IN ESCALANTE
Guisihan recommends
relief of 31 more cops
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

Thirty-one more policemen will be recommended for temporary relief from the Escalante City police station, to enable complainants to come out and file charges against those they claim to have links to alleged political killings.

Senior Supt. Allan Guisihan, provincial police director of Negros Occidental, yesterday  said that of the 53 policemen assigned in Escalante, 22 have already been relieved. They include three policemen who had served as close-in security escorts of Mayor Melecio Yap.

The three have been dropped from rolls after being marked AWOL (absent-without-leave) for their failure to report for duty in Iloilo.

Acting Negros Occidental Gov. Genaro Alvarez Jr.  yesterday said he will arrange a dialog between Escalante Mayor Melecio Yap and Senior Supt. Allan Guisihan, provincial police director, so differences over the relief of policemen from the city can be resolved for the good of the people of the city.

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., who is in Taiwan, will be back tomorrow so the dialog between Yap and Guisihan in his presence could be arranged, Alvarez said.

Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol, Western Visayas police regional director, ordered the relief of 12 Escalante policemen without consulting Yap, prompting the mayor to recall city government allocated equipment at the police station.

The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board yesterday received an amended petition from the Trade Union of Filipino Workers seeking a P97 daily wage hike for Western Visayas, RTWPB labor representative Wennie Sancho said.

The TUFW, headed by Randy Ronquillo, called for the  restoration  of the workers purchasing power amid rising prices,  and cited the fact that present wages  are insufficient  to meet the basic needs of the workers families, Sancho said.

He said the wage board  will hold a public hearing on the petition in Iloilo City on December 14.