Guv, mayors to adopt
belt-tightening moves
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. yesterday said he is meeting with the mayors of Negros Occidental and the department heads of the provincial government to discuss belt tightening measures in the light of the    P940,585,592 Internal Revenue Allotment budget cut next year.

“We will have to be frugal in our spending without sacrificing priority basic services needed by our constituents,” he said.

The Negros Occidental provincial government, and its 13 cities and 19 towns are faced with the cut next year because of poor tax collections during the Arroyo administration three years ago, Provincial Budget Officer Jose Percival Salado Jr. said Thursday.

Highway robbers struck again in Cauayan, Negros Occidental, Tuesday and did not spare the softdrink delivery truck of Ilog Mayor Paul Alvarez, whose salesman-driver was divested of P20,000 in cash collections.

Chief Insp. Romeo Leyte, the new town police chief, said yesterday that two unidentified armed men waylaid the softdrink delivery truck owned by Alvarez in Sitio Tambo, Brgy. Inayawan, Cauayan, and robbed the driver-salesman, who was accompanied by two helpers, of his cash collections, at gunpoint.

Five World War 2 vintage bombs were found by Bantay Dagat members and scrap iron scavengers in Brgys. Guinhalaran and Balaring, both in Silay City, Negros Occidental.

Supt. Rosauro Francisco, Silay police chief, yesterday said the vintage bombs, believed used by Japanese soldiers during World War 2,  may still explode if not properly handled.

Three of them were unearthed by scrap iron scavengers yesterday at the Buenretiro Subdivision in Brgy. Guinhalaran, while the two others were discovered Monday in a pump boat of the Bantay Dagat in Brgy. Balaring.