos and assistant prosecutors Jesus Ocdinaria and Ronald Yngson for "willfully and deliberately" bungling the prosecution of three drug cases.

Superintendent Rolen Balquin, PDEA regional chief, said the three failed to subject the dismissed cases against five people nabbed for violation of the new Dangerous Drugs Law, to automatic review by the regional state prosecutor.

The three are also facing complaints for their handling of drug cases filed by three of their colleagues. They were ordered to go on leave by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales.

Rallos immediately replied that he had reportedly forgotten the DOJ order requiring that the resolution of cases be forwarded to the regional state prosecutor. However, he said these were subsequently forwarded for review and were ordered "refiled."

Balquin said the PDEA filed the complaints against the three prosecutors with the Ombudsman to avoid biases.

He also said that 11 policemen, including three officers, have been charged by the PDEA in connection with the alleged bungling of drug-related cases filed in court. Three of the 11 are assigned in Negros Occidental.

Balquin said the PDEA is investigating eight more policemen in connection with the dismissal of drug-related cases by the courts last year.

Now, that’s an honest-to-goodness crackdown on lawmen and prosecutors.

* * *

ADDENDA. No, the government is not paralyzed. Last Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban and Japanese Embassy First Secretary for Agriculture Katsuyoshi Ishii and JICA’s Yoshiro Ozawa graced the launching of the P52-million Aganan River irrigation system rehabilitation project in Oton, Iloilo. The irrigation system, according to National Irrigation Administration’s Edilberto Lomigo, has a service area of 4,863 hectares. The affair was also attended by Reps. Janet Garin (first district) and Judy Syjuco (second district), Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas and NIA Administrator Proceso Domingo... Kabankalan Regional Trial Court Judge Henry Arles sentenced on Tuesday a 61-year-old grandfather to 200 years’ imprisonment for raping his 16-year-old step-granddaughter five times while his wife was on vacation. Carmelino Espares, of Candoni, Negros Occidental, was meted reclusion perpetua or 40 years’ imprisonment for five counts of rape. He was also ordered to indemnify the victim (name withheld) P625,000. He won’t get out of jail until he dies of old age.