Five killed, 15 injured
BY GILBERT BAYORAN & ADRIAN NEMES III

Five persons were killed, and 15, including three policemen, were injured in shooting, stabbing, hacking, and burning incidents, as well as vehicular accidents in Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City, as the year 2013 began.

Police officers Mark Hecita and Roger Sagre sustained injuries when they were hit with a stainless steel pipe and a wooden stick, and also allegedly shot by Jeffrey Rabelista, who was later shot and killed, at a classroom of the Alfredo Montelibano Sr. Elementary School in Brgy. Villamonte, Bacolod City, on Jan. 1.

Rabelista, 26, of Brgy. Balintawak, Escalante City, who had allegedly ran amuck, succumbed to a gunshot wound in the head, after he was shot by Hecita, investigations of the Bacolod police showed.

50 hurt in blasts
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The number of blast victims caused by firecrackers in Negros Occidental, including Bacolod, is lower, with only 50 recorded to have sustained injuries from December 30 last year up to yesterday, compared to 59 last year, police records show.

Senior Supt. Milko Lirazan, officer-in-charge of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, yesterday said they have recorded 39 people who sustained firecracker blast injuries, compared 51 in 2011, or a reduction by 23.5 percent.

A similar trend was also noted in Bacolod City, with only 11 reported injured in firecracker blasts in 2012, compared to 13 in 2011 and 19 in 2010, Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Cruz, BCPO director, said.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday thanked the media for their support in 2012 which he called a good year for Bacolod City.

Leonardia also spelled out his priorities for 2013, particularly the “last 60 seconds of his term”, during his first press conference this year.

“2012 was a good year for our city, thus I wish to thank you, correspondents of media institutions, for your objective reporting of what the city government has been doing,” he said.