School killings prompt call
for stricter gun control laws
Classes suspended, stress debriefing starts
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Classes at the elementary school in Pontevedra town in Negros Occidental where a teacher committed suicide after killing a colleague were suspended yesterday, while traumatized teachers and pupils undergo stress debriefing.

Grade 5 teacher Harold Salas, 37, shot and killed school head Jojit Gaudiel, 40, before shooting himself in the head, that was witnessed by co-teachers and pupils at the Trinidad Elementary School in Brgy. Don Salvador Benedicto, Pontevedra, Monday morning.

Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. yesterday said there should be stricter gun control laws to prevent shooting incidents, like the one in Pontevedra, from happening.

Lawyer cautions
vs. reinstatement
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The lawyer of engineer Joemarie Magbanua has asked Hinigaran Mayor Hermilo Aguilar to approach with extreme caution and suspicion the letter of Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol, directing him to reinstate five dismissed employees of the town.

Lawyer Romeo Natino said compliance with the “purported” letter of Apostol is “fraught with risks and implications”.

Apostol, in a letter dated January 7, directed Aguilar to reinstate five municipal government employees who were dismissed from the service in 2011.

Vendors’ plaza reopening
BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

The Bacolod Vendors’ Plaza and Jeepney Terminal in Brgy. 12, Bacolod City, is now ready for occupancy, especially by vendors from Bonifacio Street, who were displaced and cannot be accommodated at the Central Market, City Administrator Rolando Villamor said yesterday.

Villamor said the city will also assign an officer-in-charge at the Vendors’ Plaza and Jeepney Terminal at the Reclamation Area, which can accommodate about 240 vendors.

Next Monday, they will remove about 41 vendors at the terminal area of the Vendors’ Plaza to prepare the place for the transfer of the terminals of east-bound jeepneys plying the routes of Granada, Sta. Fe, Fortune Towne, and Alangilan, he said.