Man ‘salvaged' in Ilog

The body of a man with two stab wounds, and believed to be a salvage victim, was discovered Tuesday in Brgy. Galicia , Ilog, police said yesterday.

Senior Inspector Gabriel Gutierrez, Ilog police chief, said the body of the victim who was wearing short maong pants and a brown T-shirt, and found in a sugarcane field in Sitio Kanito, Brgy. Galicia , Ilog, is still unidentified.

Gutierrez described the victim as medium in build, of brown complexion, about 4 feet and 10 inches tall, and about 32 years old.

Recovered from him were a cell phone SIM card and personal belongings.

Gutierrez said he was a stranger in the barangay.

Meanwhile, the two suspects in the death of Rodolfo Gemora, 73, a retired teacher, in Brgy. Poblacion, Ilog Sunday, have already been identified by the police.

The neck of Gemora was almost cut off where it was hacked by one of the suspects whose identities are being withheld by the Ilog police, pending the filing of charges against them.

Gutierez said he suspects that Gemora, who owned a two-hectare farm, was disarmed of his .38 caliber revolver by the perpetrators, who used it in shooting him.

Not contented with shooting him, the suspects also hacked Gemora in the neck, the police said.*GPB

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Holiday truce set

Good news for soldiers assigned in Negros .

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday approved a 21-day holiday truce, as recommended by the military, in the spirit of Christmas season.

The uninterrupted SOMO (suspension of military operations) will take effect midnight of Dec. 16 and end midnight of January 6, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.

Brig. Gen. Gregorio Fajardo, assistant 3 rd Infantry Division commander, however, said they have not received guidelines from the AFP on the yuletide truce as of last night.

The AFP observed a four-day yuletide truce on Dec. 24 and 25 and Dec. 31 to Jan. 1 in 2005 and 2006.

The military claimed that the number of NPA guerillas has been on a steady decline in the past several years.

Military records show the number of NPA fighters reduced to more than 6,000 nationwide, compared to previous years, and the guerilla fronts reduced to 15.

Formal peace negotiations between the government and the communists bogged down in 2004 when the National Democratic Front negotiators withdrew from the talks after the United States classified the NPA and the Communist Party of the Philippines as foreign terrorist organizations

President Arroyo has directed the military and the police to end the insurgency problem before her term ends in 2010, which Maj. Gen. Jovenal Narcise, 3 rd ID commanding general, said is “attainable” in Western and Central Visayas .

The AFP s deploying two battalions of soldiers and militiamen to dismantle eight NPA guerilla fronts in two Visayas regions.

Negros island has four NPA guerilla fronts supposed to be dismantled by the 303 rd Infantry Brigade before 2010 ends.*GPB

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2 injured in stabbing,
shooting, police say

Two persons were injured in stabbing and shooting incidents in Bacolod City yesterday, the police said.

Gino Lamprea, 21, of Purok Gugma, Brgy. 10, in Bacolod, was brought to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital with a stab wound on his hip allegedly inflicted by his neighbor, Remy Serquillos, 41, at about 12:10 a.m. yesterday.

PO2 Celito Dullan said Serquillos attacked Lamprea on suspicion that he stole his chicken, at the corner of Gatuslao-Burgos streets, in the city.

The victim is now stable at the hospital, he added.

Serquillos was later arrested by Police Station 1 officers led by Dullan and PO2 Abelardo Berlin in his house.

Meanwhile, Oliver Celis, 28, of Purok Pilit 2, Brgy. 6, in the city, was also brought to CLMMRH after he was allegedly shot on the back by a police officer identified only as “Sir Jam” in Purok Pilit 2, at about 1:45 a.m. yesterday, police reports said.

The suspect is allegedly a member of the Negros Occidental Police Office detailed in Pulupandan town, but the station denied that one of their members was involved in the incident.

SPO1 Hermilo Jalandoni of Police Station 2 said the police officer shot Celis, who was under the influence of intoxicating liquor according to a witness, when the victim tried to attack him after he was pacified for being unruly during a wake in the area.

The officer fired a warning shot and later shot Celis when he showed a butcher's knife, Jalandoni said.

The weapon was later recovered in the area, police records showed.

Jalandoni said they are now contacting the family and colleagues of the law enforcer for him to surrender.*PP

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