Court of Appeals lifts
TRO on Capitol property conflict
BY CARLA GOMEZ

CEBU CITY – The Twentieth Division of the Court of Appeals here has lifted the 60-day temporary restraining order it had issued against Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. and other Negros Occidental officials in connection with the sale and lease of its 7.7-hectare prime property in Bacolod City to Ayala Land Inc.

The TRO had been granted to SM Prime Holdings Inc. that had opposed the awarding of the negotiated sale and lease of Ayala, claiming it was the winning bidder to the property.

SMPHI had refused to join the negotiated bidding saying it had entered a higher bid than Ayala in a second bidding held on July 7, and sought the TRO to halt the negotiated sale and lease.

More than two weeks after his death, murder charges were filed yesterday before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Negros Occidental, against the two assassins of Iloilo-based radio blocktimer Niel “Lito” Jimena, who was gunned down Aug. 22 in EB Magalona.

Senior Supt. Allan Guisihan, provincial police director of Negros Occidental, however, withheld the identities of the two suspects charged, the complaint for which, was filed by the family of the victim, assisted by Task Group Jimena probers.

Guisihan said a witness who had surfaced, helped them to identify the suspects and this led to the filing of charges against them.

 “We will not take offense; we will just defend our rights to security of tenure but if the effect would be to paralyze the operations, then we will do that,” Gerardo Rivera, president of Philippine Airlines Employees Association said at a press conference yesterday at the Bishop’s House in Bacolod City.

Rivera said PAL management has started to issue notices of termination to its regular employees allowing them to work only until Sept. 30 as the spin off and contractualization of work will take effect Oct. 1.

This was the result of the decision of the Office of the President through its Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa affirming that of Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to outsource PAL jobs, Rivera said.