Peña to file raps
vs. Ubay raiders
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Former mayor Magdaleno Peña yesterday said he is filing charges against all those who instigated and participated in the “illegal raid” and seizure of firearms  at his family’s ancestral house in Barangay Ubay, Pulupandan on May  2 and the  incarceration of 10 persons.

Peña said he is thanking Assisting Judge Manuel Cardinal Jr. of the Bago City Regional Trial Court Branch 62 for dismissing on Monday  the criminal cases filed against the 10 persons, including two policemen and two security guards, apprehended during a raid by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group on the ancestral house.

CIDG lawyer Jay Borromeo said Peña’s threat to file charges is his right, but the search on the Ubay ancestral house, as far as they are concerned, was legal.

Says most Pulupandan
bets his allies
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Former Pulupandan Mayor Magdaleno Peña yesterday said that, except for two or three “inconsequential” ones, most of the candidates running for barangay posts in Pulupandan town are his.

Peña was reacting to the statement of Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. Tuesday that there is now a small light at the end of the tunnel for democracy to prevail in Pulupandan.

The Commission on Elections has reported that elective posts in 14 out of 20 barangays in Pulupandan town are being contested.

ON ‘COMPUTER SCAM’ INDICTMENT
Monico files motion
for reconsideration
BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

A motion for reconsideration and/or reinvestigation with motion to hold in abeyance the filing of information was filed by former Bacolod Congressman and now Mayor Monico Puentevella before the Ombudsman in Manila Monday on the case involving the purchase of a P25 million Information Technology computer package project funded from his Priority Development Assistance Fund.

The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the filing of information before the Sandiganbayan against Puentevella, Victorino Tirol, Jr. of the Department of Education, and supplier Jessie Garcia, after finding probable cause to indict them for acting in violation of R.A. 3019, or the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The case stemmed from the purchase of IT Packages from Merryland Publishing Corporation at P400,000 each without the conduct of public bidding, and which were found to be overpriced, defective and non-functional. Furthermore, some of the school beneficiaries allegedly did not receive them.