Some jarring news amid hectic preparations for Sto. Niño festivities

I had my eyes focused on the hectic preparations for the various festivities in honor of Sto. Niño. There is the Sinulog of Kabankalan City which unreels this weekend. Then, there is the Kalibo Ati-Atihan and the Dinagyang of Iloilo City plus the Ati-Ati festival of Ibajay, Aklan.

They are all worth writing about.

Then suddenly came the jolting news about the "massacre" of Ilonggo businessman Francisco (Bobby) Tan, his wife, Cynthia Marie Zayco, and their six-year-old daughter, Kathy, in their Molo District mansion in Iloilo City.

Police remained mystified by the killing. It was baffling because there was no evidence of a break-in. Chief Superintendent Doroteo Reyes, Western Visayas police director, said all indications point to the possibility of an "inside job" pending evidence of intruders.

What made the murder of regional interest was that Mrs. Tan belonged to the prominent Zayco family of Kabankalan City. She was also the niece of Kabankalan City Mayor Pedro Zayco and Negros Occidental Vice Gov. Isidro Zayco.

Her parents were the late Kabankalan businessman Enrique Zayco and Rosalinda Garcia, daughter of former Kabankalan City mayor Celestino Garcia.

Tan, 52, was discovered dead in the master’s bedroom Monday. The 37-year-old Cindy, his wife, was discovered in the adjacent room, and Kathy near the door of the master’s bedroom.

All three had multiple stab wounds, mostly in the chest.

Police reportedly recovered a pair of gloves ostensively used by the killers. Probers also recovered a shirt with traces of blood in one of the rooms.

The Tan family also reported the loss of some P100,000 in cash. So with several pieces of jewelry and Tan’s mobile phone.

Curiously, the killer(s) did not take the 9-mm. handgun of Tan on the table of his room.

Actually, Tan’s sons from a previous marriage were the ones who discovered the victims’ bodies when they returned home at around 3 a.m. by climbing the fence of the house.

Both were found negative for drugs. Archie, 23, and John Michael, 19, apparently must undergo polygraph tests as other members of the Tan household, according to Superintendent Reyes.

Major Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City, meanwhile, allayed public apprehensions about the incident which he considered isolated. He assured the business community that the incident was an isolated one.

One thing sure, though, the incident did dampen to a certain extent the frenzied preparations for the Jan. 15 Dinagyang Festival, Iloilo’s main tourism-drawer event.

In Negros Occidental, all roads lead to Kabankalan City for the 30th Sinulog Festival. Mayor Zayco assured that this year’s affair will be spectacular. The affair will be under the auspices of the Sinulog Foundation Inc. headed by Adolfo Mangao, its chairman.

Acid test for Kalibo Ati-Atihan

The Kalibo officialdom and residents harbor no illusions that the call of the Ati-Atihan remains strong and that crowds of Sto. Niño devotees will pour into Aklan’s capital town this weekend for the festival.

But apparently, the police authorities are doing everything to assure that nothing untoward happens with the Capiz police dispatching an augmentation force under Inspector Leo Batiles, chief of the First Capiz Police Mobile Group.

Superintendent Cipriano Querol, provincial police director, said he wants to ensure that last year’s tragedy won’t happen again.

Last year, PO1 Jonathan Moreno went on a shooting rampage and first gunned down his superiors, Superintendent Odelardo Magayanes, provincial police director, and Inspector Manuel Ilejay, Kalibo police chief. Later, he killed four other policemen and a five-year-old girl.

A physician and several other civilians were also wounded during the rampage of Moreno, who was from Toboso, Negros Occidental.

I recently asked my niece, Melani Espina-Alvarez, whether she would go to Kalibo this year with her husband, Rep. Antonio Alvarez (first district, Palawan), and she was non-committal. Actually, the couple reached Kalibo shortly after that tragic shooting rampage. Both ended in Iloilo City.

Now, how many of those who attended last year’s Kalibo’s Ati-Atihan would return this year is anybody’s guess. But Kalibo officials are confident and crossing their fingers that the isolated incident would not mar this year’s Kalibo Ati-Atihan.

Well, I’m crossing my fingers, too.

Thirsty Bacolod

Bacolod suddenly found itself with the prospects of thousands of subdivision residents growing dry and thirsty when the Sausi family denied access to the Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) personnel to the Boro-Boro water wells that provide the bulk of the city’s water supply.

The family’s lawyer, Juan Rubrico, said the Sausis are demanding that the BACIWA pay them an accumulated P67 million from the time the water firm started operating within their private property in 1973.

"If the water firm is willing to negotiate with us, the family might lower the amount," was how Rubrico said it.

BACIWA assistant manager Julie Ann Carbon replied that the water firm is willing to negotiate with the Sausi family. But she also stressed that "we are doing our best to negotiate with the family, hoping that this would be done soon."

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the city is willing to intervene in the case for the sake of Bacolod’s water consumers.

"I called up BACIWA. They have already filed a case in court. And I hope that the court will grant their petition," he said. But he also advised BACIWA lawyer Jovin Entila to coordinate with city legal officer Allan Zamora.

Carbon admitted that the water firm has resorted to water rationing to address the problem.

The Office of the Government Corporate Counsel earlier contended that Article 12 of the National Economy and Patrimony of the 1987 Constitution provides that all lands of the public domain, all sources of potential energy and other natural resources are owned by the State.

It also provides that the exploration, development and utilization of these natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State.

Sugarland Hotel wins case

After years of litigation, Bacolod Regional Trial Court Judge Ramon Delariarte recently ordered the provincial government and Bacolod City to jointly pay the Sugarland Hotel P21.6 million plus interest for their failure to comply with the memorandum of understanding on the demolition of the fourth floor of the hotel 11 years ago.

But lawyer Jose Ma. Valencia, chief of staff of Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon, said the provincial government will appeal the decision of Judge Delariarte.

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, on the other hand, contended that he has not yet received a copy of the RTC decision, but stressed that the city government will definitely appeal the ruling because he wants to protect the city coffers.

He added that he does not believe that the amount to be paid is reasonable, stressing that "we will exhaust all legal means to appeal the ruling, even if we go all the way to the Supreme Court."

The case stemmed from the unprecedented order of Capt. Panfilo Villaruel (now deceased), Air Transportation Office chief, for the closure of the Bacolod airport on May 13, 1994. He said the airport would not resume operation unless the fourth floor of the Sugarland Hotel was removed as it obstructed aerial navigation.

The judge ruled that the parties were guilty of breach and bad faith in the performance of their duties when a unilateral survey by the ATO led by Villaruel ordered the immediate demolition of the remaining portion of the fourth floor of the hotel despite the fact that it had already accomplished 95 percent of the demolition in compliance with the MOU.

Delariarte ruled that Sugarland Hotel, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Felix Yusay, was not an obstruction to aerial navigation and did not violate height requirements contrary to the claim of Villaruel.

Aside from ordering the provincial and city governments to pay P4 million and P3.6 million plus a 12 percent interest per annum, computed from May 25, 1994, it also directed the defendants to pay Sugarland Hotel P12 million as unearned profits since it stopped operating because of the demolition.

Delariarte also ordered the defendants to pay the hotel owner P1 million in moral damages, P1 million in exemplary damages, and P600,000 in attorney’s fees, and the cost of the suit.

This, of course, does not write finis to the celebrated suit. But the Yusays have won the first round. But that was something which Negrenses have been keenly watching.

ADDENDA. I’ll write about it later, but there was the good news that US-based Teleperformance will start soon its call center here and provide jobs to about 800 Negrenses. David Rizzo, Teleperformance vice president for Asia-Pacific operations, told Leonardia that his firm is the world’s second largest contact center outsourcing company… Aside from that there was also the report by Gov. Marañon that three Negros Occidental mayors are on sick leave. They are Mayors Francisco Bilbao of Hinobaan, Santiago Barcelona of Escalante City, and Anthony Lizares of Talisay City. Bilbao is reportedly due to return to work in mid-February. He is presently undergoing radiation treatment at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Manila. Barcelona has been hospitalized for a "minor heart problem." An aide to Mayor Lizares claimed that he was just exhausted and needed some rest. But I heard otherwise from a close confidante who visited the Talisay City mayor at the Riverside Medical Center.