Son beheads ma
LEAVES HEAD BENEATH CHRISTMAS TREE
BY CARLA GOMEZ

A mentally unstable man beheaded his 70-year-old mother and placed her head beneath a Christmas tree at their residence in Barangay 7, Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental, where it was discovered by a neighbor at about 6:07 a.m. yesterday, the town police chief said.

The head of Nenita Belleza was severed with the use of a bolo by her jobless son, Jojie Aguirre, 38, Senior Inspector Robert Mansueto said.

The rest of her body was found lying across the entrance to the  kitchen.

More rebels 
surrender, -- military
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The number of rebel returnees in Negros Occidental rose to 74, with the recent surrender of seven more members of the New People’s Army, military records show.

Col. Oscar Lactao, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, yesterday said the majority of the rebel returnees have already availed of financial and livelihood assistance from the provincial government of Negros Occidental, andthe Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process.

The provincial government of Negros Occidental gave more than P700,000 financial and livelihood assistance to rebel returnees, to start a new life with their families.

About P2 million worth of properties were turned to ashes when fire hit the Distileria Bago Inc. in Brgy. Taloc, Bago City, Negros Occidental, at about 7:30 a.m. yesterday.

In Bacolod City, fire also destroyed three classrooms and damaged another at the University of St. La Salle Integrated school at about 12:30 a.m. yesterday, and caused P350,000 in damage.

Classes at USLS from kindergarten to grade 3 were suspended yesterday and until the burned classrooms have been repaired, the institution’s president, Bro. Ray Suplido, said.