Magsie springs rabbit

As earlier predicted, Pulupandan Mayor Magdaleno Peña Wednesday pulled a rabbit from his pocket and immediately eased to a certain extent the tensions in Pulupandan town.

It was the simple promise to broker with four of his followers the withdrawal of charges against most of the 187 residents accused of grave threats. Magsie, however, said he was not going to broker for the release of 25 "hard core" opposition-supporters of defeated mayoralty bet Samson Mondia.

Even provincial PNP director Rosendo Franco called Wednesday's meeting with Peña and Governor Joseph Maranon's legal brains Jose Ma. Valencia as "positive."

In short, if Peña succeeds in soliciting the cooperation of his supporters to withdrawing the charges against the rest of the 187 residents, he will have succeeded in reducing the headache of the local police in accommodating the remaining 25.

While he has been painted as a vengeful individual, Peña has succeeded in turning the tables on his accusers by that simple gesture of offering to broker the dropping of the charges against the majority of the accused.

He also clarified the claim that it was Elda Mondia, spouse of Samson, that was responsible for the surrender of the 45 who were booked by the police Sunday. The police, he claimed, arrested only three of the accused but Elda surrendered the rest Saturday after the court said she would be cited for contempt if she would not do so.

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Governor Joseph Marañon has been smarting for sometime since DAR Secretary Nasser Pangandaman virtually brushed aside the local official when he installed agrarian reform beneficiaries in Hda. Velez-Malaga despite an earlier promise to discuss the matter with Marañon.

Marañon finally saw a major breakthrough. The manifesto by executives and MAROs charging that Pangandaman and key DAR officials had used department funds for Task Force Mapalad to the prejudice of the agency's employees and officials.

The provincial executive is asking the President and the Department of Justice to immediately initiate an investigation into the complaint mentioned by the DAR executives and employees in their open manifesto.

It may be recalled that the local government executives of Negros Occidental had passed a resolution asking for consultation with local government officials by DAR before undertaking explosive action.

The position paper of the DAR executives and the United MAROs slammed the allegedly unwarranted pampering of TFM members who compose only a small percentage of farmer beneficiaries in the province.

The manifesto also called for the ouster of Undersecretary Narciso Nieto and other DAR officials affiliated with TFM.

The manifesto accused Pangandaman and Nieto as well as other DAR officials of relying so much on the advice of TFM members over the decisions of DAR officials. This reportedly amounts to a mockery of their dignity and credibility, they said.

Marañon is expected to bring the issue to the attention of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when she comes here on July 13 for the Silay airport and the Go Negosyo campaign.

Presidential Assistant for Western Visayas Lito Coscolluela also dubbed as making of him as a scapegoat and not solving the problem the reassignment by Pangandaman of Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Stephen Leonidas.

Meanwhile, his replacement, Teresita Depeñosa assumed her post Wednesday but found herself under the withering gaze of DAR local personnel but attributed it to their normal feeling of missing Leonidas.

In her address to DAR employees, Depeñosa said she considers her new assignment as "an adventure, not a challenge."

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Well, for one thing, it is a fact that the present Bacolod airport may have to remain in service until the time that the kinks with the new one in Silay City shall have become operational and the access roads and other problems ironed out.

That is why, for the moment, the proposal for it to continue as ancillary to the Silay airport is a given, although the long-time proposal for such an alternative airport remains subject to further scrutiny and evaluation.

It sounds silly to have the present airport continue as such with smaller aircrafts as pointed out by Mayor Evelio Leonardia. The question -- what type of large aircraft will be using the airport in Silay City? Very unlikely that really bigger aircraft will be using that airport there pending the advent of truly international products.*

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