Raps versus Jarque
for spying dismissed
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The Sandiganbayan yesterday dismissed charges against Retired Brig. Gen. Raymundo Jarque and another Army officer of using government resources in spying on former Ombudsman Aniano Desierto and Negrense businessman Magdaleno Peña for personal purposes in violation of the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Jarque, former Negros Island Command Chief, told the DAILY STAR it was the last of eight trumped-up cases filed against him through the Ombudsman, which included theft and attempted murder raps, mostly by Peña, that have been dismissed.

Peña's charges had driven Jarque to join the New People's Army in disgust over the justice system in 1995.

I lost my home and pa died
KATRINA VICTIM SAYS
BY CARLA GOMEZ

"When I crossed the state line back into Louisiana after escaping the lashing of Hurricane Katrina, I said 'Oh, home sweet home.' And then I remembered that I had no home to go home to," a Bacoleña who lives in Louisiana said yesterday.

"My home of eight years that bore many irreplaceable mementos of my life, including my wedding album, was gone, destroyed when the dike just three blocks away, broke as Katrina rampaged through St. Bernard Parish in Chalmette, Louisiana," Marjorie Jolito Guidry, 46, told the DAILY STAR.

And as if things were not bad enough, before she could get back to Chalmette to see what had become of her home, she learned through a message sent by her family that her 78-year-old father, Cesar Jolito, had died in Bacolod City, delivering a another blow on an already devastated Marjorie.

Bomb alarm ends up false
BY DONALYN GUERRERO

A stroller bag allegedly left by two unidentified women at the arrival area of the Cebu Pacific Airport in Bacolod City was destroyed by policemen at about 2 p.m. yesterday, because of suspicion that it contained a "bomb".

Security guard Elezer Rivas, of Cebu Pacific Security, together with PO1 Eduardo Cabañas, of the Aviation Security Group, reported to Police Precinct 8 that an unidentified woman left the bag with the porter, but she failed to return after several hours, police reports said.

Rivas said the management did not touch the bag for fear that it might explode, so they call the Aviation Security Group led by Insp. Efren Laquihon, who immediately responded, police reports said.