MVP gets support of Salim Group as First Pacific CEO

Now, it’s no longer just the top guns of the Rebolusyonaryong Partido Manggawa ng Pilipinas (RPM-P) that are after RPA-ABB commanders in Western Visayas, the military has also announced they will file formal complaints against the RPA-ABB before the peace pact monitoring committee.

The violations, according to Maj. Gen. Jojenal Narcise, commander of the Army’s 3rd Division, included RPA-ABB members carrying high-powered firearms in violation of the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) firearms ban.

There were also instances when the group allegedly threatened and harassed residents in hinterland villages to support particular candidates.

The suspension (or ouster) of Stephen Paduano, Veronica Tabara, and Ariel Sabandar from the Rebolusyonaryong Partido Manggawa ng Pilipinas triggered a quite a response.

Paduano, alias Caprali Lualahati, held a press conference Saturday to express their intention to unseat Nilo de la Cruz as party chairman of the RPM-P during the forthcoming national congress.

Tabara, RPM-P secretary general, said the statements of De La Cruz and John Lana, alias Carlos Magtanggol, regarding their expulsion were “false, malicious, and a misrepresentation of the organization.”

As I had earlier pointed out, the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CCP-NPA) had joined the fray and tried to capitalize on the RPA-RMP division by declaring that the two factions are destroying each other “for the spoils of their mercenary activities.”

CCP spokesman Gregorio Rosal said the accusations and counter accusation of RPM-P’s warring leaders brought into the open their counter-revolutionary and anti-people crimes, which the CCP had been charging them all along.

By joining the intramurals, the CPP-NPA is believed to be egging them on to a showdown (among those who had deserted the party mainstream and joined the government in a peace treaty to defend the insurgency problem).

Gen. Narcise, however, said there were proof that the RPA-ABB in Panay had threatened and forced local residents to support their candidates.

Elements of the Army’s 79th Infantry Battalion arrested several members of the RPA-ABB in Lauan town in Antique and in San Joaquin town in Iloilo and seized five M-16 rifles, a M-14, a home-made shotgun, and two hand-grenades and assorted ammunition.

Later, in San Joaquin, the soldiers also confiscated two M-16 rifles, a homemade shotgun, and four homemade .38 caliber revolvers.

Earlier, the police also arrested Demeterio Capilistique, Ka Hugo, Panay RPA-P-ABB commander, and three others in Sta. Barbara town.

The police recovered from them two baby Armalites, two .145 caliber pistols, a 9mm pistol, a .22 caliber handgun, two hand grenades and three rifle grenades, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

They also discovered P300,000 in cash inside a bag found in a passenger jeepney.

Regional police chief Wilfredo Dulay also said they have been receiving complaints from politicians and residents about alleged RPA-ABB extortion activities, including harassment of barangay officials and villagers to support particular candidates.

Both Narcise and Dulay said they will raise their complaints before the Joint Enforcement Monitoring Committee and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process.

The CPP-NPA, meanwhile, seem to be enjoying the tirades against each other by Caparali’s group and Nilo de la Cruz.

Negros Peace Council member Andy Hagad, however, said the two sides should resolve their row. Others simply had their fingers crossed that the word war does not lead to an open confrontation between the two forces.

The CCP-NPA claimed that the RPM-P and the RPA-ABB have become extensions of the paramilitary arm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. They claim that they were engaged in counter-revolutionary and anti-people crimes.

He died for the clan reunion

Jose B. Lopez Jr. died early Sunday morning after devoting his remaining hours to ensuring that the pictorial exhibit on Lopez Jaena pushed through as promised.

The pictorial exhibit was the highlight of Saturday’s reunion of the Graciano Lopez-Jaena clan of Negros at the Sta. Teresita Academy in Silay City.

More than 200 members of the clan attended the meet with Junior Lopez breathing periodically through a nebulizer on most parts of the day.

Jess and Virgilio Lopez, the principal organizers of the reunion, were caught by surprise when informed Sunday by Ms. Josie Mascunana about the demise of Lopez.

During the affair, Bacolod City Councilor Anne Marie Palermo upheld Lopez Jaena as the ideal leader. “He died poor, alone, and abandoned by his loved ones in a Barcelona hospital run by Sisters of Charity,” Palermo said.

He should serve as a symbol of dedicated leaders who gave up everything to serve the people. Today, he is a symbol of what our political leaders should be.

Lopez, however, had devoted his adult life researching on Lopez Jaena’s life and his genealogical lineage. Persistently, he managed to rally clan members and the government to pay tribute to Lopez Jaena who, for a time, had been quite forgotten by Luzon-based historians and political leaders.

On Thursday, Junior (as Lopez was known to clan members), got out up from hospital bed. On Friday, he devoted the entire day to setting up the pictorial exhibit.

“I want to be sure that the exhibit is successful. That’s the only thing I can contribute to the success of this reunion,” was how he put it Saturday morning to Ramon Conlu, who had taken up his research.

He was presented with the award as the oldest surviving grand nephew of the national hero and later delivered a brief speech, struggling for breath. He pointed out the secret formula for his 82 years is: discipline, food intake, and prayers.

But by 2 p.m., we (with Vir, Jess, Max, and Conlu) convinced him to return home and take a rest as he was having breathing difficulties.

“I am tired,” he muttered.

Conlu brought him back to Bacolod. After awhile, Conlu said he saw Junior had been relieved after he had rested.

However, by 12, his household help sent a text message to Tanya Lopez, daughter of his younger brother Antonio, and Jobie, son of his youngest brother Faraon that he needs to bring “Junior” to the hospital.

Jobie picked up Tanya in a cab. But when they reached the emergency room of the Riverside Medical Center, Junior had already expired.

Ironically, he died the same way as his grand uncle Graciano Lopez-Jaena.

But he must have died satisfied with the knowledge that the clan whom he had served with utmost dedication had somehow managed to take up the cudgels for Lopez-Jaena and help perpetuate his memory.