Who normally wields such pistols?

Very seldom do civilians wield or carry M-16 assault rifles. Of course, the .45 caliber handgun is more common among civilians. But the M-16 is usually carried around only by soldiers, policemen, and militias.

That I think is something for police to consider in trying to untangle who the perpetrators are behind the salvage of three civilians form Victorias City in Hacienda Tinijaban, of Silay City near the boundary of E.B. Magalona town.

The victims – John Rey Dematogue, 29; Machod Pedronio, 32; and Rocky Peronillo, were reportedly all hogtied and shot at close range by more than two suspects.

In short, the three must have been picked up in their tricycle, driven by Pedronio long before they were finally executed Wednesday evening at the national highway of Had. Tinijaban, Silay City.

The killers must have known the victims for them to have taken pains to hogtie them, drive all the way to Silay City, before finally doing away with them.

The use of the in their killings should already serve a clue to the police to determine, more or less, who the killers could have been.

Hope they’ll come up soon with the names of the suspected killers.

***

I am exhilarated with the report by Sipalay Mayor Oscar Montilla that the Southern City had recorded some 50,000 European tourists who visit Sipalay annually.

Hopes for a gradual and more orderly growth of the tourism industry in Sipalay is also the fact that most of the owners of the beach resorts there are Europeans married to Negrenses.

I had earlier noted that most of the early discoveries of the natural attractions of Sipalay, Hinobaan and Cauayan, used to be Japanese visitors. Col. Jimbo was one of names often mentioned.

The communist insurgency, however, stymied those plans of Jimbo and company to develop Hinobaan and Sipalay areas into potential tourist destinations.

Although that set back early development, it also enabled the gradual entry into the area of European investors with their local partners.

So, what happened was that instead of the phenomenal development as in Boracay, Sipalay and Hinobaan, as well as Cauayan slowly evolved into a tourist destination but with the visitors, mostly from Europe and the more discriminating tourists from nearby countries.

That spared the area from uncontrolled commercialization which could have destroyed their natural attractions and could have converted their beachfronts into a venue of Honky-tonks as with Boracay which lately has become overcrowded and transformed into an urban jungle.

One of the lures of Sipalay City is the wide beach front. This is about 30 hectares of added sand, actually the tailings from the former Maricalum Mining more than corporation.

That was something which had escaped the notice of former mayors of the city. But that is the reality of the fine sand beachfront.

I just hope that its regained fame as a tourist destination does not space its development to the point of possible destruction of its allure.

***

Yesterday’s twister that hit Bacolod’s shopping center was a rare occurrence. As far as I can remember, it is actually the first one that toppled structures and trees in a commercial center of the city.

It was not as destructive as those often associated with the mid-eastern areas of the United States. Still, it was a really scary experience for the residents of the area and office goers.

I had just passed the area shortly after. The swirling wind roared down swatting trees in its path, ripping off roofs and destroying fences of residential homes.

The result was a three-hour blackout. Many business establishments were also affected by the twister.

Reports said it also broke the glass windows of the Bacolod Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce Industry Building and destroyed carinderias along Hilado Strees.

Luckily, no one was badly injured by the twister. It is known in local parlance as buhawi and tornado in English.

It also hit the University of St. La Salle. It toppled trees over vehicles and caused damage to religious images, reports also said.

If you will notice, recently there have been several tornadoes in various parts of the province. While rare occurrences, they may be related to the climate change because twisters are the rapid mixture of cold and warm clouds. The later spirals upwards when the inks fast as happens in the case of this summer’s climate.

In short, we should be alerted to the possibility that with the current situation we may find the possibility of more similar phenomenon as the tornadoes. Including right in Bacolod City.

***

Until when are they going to increase our electricity rates? We had pinned our hopes on being able to pay lower rates this month after Ceneco’s president had assured us of lower billings last month.

But it seems that government, or whoever is behind the power situation, thinks that the people are just going to grin and bear with it.

Unfortunately, I, for one, think that reached the limit on how we can pay. And soon, we must either do measures to pull down our electric consumption, or simply give up on using electricity.*

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