Rice vendor swindled

A rice vendor lost about P23,000 in cash and several valuables to three Tagalog-speaking persons who reportedly ordered several sacks of rice from her store at the Burgos Market at Antonio-Yulo streets in Bacolod City at about 3 p.m. Saturday.

Complainant Edna Banares Yulo, 43, married, of Saging Street, Capitol Heights, Brgy. Villamonte, Bacolod City told the police that an unidentified Tagalog-speaking woman bought five kilos of rice from her and requested her helper to bring them to the Petron Gas Station at Burgos Street, police reports said.

Few minutes later, another Tagalog speaking woman bought 10 kilos of rice from her store who also requested her second helper to bring the rice to the same gasoline station, police reports said. Later, another Tagalog-speaking man ordered four kilos of rice from her. She said the man asked her to leave the rice in her store for a moment and promised to pay her later.

Yulo, however, said she discovered her bag containing P3,000 in cash, ATM cards and other documents already missing. She also found that the bag of her husband containing P20,000 in cash, a checkbook, a bottle of perfume and personal belongings also gone, police reports said.

Yulo said she suspects the three Tagalog-speaking persons had stolen the bags, police reports said.*DMG

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Negros lawyers
to volunteer for BBB

The lack of lawyers to defend Bantay Bukid Brigade volunteers from harassment by timber poachers and to prosecute those involved in the destruction of the environment has not spared Negros Occidental.

Board Member Reynaldo Depasucat, committee chairperson of the Environment and Natural Resources of the Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan, said he and fellow lawyer, Alit Nuñez, are now coordinating with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Negros Occidental chapter to recruit some volunteers. Depasucat who attended an environment conference in Bohol last year, yesterday stressed the need to have volunteer counsels for BBB volunteers facing legal suits, in relation to the performance of their jobs as protectors of the environment.

He added that 74 lawyers nationwide have already committed to act as volunteer counsels, and are now being called "Tanggol sa Tagapagtanggol".

Virginia Dioquino is the legal counsel of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region 6. Hopefully, we can recruit more lawyers, Depasucat said.

Task Force Ilahas records show that more than 35 persons were convicted for violation of PD 705, known as the Forestry Code of the Philippines, of more than 100 persons arrested from 2002 to 2005.

Edwin Abanil, chief of the Provincial Environment and Management Office, said the Haribon Foundation is willing to help the provincial government and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the protection of the Northern Negros Natural Park.*GPB

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Cops confiscate 'shabu'
hidden in chicken inasal

A trisikad driver was arrested by the Bacolod police for alleged possession of a sachet of suspected shabu reportedly hidden in a "chicken inasal" at Rizal Street at the Bacolod Reclamation Area at about 7:20 p.m. Saturday.

Richard dela Rosa Balateria, 21, single, of Brgy. Handumanan, Bacolod City, was apprehended by members of the the Bacolod CD Squad unit and Police Precinct 1 for violation of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002, police reports said.

Police reports said the sachet of shabu wrapped in a brown bandage was found inside the meat of the chicken inasal delivered by Balateria to an unidentified person at the Bacolod reclamation area, police reports said.

Meanwhile, Dolores Balateria, 43, the mother of Richard, told the DAILY STAR yesterday that he is a good son and he could not commit the crime. She said she believes her son was just framed up. She said an unidentified man paid her son P20 to deliver the chicken inasal to a security guard in the place. Se said her son was innocent of the transaction when he delivered the item and he was surprised when Bacolod police officers arrested him and searched his wallet.

Dolores, a laundrywoman, said she could not bear to see Richard who is the breadwinner of the family, locked up in jail. She said her husband, also a trisikad driver, has an ailment .*DMG

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