Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, who is expected to be proclaimed a Senator Thursday, yesterday said he is committed to helping Negros Occidental and its sugar industry.

The Senate Electoral Tribunal on Thursday is expected to proclaim Pimentel the rightful 2007 winner of the 12th slot in the Senate, following the resignation of Juan Miguel Zubiri last week.

Pimentel told the DAILY STAR in a telephone interview he will take his oath as senator in Mati City, the capital of Davao Oriental, on Friday if he is proclaimed the winner by the SET on Thursday.

Two swindlers, who posed as relatives of Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia, duped employees of a restaurant at SM City Mall into giving them cash yesterday.

Frietche Ann Bandejas, officer-in charge of Rai Rai Ken restaurant, told the police that she received a call at about 2:10 p.m. yesterday from a woman who introduced herself as Dr. Leonardia, who claimed to be the mayor’s sister.

The woman ordered food worth P2,125 to be delivered to he San Sebastian Cathedral and instructed Bandejas to send P875 as change for her P3,000 that she would use to pay for the food, a police report showed.

A 17-year-old tricycle driver believed to be a hold-up victim, was found dead yesterday in a sugarcane field at in Hacienda Vista 5, Brgy. Matab-ang, Talisay City, Negros Occidental, police said. Inspector Pabiolo Ortiz, Talisay deputy police chief, said the victim identified as Dexter John Linogan, 17, succumbed to multiple stab wounds in his body, which may have caused his death. Aside from stab wounds, Ortiz said the victim also had an injury in the head.

The tricycle driven by Linogan, a resident of Purok Marapara, Brgy. Bata, Bacolod City, was nowhere to be found, and may have been taken by his assailants, a Talisay police report said. Ortiz said Linogan was spotted Sunday night at the Matab-ang area of Talisay, while on his way to Bacolod City, before he was found dead at 7:45 a.m. yesterday.