Cock breeder gets
40-years for rape
BY CARLA GOMEZ

A Bacolod cock breeder was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment yesterday for the rape of his then 11-year-old neighbor in 2006.

Judge Ray Alan Drilon of the Bacolod City Regional Trial Court Branch 41 sentenced Bernie Azucena Espino to reclusion perpetua and to pay his victim P75,000 as moral damages and P25,000 as exemplary damages.

The 11-year-old, whose name is being withheld by the DAILY STAR, told the court that at about 7 p.m. on March 8, 2006, she was headed for a neighbor’s house to watch television when Espino called her to buy him rum and cigarets. Her mother had formerly worked for him as his househelper.

A former policeman is now behind bars after being caught during a buy bust operation in Brgy. 2, Bacolod City Tuesday night by members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

PDEA-6 Intelligence and Investigation chief, Intelligence Officer 3 Cerilo Baluma, yesterday identified the person arrested as former Police Officer 2 Ernie Jaminal, 42, of Eroreco Subdivision in Brgy. Mandalagan, Bacolod.

Jaminal used to be the member of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police elite group and had been assigned at the now defunct Police Regional Mobile Group before he was dropped from the service in 2009 for absence without leave.

Six provinces, eight cities and 41 towns in Western Visayas are recipients of seals of good housekeeping for local governments for calendar year 2011 round two, the Department of Interior of Local Government Region 6 announced on its website.

The DILG awards seals of good housekeeping to local governments for internal housekeeping in four areas – good planning, sound fiscal management, transparency and accountability, and valuing of performance monitoring.

The six provinces are Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Guimaras, Capiz, Antique and Aklan.