Quebrar warns against
firing of guns

Acting Bacolod City police director, Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar, yesterday warned Bacolod policemen and firearm-holders not to fire their guns to usher in the New Year.

Policemen caught for indiscriminate firing during the celebration will be subjected to summary dismissal, while charges will be filed against anyone arrested for firing guns during the celebration, he said.

Quebrar also said he is also discouraging Bacoleños from using pyrotechnics and firecrackers to minimize accidents during the holiday. The BCPO is intensifying its campaign against "imported and illegal" firecrackers and pyrotechnics in the city, he said.

Franco said he will try to maintain zero-incidents related to pyrotechnics and firecrackers this year.*DMG

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Raps poised vs.
pyrotechnics 'owner'

The Bacolod police will file charges for violation of Republic Act 7183 today against a man arrested for alleged possession of 10 boxes of pyrotechnics in a raid in Brgy. Taculing, Bacolod City, Saturday.

Chief Insp. Armando Tubongbanua, Bacolod City Mobile Group head, yesterday told the DAILY STAR they will file the charges against Benjie Mendones, for violation of sections 14 and 16 of RA 7183, or an act regulating the sale, manufacture and distribution of pyrotechnics and devices.

Mendones failed to present his permit to sell the items. Tubongbanua said Mendones will also be liable for violation of City Ordinance 816, or sale of pyrotechnics outside the indesignated area, which is the Bacolod reclamation area, he added.

On Saturday, the CMG swooped down on the residence of Mendones on the strength of a search warrant issued by Judge Napoleon Diamante of the Municipal Trial Courts in Cities, Branch 3, police reports said.

Acting Bacolod City police director, Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar, yesterday said a permit to sell pyrotechnics and fire crackers is not transferable. He said firecracker vendors should observe the guidelines stipulated in RA 7183 and C.O. 816 to avoid accidents.*DMG

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'Minors used as pawns'

The military said it has recorded eight incidents, two of them in Negros Occidental and Oriental, where the New People's Army used minors as "pawns" in their fight against government forces.

Col. Gregorio Fajardo, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, cited the arrests of four minors aged 12 to 17 in Toboso, Negros Occidental, and in Siaton, Oriental Negros, in previous months.

The Philippine Army said in a statement that the New People's Army, has been cited in a report of the United Nation, of being among the 14 armed groups in nine countries that are "persistent violators" of the prohibition against the recruitment and use of child soldiers from 2002 to 2006.

The PA said the report proves the real nature of the New People's Army who keeps passing the blame for human rights violation to the military.

Militant groups in Negros, however, have condemned the military for tagging the three minors arrested in Toboso, Negros Occidental, as NPA recruits.

Lt. Col. Norman Flores, 61st Infantry Battalion commander, said the 15-year-old boy arrested in Siaton, Oriental Negros, on Oct. 6, confessed to being a member of the NPA Larangan Gerilya 5 Platoon 2 tasked to collect foodstuff from residents in the town's upland barangays. The four minors have been released by the 303rd Infantry Brigade to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Records of the Philippine Army show that 16 minors, including four in Negros Island, were either arrested or rescued in six separate military operations all over the country from September to November this year.*GPB .

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