NPA claims some ambush victims were armed goons

It may not necessarily be true. But the New People’s Army in Negros Oriental last week served notice that they would disarm and "engage" armed goons during the election campaign.

And the Leonardo Panaligan Command also sent to the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade the ID of George Nataa, purportedly a CAFGU from Zamboanga del Sur. He was one of those killed in the March 9 ambush of the "armed goons" of a local politician led by La Libertad barangay captain Lydio Baylon of Negros Oriental.

Ka JB Regalado, the Leonardo Panaligan Command’s spokesman, also claimed that one of the casualties, Rudy Maxilum, had a warrant of arrest from the reactionary government but was hired as a goon by the Oriental Negros politico, according to the report of Visayan Daily STAR’s Guillermo Tejada.

Aside from Baylon, the ambushers killed Eden Elud, Nonoy Nataa, Judy Tuble, Nonoy Calepaso, and George Nataa.

One of the five was reportedly a tanod, while the others were registered as La Libertad voters.

But, as Regalado claimed, they were from Zamboanga and Iloilo, and were also mostly members of the paramilitary force.

The NPA spokesman belied the military’s claims that the victims were civilians, citing the recovery of sophisticated weapons and silencers.

Well, the warning has been issued, and there will be more similar incidents in Oriental Negros in the near future.

An orgy of disqualification suits

Actually it is not an extraordinary thing. Usually the onset of the electoral campaign is blighted by a series of disqualification suits against some of the challengers.

But this time, there have been so many such cases filed with the Commission on Elections.

In Negros Occidental alone, four candidates have been challenged, their disqualifications sought because of their alleged incapacity to launch a credible campaign.

They are re-electionist Mayor Evelio Valencia (NPC) of Toboso town, Crisanto Mondia (independent) of Pulupandan, Alice Tuslao (independent) of Himamaylan City, and vice mayoralty bet Willymer Perez (independent) of Cauayan town in southern Negros.

Provincial Comelec supervisor Jessie Suarez is poised to hear the disqualification petitions, but admitted that he has already summoned the four being challenged.

Suarez said he will not be the one who will rule on the disqualification issue. His findings will be submitted to the Comelec legal department.

The case of Valencia is the most problematic. Mayoralty challenger Albino de la Cruz (Lakas-CMD) is asking that Valencia be disqualified for being an American citizen.

Valencia insists that he has renounced his US citizenship before a judge.

Well, these are questions that must be resolved early so the voters can be guided accordingly.

The only question that is bothersome is that Valencia’s mayoralty term has not been questioned during the past three years but only now with the onset of the campaign season.

Well, things can happen.

Mediamen hail political exchanges

The increasingly strident political mudslinging between the Progress Team of City Mayor Evelio Leonardia and the Performance Team of Rep. Monico Puentevella may have alarmed some quarters of Bacolod society. But local mediamen hail it as a good sign.

No, not just because they would have a lot more to write about or report on air, but because it could help local voters be better enlightened in choosing their candidates in the May elections.

"It has lifted the curtain of mutual silence among rival politicos," was how former Negros Press Club president Primo Esleyer put it.

That was the same position of former NPC president Modesto Sonon, who pointed out that in past tussles, there was a certain degree of mutual dampening of issues, especially those involving anomalies.

Recently, however, hired "guns" of politics have filled the air with TV commentaries consisting mostly of exposes and allegedly documented evidence of shenanigans.

There also has been some marked improvement in the sophisticated handling of some issues, including the resurrection of old videotapes to refute the claims of some past political allies.

This was the case of former GAB commissioner Alex Paglumotan. During the proclamation rally of the Leonardia ticket, the candidate scored the canard that Rep. Puentevella helped him to become GAB commissioner. Instead, he claimed that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called for him to take his oath as a member of the sports body.

But the Puentevella camp simply showed on TV the clips of Paglumotan taking his oath in the presence of Puentevella and played back his speech where the former official vowed that he could never forget to his dying days his debt of gratitude to Puentevella.

But the Leonardia camp also had a hitter when it produced documents showing that the lawmaker could not account for the P95 million given to the Southeast Asian Games and for the rehabilitation of the Paglaum Sports Complex.

And city legal officer Allan Zamora also yesterday said he was preparing charges against Puentevella in connection with the alleged liquid fertilizer scam involving former Agriculture Undersecretary JocJoc Bolante. The latter is still awaiting the outcome of his quest for political asylum in the United States.

Zamora said he would include in the case the Commission on Audit report on the fertilizer scam, as well as the Senate agriculture and Blue Ribbon committees’ report on their joint hearings on the fertilizer scam.

Meanwhile, Zamora also said he is readying libel charges against the person identified as having distributed the black propaganda materials against three Bacolod City officials during the Holy Week.

The distributor was identified as a certain Jun Bustamante, a trisikad driver and a member of a militant group. He was reportedly distributing these materials on April 3 inside the SM City Mall.

The same black prop materials were also distributed at the Robinson’s Place Bacolod.

These showed a cartoon of Mayor Leonardia, Vice Mayor Renecito Novero (candidate for congressman), and Zamora which may be described as scurrilous.

Another trisikad driver, Rojie Jamelo, reportedly identified Bustamante. Legal officer 3 Vicente Petierre III has already taken his statement.

But while Zamora claimed that Puentevella and mayoralty bet Luzviminda Valdez were the source of the materials, there was no evidence directly linking them to the production or distribution of the materials.

Anyway, the more important thing is that the exchanges have become so torrid that these could end up in charges being filed against the contenders of various positions.

But while independents seem to be enjoying the exchanges, they may have overlooked the fact that the heated verbal joust may have succeeded in setting them aside.

Oh, well, it could result in a cleansing process. Which may explain why there are so many independent bets running for various elective positions in Bacolod City.