Gov. Zubiri blows his top

Bukidnon Gov. Jose Zubiri is a blunt-speaking provincial executive. And he seems to have lost his cool over what he terms as a "lie" the claim by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales that the military had unearthed 11 bodies in San Fernando, his province.

"I don't know his agenda but definitely we won't allow him to use Bukidnon for whatever agenda he has," Zubiri told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a long distance interview. For the record, Zubiri had always been an outspoken member of the House. He was a solon who never minced words whenever he had to say something or to speak his mind out. And this time, he spoke with candor for which he had been noted.

He even quoted Col. Vic Morales, commander of the 403rd Brigade in Malaybalay City, that the report about the mass graves was not true.

In the face of such reaction from Zubiri, Gonzales has a lot of explaining to do about the so-called discovery of mass graves in the area he has mentioned.

I, myself, had visited Bukidnon several times last year. And I had never heard any report of rebel incursions into the area.

And, as pointed out by military officers in the area, there is no such thing. If Gonzales thought it was a cute thing to say bolster his allegations that the killings of activists and militants as well as journalists may be attributed to the communist insurgent, he must explain himself. Or apologize for giving the country a bum steer and for painting Bukidnon as a killing field.

And, yes, for Negrenses who know and respect Zubiri, he is loved by his constituents precisely because they know that he is a no-nonsense provincial executive. I have been a friend of Zubiri for a long time. And he never even once pulled my leg on anything.

I guess it is time for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to have Gonzales undergo a badly-needed rest after his alleged stroke last year.

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On the local level, kudos to the crew of F/B Cadiz City who overwhelmed the "pirates" or "seajackers" who were thought to have victimized another vessel earlier, F/B. Laura.

It took a lot of courage for the crewmen to have divested the five arrested of their firearms which included an M-16 and KG 99 automatic (or is it a pistol?)

That incident, to a certain extent, confirmed what had been rumored going on in the Visayan Sea - the extortion of commercial fishing boats which often end up with their vessel ransomed at exorbitant rates ranging from P100,000 to P500,00.

The police should throw the book against the five and their cohorts. They should not be allowed to perpetuate their activities again. What makes it worse, these "seajackers", as they have been called, pass themselves off as legitimate members of Bantay Dgat or Bantay Bayan. It is best to determine who was the person who claimed he was a member of the Masbate police command.

And, yes, there were the two "haosiao" mediamen with them. Although no longer connected with their radio stations in Masbate, they seem to have made use of their mediamen's ID to also contribute to the unease of the fishing boat operators.

We, the members of the Negros Press Club, condemn the activities of such pseudo mediamen. They are dangerous. Not only to their victims but especially to the professional journalists.

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Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Maranon hit it right on the head-the need for an audit on the implementation for the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform in the province. He called the distribution of lands as a long running problem.

And he was candid in zeroing in on the complaints of both landowners and the farmhands of landlords, on the installation of "imported" farmer-beneficiaries.

The latter is often the source of conflicts in CARPed area. The landowners, time and again, had been vocal in that they found themselves saddled with beneficiaries whom they do not even know.

And, naturally, the actual beneficiaries often find themselves shunted aside and the land distributed to claimants who had never been their co-workers and, therefore, not entitled to claim as beneficiaries.

I have been receiving notice that some beneficiaries are actually just tricycle drivers.

Before further installations of beneficiaries, perhaps, the governor should be able to convince DAR officials to allow an audit of CLOA holders to determine how many of them are still tilling the land which had been turned over to them by the government.

I am sure there will be a lot of resistance to that proposal. But it is time that the provincial government takes up the challenge of ensuring the success of the CARP through an honest-to-goodness examination of how it has been managed so far.*

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