Marañons deny links to Napoles
We turned down fertilizer offer, guv says
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. and his son Sagay Mayor Alfredo Marañon III yesterday denied receiving any government funds through non-government organizations connected to Janet Lim Napoles and of having any dealings with her.

The father and son issued the denial after their names were included in the purported files of Benhur Luy, the former finance officer of Napoles, as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday.

Former Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) had no reaction to his inclusion in the list.
The governor, who was congressman of the second district of Negros Occidental from 1995 to 2004, was on the Luy list for an alleged fertilizer and water system supply allocation, which he denied having received.

One-island region
good idea: Binay
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

A “good idea,” that was how Vice President Jejomar Binay described yesterday the proposed Negros island region, being pushed by government executives of the Oriental and Occidental provinces.

The proposal to create a Negros island region is now under study by the Department of Interior and Local Government, in tandem with the National Economic Development Authority.

Binay, who was in Negros for the 58th Annual National Council Meeting of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, said that having a one-island region, it will be an advantage, citing his experience as a mayor of Makati, where he had divided a big barangay into two, and triggered an acceleration of development.

Pa gets 34-year jail term
for raping two daughters
BY CARLA GOMEZ

A Bacolod resident was sentenced yesterday to 34 years and 8 months imprisonment for raping his two daughters aged 5 and 6 years old in 2004.

Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 43 Judge Philadelfa Pagapong-Agraviador found the father, whose name is being withheld to protect the identities of his victims, guilty beyond reasonable doubt of “rape through sexual assault” in both cases.

She sentenced him to suffer the penalty of 10 to 17 years and four months imprisonment for each case and to pay the offended parties P120,000 in civil indemnity, moral damages and exemplary damages.