Diocese fights back,
readies legal action
More churches to display Team Patay tarp
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The Commission on Elections order for Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra to take down the “Team Patay/Team Buhay” tarpaulin in front of the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City is unconstitutional and a direct threat to the prelate who has not violated any law, his legal panel said yesterday.

“We will take all the necessary legal action to defend the bishop and the Diocese of Bacolod,” lawyer Ralph Sarmiento, who is also the dean of the University of St. La Salle College of Law in Bacolod, said.

They will take legal action today against those responsible for making the direct threat on the bishop for an alleged crime he did not commit, but are withholding details on their move, said Sarmiento at a press conference at the Bishop’s House, along with lawyers Mitchelle Abella and Raymundo Pandan Jr., who compose the bishop’s legal panel.

Couple found brutally
slain in Cadiz brgy
BY ADRIAN NEMES III

A couple was found dead with multiple hack and stab wounds inside their house in Brgy. Celestino Villacin, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, at about 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Cadiz police chief, Senior Insp. Gil John Despi, said yesterday they just started the investigation into the killing of Matiliano Javelona and Adelina Delibrico because their family only reported the incident to them yesterday.

Javelona had hack wounds on his head, body and feet, while Delibrico had at least 18 stab wounds.

The national government is providing P2 million for the initial rehabilitation of the Sum-ag River in Bacolod City, Mayor Evelio Leonardia said at the Sum-ag-Cabug river cruise expedition yesterday.

The exploration was conducted to tap the potential of Sum-ag and Cabug rivers as part of the city’s tourism drive to develop man-made tourist attractions in southern Bacolod, Leonardia added.

City Administrator John Orola said the Sum-ag River is a sleeping giant just waiting to be discovered.