Policeman, driver
killed in gunbattle
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

A policeman died in a shoot-out  with an ex-convict tagged as the gunman in two previous shooting incidents, at Coloso Extension in Brgy. 6, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental. 4 p.m. yesterday.

A tricycle driver identified as Noel “Diutay” Garcia was reportedly caught in the crossfire and was also killed, initial investigations of the Kabankalan police showed.

The slain policeman identified as Police Officer 2 Rafael Gemoto, an intelligence operative of the Kabankalan City Police Station, succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds.

The police yesterday filed charges of reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide and serious physical injuries, as well as damage to properties and  injuries against a driver, whose cargo truck, figured in a head-on collision with a tricycle, causing the deaths of five minors, and injury of another one, in Victorias City, Negros Occidental.

Police Supt. Alexander Munoz yesterday said the charges against truck driver Joemarie Magbanua Aldas were filed before the Victorias City Prosecutor’s Office, after families of the victims refused to accept the offer of an initial amount of P3,000 each, for the death of the five victims.

Aldas is now detained at the Victorias City Police Station jail.

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. yesterday urged sugar mill owners in Negros Occidental to go into the commercial production of power to address the growing needs of the province.

Negros Occidental is projected to have a power deficit of 93 megawatts by 2015.

The Northern Negros Geothermal Power Plant in Bago City that was targeted to produce 40 megawatts of power has recently been downsized to a 5 to 10 megawatts plant, and Global Business Power Corp. has not found a suitable site for a coal-fired power plant in Negros Occidental.