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Bacolod City, PhilippinesWednesday, October 24, 2012
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From the Center
with Rolly Espina
OPINIONS

Longno killing and
Chua’s murder

Rolly Espina

Hotel and Restaurant Association of Negros Occidental’s Bob Magalona is correct – the killing of lawyer Jaime Chua, owner of the Eastview Hotel along the Circumferential Road of Barangay Villamonte may be an isolated incident that could impact on the tourism program of Bacolod City.

Magalona said the killing will send a negative image of peace and order of the city and its tourism industry, the DAILY STAR reported yesterday.

Police chief Ricardo de la Paz said that the killing of Chua was an isolated case that it could be business-related.

The onus now is on the police which has hitherto enjoyed a reputation of a well-run organization despite its failure to bag any of the so-called Ozamis City gang that staged the holdup of the Ceneco of P2.5-million in cash several months ago.

How one wishes to hear the police say that subsequent killing of Raymund Longno, alias “Small Boy”, in Malaspina Street, Brgy. Villamonte, may have been an offshoot of the Chua killing.

But tongues have been wagging that another set of guns-for-hire were behind the culmination of Longno.

Of course, I have heard other versions of the story that this was a personal grudge here and the gunman had just wanted the chance to stop him from trying the second time to gun down his victim whom he had shot at several times in the past.

But that is a story that needs to be validated. For the time being, that gives credence to the theory that the killing of Longno was intended to silence the suspected gun-for-hire triggerman from spilling the beans on the mastermind behind Chua’s killing.

If true, then the chances are that the gunmen in Longno’s killing must by now on their toes against the possibility of themselves becoming the targets also of another liquidation plot to silence them also.

So it’s either they tell the real story to the police to stay alive, or simply go underground to escape the type of silence they had meted to Longno.

Thus the police chief has the full right to organize a series of top police officers of the city to try and come up with explanation on the issue of Chua’s killing and the subsequent doing away with Longno.

So long as the suspicion gains ground that guns-for-hire in the city could do dirty jobs at a moment’s notice posts the possibilities that the tourism program of Bacolod will suffer a major blow with the Chua killing.

Police, meanwhile, wrote finis to several robbery and holdup cases in Bacolod attributed to Longno alias Small Boy.

If one were to notice the killing traced to Longno, the thing is that these had never shown him in court to answer the charges against him.

We just hope that they don’t end up with the Ceneco robbery and holdup as also the work of Longno, although the latter never had been mentioned in the probe into that incident.

But that’s the tendency by the police. All unsolved cases are usually traced to slain suspect and finis written all over them.

***

Is Julius Sayson still a candidate for mayor of Bacolod?

That seems to be a foregone conclusion. He is no longer a worthy opponent of uncle Jude Thaddeus Sayson, the vice mayor.

Well, the Comelec process may not have finally settled the protest filed against Julius by Uncle Jude, but it is an anticipated conclusion that, based on the affidavits by members of his family, Julius does not have the capacity to stage a meaningful campaign for the mayorship of Bacolod, despite assurances by the supporters that they can raise enough for his election expenses.

***

The sentencing to a 92-year imprisonment to a 48-year old trisikad driver for the rape of his 14-year old stepdaughter three times in Bacolod City should warn sex hungry males.

Kudos to RTC Judge Philadelfia Papagon-Agraviador for swiftly concluding trial of the stepfather whom she also asked to pay P100,000 in moral damages to the stepdaughter.

Although he denied the allegation by the girl, the DAILY STAR reported that the stepfather’s testimony was denied by the judge who stood by the straightforward testimony by the step daughter who dared even the displeasure of her own mother to bring the matter to the attention of the court through the help of Balay Pasilungan.

The court has now become a refuge of the oppressed and the persecuted.*


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