PUJ drivers top list of traffic
violators in Bacolod -- TMU

Drivers of public utility jeepneys committed most of the traffic law violations in Bacolod City, Chief Insp. Luisito Acebuche, Traffic Management Unit head, said yesterday.

Of the 4,970 traffic violations recorded from January to June this year, 3,268 were committed by PUJ drivers, he said.

Violations committed were mostly obstruction or parking of jeepneys in prohibited areas, especially near intersections, while loading or unloading passengers.

Under the law, a vehicle is allowed to park six meters from an intersection; otherwise, it can hamper the flow of traffic, Acebuche said.

He also said many jeepney drivers were recidivists as they commit the same violation repeatedly since they just pay the fine for their license to be returned to them.

Acebuche, however, said the TMU and the Bacolod Traffic Authority Office are imposing a new scheme, wherein a confiscated license will not be returned to the driver unless he or she attends a seminar being held at the old City Hall.

Aside from PUJs, records of the BTAO and TMU also show nine taxi drivers apprehended for refusing to ferry passengers.

Acebuche said they have been receiving numerous complaints from passengers that taxi drivers refused to convey them especially when it is raining, which is prohibited under the traffic law.

He added that in the first six months of 2012, drivers of 348 trucks and 288 private vehicles were also arrested for various traffic violations.*APN

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Two killed in shooting, stabbing
incidents; driver dies in mishap

A land conflict and a grudge reportedly triggered the fatal shooting and stabbing of two persons in Calatrava, while a motorcycle driver died in a vehicular accident in Cauayan, Negros Occidental.

The Calatrava police reported yesterday that Vicente Espadilla Calandingan, 42, was shot dead by his cousins Ramil, 37, and Eleazar, 33, both surnamed Alcover Espadilla, in Sitio Camansiles, Brgy. Menchaca, Calatrava, Sunday.

Calandingan succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds in the different parts of his body, while the suspects, one of them armed with a KG-99 machine pistol, fled after the shooting incident, the police added.

Five empty shells and a live ammunition for 9mm were recovered by the police at the crime scene.

In his report to the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, Senior Insp. Ramil Sarona, Calatrava police chief, said the shooting incident was triggered by personal grudges among family members.

In Brgy. Laga-an, Calatrava, Romeo Tordicillas and Zosimo Ponsica, alias “Ontoy”, allegedly fatally stabbed Buenaventura Entienza, 67, with the use of a butcher’s knife, Sunday, police records show.

Sarona said Entienza succumbed to two stab wounds in his stomach and left side of his body. The suspects remained at large as of press time. The police said the killing was reportedly triggered by a land conflict.

Meanwhile, Marjune Palacios, 20, was thrown off his Racal 100 MC motorcycle after it rammed a tricycle in Brgy. Lina-on, Cauayan, the police reported.

Palacios, of Brgy. Bayabas, Valladolid, was declared dead on arrival at the Cauayan District Hospital, the police added. A certain Alex Malacad, 33, was driving the Kawasaki Barako 175 tricycle, that hit Palacios, the report also said.* GPB

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2 ‘laglag-barya’
suspects nabbed

Two suspected members of “Laglag-Barya Gang” were arrested by Station 1 policemen at about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Bacolod City downtown area after they tried to victimize a jeepney passenger.

Station 1 commander, Chief Insp. Adonis Rosales, identified those arrested as Reynaldo Espillo, 31, and Glyza Abella, 25, both of Zone 3, Purok Mahugani in Brgy. Handumanan, Bacolod.

Rodel Burgos of Purok Greenfield in Brgy. Tangub, Bacolod, told the police that he was on board a passenger jeepney plying the Bata-Libertad route, when one of the suspects dropped a coin in front of him.

He said that while he was picking up the coin, the suspects alighted from the jeep. Burgos said he then discovered that his cellular phone, valued at P1,900, was gone from his pocket, prompting him to shout for help.

Senior Police Officer 1 Dave Dollosa, Police Officers 2 Joey Genterola and Roland Ortiz, and Police Officer 1 Christian Tundag, who were conducting patrol operation at Araneta-Lizares Streets, where the suspects alighted, heard Burgos and chased them.

The policemen recovered Burgos’s cellular phone from Espillo, who along with Abella, is now detained at the lockup cell of Police Station 1.*APN

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