Gov. Joseph Marañon yesterday signed a resolution of the five governors of Western Visayas urging President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to order an investigation of high government officials, the Department of Interior and Local Government and Philippine National Police personnel who were involved in the Iloilo provincial capitol siege on Jan. 17.

Marañon said the resolution he signed yesterday was sent to him by Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez, chairperson of the Regional Development Council of Western Visayas.

The resolution of the governors will be sent to the president through Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado, president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines.

The resolution said Western Visayas is a place where peaceful and freedom-loving people live, but this was shattered by the Jan. 17 siege on the Iloilo Capitol purportedly in the implementation of an order of the Ombudsman to evict Gov. Niel Tupas.

The resolution said force that unnecessarily breached orderly government functions in the Capitol building was applied for the purpose of serving the order of the Ombudsman by the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. It was done "in a manner short of rampage and tumult by the very enforcers who are agents of the law, despite the plea of the governors for a little time for sobriety and negotiations to take its course, if only to avert violence or even bloodshed," the resolution said.

This has significantly eroded the trust and confidence of the governors for Regional Director Evelyn Trompeta of the DILG, Dulay and the men in uniform of the PNP and CIDG involved in the mayhem, the resolution added.

We now strongly believe that those involved in the Iloilo Capitol siege, specifically the PNP officers and men, if given reassignments shall no longer be acceptable in our provinces, the resolution of the governors said.

Perez yesterday said JC Rahman Nava (Guimaras), Carlito Marquez (Aklan), Vicente Bermejo (Capiz) have also agreed to sign the resolution.

Marañon yesterday said he did not agree to a resolution calling for immediate resignations.

"I am asking that an investigation be conducted first to serve due process and for proper sanctions to be taken against those found guilty of the use of excessive force at the Iloilo Capitol," he reiterated.* CPG

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