NBI not aware of
Korean's background?

As they say, it takes two to tango. And, perhaps, the other side of the controversial arrest and alleged mauling of the seven NBI agents in Pamplona Golf and Country Club, also brought to the fore the issue of the case against the Korean missionary pastor.

The most important question - did not the NBI first doubt whether the said Pastor Kim Seong Kook of Villa Angela Subdivision of Bacolod, had complaints against him filed with the Bacolod Prosecutor's Office?
These are now surfacing following the efforts of the NBI to file the corresponding charges against Korean businessman Ha Hae Bong of Pamplona town.

No less than Alex Mirano, counsel of the complainants, told the DAILY STAR Tuesday of rape and acts of lasciviousness cases filed against Kim by members of his congregation.

That gives a new twist to the story, supposedly cut and dried where the NBI team reportedly were mauled and subjected to indignities by the Pamplona police when the latter group purportedly mistook them for kidnappers.

A major story seems to have surfaced as a result of that fracas. Lea Bombon, manager of the Pamplona resort, claimed that Pastor Kim had sought the help of Ha when his parishioners complained against him in November.

There is something sordid in the Kim story. A teenaged girl, reportedly a member of his congregation, reportedly claimed that she was molested by Kim on Nov. 6, last year. Later, on Nov. 14, she claimed to have lost consciousness after drinking mineral water given to her by Pastor Kim and woke up in Jade Court II in Barangay Alijis.

But she reportedly managed to tell the assistant pastor of their church as to what had happened to her when another revealed that Kim had also abused her.

Again, this girl said she told her assistant pastor about what had happened to her.

What is worse is that an 18-year-old girl and a 21-year-old pre-school teacher had reportedly filed complaints against the pastor for sexual abuse before the Bacolod police Women and Children's Concern Desk in November. They however failed to pursue their case because the City Prosecutor's Office.

Now those "hidden tales" have surfaced. And the question that should be asked - how come the NBI, supposedly meticulous about case preparations, had not undertaken a background check on the Korean pastor?

These revelations, gathered by the Visayan DAILY STAR, add a new dimension to the controversy.

Instead of asking how much money was involved from Ha, perhaps, the same question could now be tossed to the NBI.

****

Remember that scandalous massacre of Francisco Tan, wife, Cynthia, and their daughter Katherine in Molo in Iloilo City?

Yesterday, I learned that the two sons of Tan, Archie and Jan Michael - came up with an alternative suspect for the slayings - Michael Zayco, the brother of their stepmother, Cynthia.

This was contained their counter-affidavit to the parricide and double murder charges filed against them by the CIDG 6.

Both claimed that CIDG hastily pinpointed them as the suspects in the Tan killings.

As both pointed out, "We had everything to gain from our parents being alive and would lose our means of support if they died."

They included in their counter-affidavit a letter purportedly signed by Tan, dated December 2005, wherein their father, asked Archie to help him out full-time with their business.

Archie reportedly begged off, contending that he was still too young to devote himself to business.

But the two brothers cited the alleged abduction of Cynthia's five children a day after the burial of their parents as indicating a possible motive by their uncle, Michael Zayco, of an intent to wrest control of the family business.

They also claimed that Michael was familiar with the layout of their mansion and of their habit of getting out of their home at night without the knowledge of their parents.

They cited Zayco's guardianship petition as a design to take over the Tan properties.

In short, that's the other side of this murder mystery.

****

When the United States officially assigned 35,000 metric tons of the 250,000 additional US sugar quota to the Philippines, can the local sugar industry service that requirement?

This was a question that was debated extensively during the board meeting of Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Inc. Panay-Negros Chapter in Bais City Tuesday afternoon.

The meeting was attended by Confed national President Reynaldo Bantug. It was presided by Luis Tongoy, chapter chairman.

Members of the Negros Oriental Planters Association headed by 86-year-old Manuel Teves Jr. also joined the discussion, although they did not participate in the voting. But that allowed them to gain insight into how their federation officials tear apart proposals of sugar industry-wide importance.

Well, anyway, part of the discussion centered on the fact that, based on the SRA estimate, we may still have 41,000 metric tons of "A" sugar by the end of the crop year.

Thus, minus the 35,000 for the US quota, we still will have an overhang or leftover.

But Archie Amarra, SRA consultant, pointed out that these sugar are dispersed throughout the country. And the problem is gathering them sufficiently fast to be able to ship them out on time for the July 1 deadline of the USDA.

Chairman Tongoy proposed an alternative scheme - for SRA to ban further conversions of "A" to domestic sugar. This, he said, aims to flush out the kept "A" sugar. Again, that was a matter that the trustees thought should be tossed over to Administrator James Ledesma whom they asked to exercise due diligence to be able to ferret out the "A" sugar.

In short, the discussion ended without a vote of acceptance of the sugar quota and the shipment to the US will depend primarily on SRA. The only thing - that the US Trade Representative be asked whether the USDA would agree to the Philippines partially filling up its assigned quota when the SRA determines that it could fully satisfy the 35,000 metric tons order.*

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