All ears on
impeachment trial

Virtually all ears have been focused on the proceedings of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona by the Senate.

All other stories or news seem unessential insofar as the mess media is concerned. Most of the big stories, if you may call them that, have been relegated to the background.

And the way things are happening, the next few weeks, the same will be the tendency of the nation.

While that is deplorable, it is also educational. The Senate, the House and the defense panels may not have realized it but they are also helping educate the public on the various facets of the legal profession and the law.

Inadvertently, Pinoys, who never paid much attention to the nuances of the law have gradually taken notice of the many legal niceties that normally accompany a court litigation.

At least, in that way, the impeachment has become educational. And perhaps would make a lot more of our people conscious of the law.

***

But somehow, insofar as we, Negrenses, are concerned, we also have our eyes trained on concerns other than the impeachment of Coruna.

For Bacolod City, the jarring story was the relief of a police station commander after the fatal shooting Friday night of Josie Genovea, branch manager of the La Carlota based ZFA Lending Corp.

This reportedly happened in Barangay Pahanocoy.

Genovea is believed to have been killed by the gunmen because they believed that she knew them. They also robbed her of 9 ATM cards, believed to be owned by clients of the lending firm, and a small amount of cash and personal belongings.

It may be recalled that just last December, businessman Joseph Villalobos was gunned down at the parking lot of the Gaisano City mall.

Earlier, October, Marvin Mahilum, a taxicab driver, was found lifeless inside his taxi in Purok Roxas, Brgy. Tangub.

The relieved officer is Chief Inspector Danilo Francisco, commander of police station 8. Francisco was assigned to head the administration office and formally assumed his new position Monday, reports said.

Chief of Police Ricardo de la Paz pointed out that more heads will roll if the police chiefs cannot adopt proactive measures to combat heinous crimes in their respective areas of reasonably.

I hope Provincial Police Superintend Allan Guisihan adopts the same principle insofar as the chiefs of police of various cities and towns of the province are concerned. Thus, E.B. Magalona and Silay City may just be the areas where the principle, if adopted, may have been able to help solve and lead to the arrest of the suspects in some of the unsolved killings in these areas.

Unfortunately, that has not been forcefully adopted or followed.

***

The more alarming story is the holdup by three unidentified men of Botica Real in Saro, Dumaguete City. This happened Monday and the motorcycle-driving trio fled with P100,000 in cash, reports said.

The drug store is reportedly located just across the street of the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital.

The three reportedly introduced themselves as members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

While they successfully pulled off the heist, we should raise the question of members of police agencies suppressing public reaction by simply introducing themselves as members of the PDEA, or other government agencies in civilian clothes.

There should be guide rules to regulating members of police agencies to wear uniform while undertaking operations.

That should minimize pseudo cops from capitalizing on being members of the various police organizations to stage holdups or crimes.

***

Well, Bacolodiat will kick off Friday and with several roads near the Provincial Lagoon will be closed starting today.

Bacolodiat is the annual celebration of the Chinese New Year and remains one of the major festivities of Bacolod.

But I would like to remind devotees of the Santo Nino that there are still a lot more Sto. Nino fiestas in store for the month. We have the Dinagyang of Iloilo City, and many more like Dinagsa of Cadiz City.

For me the most impressive is the Ati-Ati of Ibajay, Akalan. The town had managed to preserve the purity of the procession. It has preserved it from interference by commercial sponsors.

And the most beautiful part of it is that the procession participants carry their staff with food parcels at the top. And their barangay floats contain the food or agricultural products of their barangays.

Hala Bira, Viva Senor Santo Niño.*

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