Another Pacquiao fan dies

Liberato Tarrosa, better known as Sandy, passed away during the Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley split decision fight last week.

He was frustrated by the decision of three judges that awarded the controversial win to the American boxer.

But Sandy, who was coming down the stairway of the Sacred Heart Seminary, collapsed along the way. He was announced dead on arrival at the hospital.

He was a Fabricanian but already living in Mansilingan. He is survived by his wife and three children. He belongs to Class ’58 of the Faraon Institute of Fabrica.

Sandy is the younger brother of Ethel Tarrosa.

His wake is at the RHMC ground floor, old building.

Many Fabricanians who were alerted to what happened to Sandy have been gravitating to his wake. Another casualty of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight.

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I don’t want to write about stories of the Independence Day celebrations in the city. The one with Senator Anthony Trillanes at the Bay Center and the other at the Provincial Capitol Lagoon Park with Negros Occidental governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. as the guest speaker.

The more impressive presentation was the tableu of the Revolution of the Philippine flag showcased by the University of St. La Salle MassKara Theater Ensemble with Tanya Lopez as the artistic director and Fundador Tipon as scriptwriter and narrator.

Meanwhile, Negros Occidental Historical Council chairman, Msgr. Guillermo Gaston, and the board of directors, had made arrangements with the Department of Education to handle the training of history teachers of Secondary Schools in the province on the history of Negros Occidental. Particular emphasis was on the Bloodless Revolution against Spain which was handled by the Cantonal government under the late Governor Aniceto Lacson.

Actually, it was General Araneta of the Southern Army which eventually led the Spanish authorities to surrender to the Negrense revolutionaries.

Roque Hofileña an executive director of the NOHCI, and Rollie Espina, director, were also tasked by Gaston to write more about the glorious chapter of Negros history – the only civilian government recognized officially by the late President Manuel L. Quezon.

Negros enjoyed the enviable legacy of having the only island civilian government during the Japanese occupation. This was recognized by Quezon shortly after the arrival here of the Planet Party abroad the USS submarine Gugdeon which landed in Hinobaan’s Campomanes Bay.

The Planet Party was the first Allied contingent to have returned to the Philippines after the fall of Bataan and Corregidor.

That led to the establishment here of the Allied Intelligence Bureau headed initially by Col. Jesus Villamor and later under Major Roberto Benedicto of the USAFEE.

Both the late Defense Secretary Ernesto Mata and Col. Salvador Abecede were the island military commanders who made possible the survival of the commonwealth local island government during the Japanese period.

But while the military and other historians had been paying tribute to a lot of other military skirmishes by military or guerilla units of the Philippines, little notice was to Negros Island civil government which functioned in the free Negros area until the Liberation.

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It should not be difficult for the police to identify the three gunmen who killed two watchmen and took P125,000 in payroll money in Manapla town last week.

Based on the statement of these interviewed, the trio had earlier mingled with the farm workers of the Hacienda Bariw, of Barangay Santa Teresa in Manapla.

The witnesses, interviewed on television, said the trio just mingled with them with no cover on their faces, pretending to be migrant workers and waiting for their payroll money before they staged the holdup and gunned down Eddie Basa, and Julie Biating.

In short, the trio who, according to Senior Insp. Edencio Gregorio of Manapla, are notorious holduppers and have pending records of murder and illegal possession of firearms are reportedly also linked to robbery-holdup cases.

So what’s causing the delay in solving the cases and the arrest of the trio, Chief?*

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