5 injured
in road mishaps

Two pedestrians were injured when they were sideswiped by passenger jeepneys, at the Bacolod City downtown area, and in Brgy. Mandalagan, Wednesday.

Records from the Traffic Management Unit of the Bacolod City police identified the injured as Nestleen Grace Gonzales, 22, of Purok Ramon Magsaysay in Brgy. 14, Bacolod; and Glady Mae Jimenez, 17, of Brgy. Mambulac in Silay City, Negros Occidental.

Gonzales told the police she was crossing San Juan-San Sebastian Streets at about 8 a.m. when she was sideswiped by the jeepney, driven by Oscar Espada Jr., 40, of Purok Bayanihan in Brgy. Sum-ag, Bacolod.

Gonzales sustained injuries and was rushed to the Bacolod Doctor’s Hospital.

Jimenez was crossing Lacson Street, in front of the Country Mart store in Brgy. Mandalagan at about 6:35 p.m., when the jeep driven by Vic Bautista, of Villa Angela Subdivision, in Brgy. Villamonte, Bacolod, sideswiped her, Police Officer 2 Orlando Caporal said.

Meanwhile, three more persons were also injured in vehicular accidents, at the Alijis Road and at Lacson Street, Tuesday.

Jun Francis Tagudeña, 31, of NHA Village in Brgy. Pahanocoy, Bacolod, was driving his Mitsubishi Galant sedan heading north of Alijis Road, when it collided with the Suzuki Carry vehicle of Jerome Jalandoni, 46, of Regent Pearl Homes Subdivision in Brgy. Alijis, at about 9 a.m.

The accident caused damage to both vehicles and injured Tagudeña and his mother, Reynaldina, 56. They were brought to the Bacolod Adventist Medical Hospital, Senior Police Officer 1 Joey Mira said.

Police Officer 3 Docelio Pachoro also reported that Richard Salajog, of Brgy. Hawaiian in Silay City, Negros Occidental, was injured when he was sideswiped by an unidentified car while he was on board his motorcycle, at about 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, in front of the San Antonio Park Square.

Salajog was rushed to the Corazon Locsin Memorial Medical Regional Hospital, while the driver of the unidentified vehicle fled from the scene of the accident.*APN

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Carnapped vehicle
recovered in airport

The vehicle of a businessman, parked beside the road at B.S. Aquino Drive in Bacolod City, Wednesday, that was taken by suspected carnappers was recovered at the free parking area of the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City, Negros Occidental, Thursday.

The businessman, 43, who requested anonymity, told the police that he had parked his Ford Focus Sedan at the Medical Lane, but it was gone when he returned from a nearby establishment, at about 2:30 p.m.

He reported the incident to Station 2 policemen, who informed other police stations, the Traffic Management Unit and the Highway Patrol Group.

Senior Insp. Robert Dejucos, Station 2 chief, said a concerned citizen reported at about 3 p.m. Thursday, that the stolen vehicle was spotted at the free parking area of the Bacolod-Silay Airport.

When complainant and policemen went to the airport, they found that the original engine of the vehicle had been removed.

Investigation showed that the businessman may have dropped his car keys on the pavement when he parked his vehicle, and it had been picked up by one of the suspects.

However, Dejucos said they do not have any suspect yet because there are no close circuit television cameras in the establishments near the place where the vehicle was parked.*APN

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Police pay docked for
unsolved murders

MANILA - Nearly two dozen high-ranking Philippine police officers have been docked a month's salary as punishment for failing to solve hundreds of murders in Davao city, the government said yesterday.

The disciplinary action was handed down by the Ombudsman Conchita Morales, who found the 21 officers of Davao, a city of 1.4 million people, guilty of neglect of duty.

An enquiry by the Ombudsman's office listed 720 Davao murders in the four years to 2008, with local police being able to arrest the killers in just 321 of the cases, Morales said.

"From the foregoing figures, it is evident that respondents were remiss in their duty to significantly reduce the number of killings," Morales said.

The officers were fined a month's salary because they had "command responsibility" in the precincts where the murders took place, the ruling added.

Human rights monitors in Davao at the time said many of the victims were alleged petty criminals who were shot dead by masked, motorcycle-riding gunmen that residents described as the "Davao Death Squads".

There was widespread suspicion across Davao that some policemen and even local officials were complicit in the killings, though the city government and police both denied involvement.

National police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz said the killings were a thing of the past in Davao.

"We respect the decision of the Ombudsman and we will follow the decision," he told AFP.

New York-based independent monitor Human Rights Watch charged in January that the country's rights record had changed little under President Benigno Aquino, who came into office in June 2010.

It accused the government of failing to end impunity for abuses by state security forces.*AFP

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