Ayala starts soil tests
for Capitol land dev’t
BY CARLA GOMEZ

AyalaLand Inc. drilling machines are now conducting soil boring tests on the Negros Occidental provincial government property in Bacolod City that it is set to lease and purchase, Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said yesterday.

Soil boring tests are performed to evaluate the soil underground and determine its contents before building the foundation, which is necessary, especially for high-rise buildings, he said.

Assistant Provincial Legal Officer Mary Ann Manayon-Lamis met with Ayala officials this week and will brief him on the outcome, the governor said.

Sandigan to rule on
Monico motion soon
BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

The case involving the alleged anomalous procurement of overpriced computer packages for more than P25 million with the Priority Development Assistance Fund of then congressman and now Bacolod Mayor Monico Puentevella, has been submitted for resolution, private complainant Joselito Bayatan said yesterday.

Bayatan said the Clerk of Court informed them that there had been no need for Puentevella to file a motion for judicial determination of probable cause because it is the duty of the Court to determine it.

In other words, whether or not there is a motion, the Court will act on the determination of probable cause, Bayatan said.

Prosecutor junks
raps vs. ex-cop
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The Bacolod City Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed an inquest case for robbery and grave threats against former Police Officer 3 Rocky Jacinto and ex-barangay kagawad Edwin Baltazar, filed by Chief Inspector Levy Pangue, for lack of probable cause.

Prosecutor II Maria Mercedes Odango-Saril, in a 2-page inquest resolution, however, said she finds probable cause for the crime of grave threats against Romeo Venida, for threatening complainant Pangue through a text message “ Andam ka kay pamatyon ko pamilya mo (Beware because I will kill your family)”.

Jacinto, in his letter to the Visayan DAILY STAR, vehemently debunked the insinuations of Pangue that he is the mastermind of the extortion activities of Venida and Baltazar who had victimized several businessmen, as well as the Mosser Foundation, by demanding money as much as P400,000.