Marañon offers
yuletide peace

Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. is an official who remains focused on the Filipino’s setting aside the Yuletide Season as a time for peace and reconciliation.

And even if only for that Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez should thank Marañon for remembering the meaning of the ceasefire for the season and forget about political maneuvers for the duration of the truce.

That gesture of Marañon, a gift for those who include those running against him next year, stressed that Christmas is the season for giving.

This elicited a response from Alvarez who said he will send Marañon his gift before December 25.

And, if the Christmas party of the government employees will just be sharing meal with the atmosphere of camaraderie and brotherhood, then there is no need to deprive them of that so they can share their abundance with the Mindanao typhoon victims.

To all provincial officials and government employees, greetings of the season. May God bless you and give you more of what you need for the incoming year.

God bless you all.

***

It is tragic that two soldiers were killed and two rebels also when the 302nd Infantry Brigade overran a suspected New People’s Army camp in Sitio Mahopabe, Brgy. San Agusitn, Isabela, Wednesday.

Col. Oscar Patrimonio also claimed the brigade captured 19 suspected rebels at the encounter site. This is reportedly an area that is isolated, and therefore, the rebels cannot claim that they were entrapped by the military.

The running gun battle reportedly lasted for several hours with some 30 to 40 armed rebels.

Two army troopers, including a junior army officer, were injured in the gun battle.

Reports also said Patrimonio claimed that the fleeing rebels hastily abandoned their camp, leaving behind a .45 caliber pistol with two a magazines of bullets. They also left magazines and ammunition for M-14 and M-16 assault rifles as well as personal belonging and subversive documents.

We hope that the soldiers and the faithful in the area take time out to pray for the souls of the two soldiers killed, as well as the slain rebels. After all, they are all children of the same God.

***

But it seems that there is imperative need for Bacolod Police chief, Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz, to probe the reported failure by the police team that initially responded to the call for help by the original owner of a property which the lessee allegedly refused to surrender to its original owner. The 10-hectare land is reportedly planted to sugarcane.

Concepcion Poblador is the owner of the property which she said had been rented out to a lessee.

Concepcion placed a “No Trespassing” sign on the 10-hectare land until the issue of proper compensation is resolved.

But the police who had reportedly responded to the call for help from Concepcion reportedly failed to move on the armed men and waited for a Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT). Unfortunately, the SWAT arrived two hours after the armed men had left the area, reports also said.

Ms. Poblador seems to be an educated lady. And she really has hard questions the police have to answer and clarify.

Barangay Estafania is just on the fringes of the city. Granada is farther than Estafania.

Thus, it becomes alarming when such a large body of armed men can move freely around the city and remain untouched or unchallenged by the police.

Or is there something brewing in the air?

If these are military men, which outfit do they belong to? And who are their top officers?

The only other consideration is that they may be hired guns. If so, must we concluded that a gang of hired guns operate in Bacolod and can terrorize its citizens with complete abandon?

That is something that the police must answer. I suspect that they really know the real score. So, I see no reason why they cannot explain the incident and what made their team wait for SWAT reinforcements?

The question from Ms. Poblador is something serious. The police must be able to answer it.

Who’d done it? Who were they?*

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