Police step up security
at registration of voters
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The Philippine National Police sent more policemen yesterday to secure offices of the Commission on Elections in the towns and cities of Negros Occidental as the number of people registering to vote kept growing.

The deadline for registering to vote is 3 p.m. tomorrow, Negros Occidental Elections Supervisor Jessie Suarez said.

In Bacolod City, people began lining up to register to vote at 4 a.m. yesterday and, by mid-morning, the line of those waiting to get into the Bacolod Arts and Youth Sports Center where the COMELEC has set up its registration center, was from the Bacolod Christian Center up to the Bac-Up 1 Office at San Juan Street.

Swindling raps
filed vs. con ma
BY LISA GAPAC

The Bacolod City police yesterday filed swindling charges against a Cameroonian, who had earlier pretended to be a Canadian and tricked his victims by telling them that he could triple the money they gave him, Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz, city police director, said.

The case was filed at about 2 p.m. before the Bacolod City Prosecutor’s Office against Samuel Kamga alias Stephen Djonou, 34, who initially told the police that he is from Quebec, Canada.

De la Paz said that during the investigation Kamga admitted that he is from Cameroon, a country in west Central Africa, and his real name is Stephen Djonou.

The Office of the City Mayor has submitted to the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod the proposed budget of P1.230 billion for 2013 for its deliberation and approval.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said the budget is double that of 2004 when he came back as mayor, which was then only P614 million.

He said the budget for 2013 is about P105 million more than this year's budget or an increase of about 8 to 9 percent.