PNoy arriving today
FOR WAKE OF OSMEÑA MATRIARCH
BY CARLA GOMEZ

President Benigno Aquino III is expected to arrive in Bacolod City today for the wake of  Lourdes de la Rama Osmeña, the wife of the late Senator Sergio Veloso Osmeña  Jr. and daughter of the late Senator Esteban de la Rama.

Her son, Senator Sergio Osmeña III, yesterday afternoon confirmed reports that the President is arriving for a brief visit at his mother’s wake at the social hall of the Redemptorist Church in Bacolod.

Mrs. Osmeña, 98, who passed away in Bacolod Sunday, is survived by her children the senator, Cebu Rep. Tomas Osmeña, Maria Victoria “Minnie”, Esteban “Stevie”, and Georgia.

MANILA – Newly-installed Army chief Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista yesterday affirmed his full support to the peace process, but warned about applying a "legitimate force" against those who insist on using arms to threaten the safety of the people.

Bautista, son of the late Brig. Gen. Teodolfo Bautista, who was murdered while negotiating with a group of armed secessionist rebels in Mindanao in 1977, admitted that the road to peace is long and difficult. In the face of adversities and challenges, he, however, said "We should remain focused on our objective of winning the peace."

The Philippine Army remains fully supportive of the peace process by continuing to reach out to their brothers in the mountains and ask them to choose the peaceful path, and those who do so merit their unwavering support, Bautista said in an interview, after he assumed command of a 70,000-strong Army.

The top rebel leader arrested by the police and military in Cadiz City Monday was also linked to the ambush of a government-owned vehicle in Brgy. Salamanca in Toboso town, Negros Occidental two years ago, where three persons died, including a high school student.

Eryl Baynosa, 42, son of former Captain Eriberto Baynosa of Brgy. Salamangca in Toboso, Negros Occidental and one of the survivors of the ambush, positively identified Romeo Nanta, 52, as the one who led the armed men who attacked them.

Eryl Baynosa said they were on their way to the town proper on July 13, 2009, when several armed men came out from the sugarcane field and started firing at them.