SUGAR LEADERS SAY
PNoy promised us
removal of Alvarez
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Bacolod Councilor Al Victor Espino yesterday said the city should negotiate for an upward adjustment, or increase, in the port rental from the Bacolod Real Estate Development Authority since its Internal Revenue Allotment will be reduced next year due to the creation of 16 new cities.

Espino, chairman of the Committees on Appropriations and Finance, and Ways and Means, has proposed a resolution urging the mayor to initiate or commence the renegotiation of the upward adjustment with BREDCO as mandated in the Comprehensive Revised Reclamation Agreement.

The increase in the port rental is one of the issues to be discussed in the executive-legislative caucus.

The suspect in the killing of Ilog Councilor Antonio “Karem” Gequillana pleaded not guilty yesterday during the arraignment of the murder case filed against him at the Bacolod City Regional Trial Court Branch 53.

Clad in a yellow inmate shirt of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Ryan Gatoc, 31, of Brgy. 1, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental appeared before Judge Pepito Gellada.

His father, Felipe, said his son is innocent of the charges filed against him and claimed that one of their relatives, who has an axe to grind with his son, is the real gunman.

Peace advocates yesterday expressed dismay that the killings in Escalante City since 2007, seem to have been forgotten by the authorities.

Carlota Villadar, widow of Sergio Villadar, yesterday reiterated her call to the Philippine National Police to dig deeper into incidents of extra-judicial killings in Escalante City.

Peace advocates also claim that they have not heard Mayor Melecio Yap, who is a deputy of the National Police Commission in Escalante, condemn the 18 incidents of killings, or ordering the police to act on them.