Peace pact closure
maybe before SONA
BETWEEN GOV’T, RPM-P
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The closure of the peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Proletarian Army–Alex Boncayao Brigade Tabara-Paduano Group may be signed before the State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Aquino III, an official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines yesterday said.

Aquino will deliver his third SONA on July 23.

A member of the negotiating peace panel also said the signing may be held next week, but it was not determined yet if will be done in Malacañang or in Negros Occidental.

Escalante City Mayor Melecio Yap yesterday said it is not for him to decide whom he will support for governor of Negros Occidental in the 2013 elections, like a good soldier, he will wait for instructions from Rep. Julio Ledesma IV (Neg. Occ., 1st District).

Yap was reacting to the statement made by Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. Friday that he still believes he has the support of most of the mayors, except for the mayor of Escalante.

That is a presumption by the governor, while he has some ill feelings, he is mature enough to set them aside to abide by the decision of the United Negros Alliance,  of which he is a member, Yap said.

A farm overseer died on Saturday, after he was stabbed by an unidentified suspect in Brgy. Camugao, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, a police report said yesterday.

The victim, identified as Virgilio Sambilad, 75, sustained multiple stab wounds and was declared dead on arrival at the Lorenzo Zayco District Hospital in Kabankalan City.

Sambilad was an overseer of Hacienda Soledad in the barangay.