Serge to help Negros
push for island-region
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Senator Serge Osmeña yesterday said he will author a counterpart bill in the Senate seeking the creation of a one-island region for Negros.

Osmeña was requested to file the counterpart bill by Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. at a meeting in Bacolod City yesterday.

The bill will have to originate in the Lower House and he will see to the passage of its counterpart version in the Senate, the senator said.

‘Sugarcane bill can’t
be certified urgent’
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) yesterday said the proposed Sugarcane Act does not fall into the criteria of bills that can be certified as urgent, but he believes it could pass the Lower House before the end of the year.

Benitez was reacting to the statement of Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito Thursday that the proposed Sugarcane Act should be certified as urgent by the President for it to be become a law this year, before tariffs on imported sugar drop to a nominal 5 percent in 2015.

The senator, who was in Bacolod, said he will request Benitez to ask the President to certify it as urgent since he belongs to the administration party and has a better chance of getting a positive response.

Korean left suicide note
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The police theory that the Korean national, who was found dead Thursday in a Mambukal Mountain Resort cottage in Brgy. Minoyan, Murcia, took his own life was further bolstered by the discovery of a suicide note written in Korean in his diary, Senior Inspector Noberto Barniso, town police chief, said yesterday.

Barniso said they were informed by the South Korean Embassy about the suicide note, after they sent the diary to them, for possible translation from Korean to English.

The victim, identified as Sein Jang, 54, was found sitting on the floor of the cottage, with a necktie tied around his neck, and attached to the head board of his bed, investigation by the Murcia police showed.