76 guns released to court,
local SOCO chief relieved
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The 76 guns seized by the police from the ancestral house of Mayor Magdaleno Peña in Barangay Ubay, Pulupandan, on May 2 have been released to the custody of the court after a Writ of Replevin sought by the mayor’s son was granted, his lawyer Roem Arbolado said yesterday.

On Monday, Pulupandan mayor-elect Miguel Peña filed a civil case before the Regional Trial Court in Bacolod City against two police officials to recover 76 of the 90 firearms and ammunition, valued at P2 million, seized from the ancestral house.

On Thursday, Bacolod RTC Branch 43 Judge Fernando Elumba, in a four-page order, issued a writ of replevin, allowing the recovery of the 76 firearms and the corresponding ammunition, magazines and accessories “after finding the complaint legally sufficient in form and substance”.

PNoy congratulates Marañon,
asks how he can help Negros
BY CARLA GOMEZ

President Benigno Aquino III congratulated Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. on his re-election and asked him what he can do to further assist Negros Occidental.

Marañon, accompanied by Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, met with the President at Malacañang  Friday last week.

The governor said he is preparing a list of projects for Negros Occidental for possible Malacañang assistance.

Coal plant in Panay to
aid Neg. Occ., too
BY ADRIAN NEMES III

The P14-billion coal-fired power plant of Palm Concepcion Power Corp. being constructed on a 30-hectare property in Barangay Nipa, Concepcion town in Iloilo will not only answer electrical woes of Panay island but will also cover power deficits in Negros island, PCPC chairman, Walter Brown, said yesterday.

Brown was in Bacolod City for a road show for electric cooperatives in Negros hosted by PCPC, a joint venture Palm Thermal Consolidated Holdings Corporation (A. Brown Company Inc.) and Jin Navitas Resource Inc., at the Planta Centro Hotel and Residences.

Present at the road show were the presidents, general managers and board members of electric cooperatives in Negros Occidental and Oriental, where PCPC president Roel Castro updated them on the 135-megawatts state-of-the-art coal-fired power plant project.