House votes to oust JdV,
Nograles is new speaker
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Eight of 10 Negros Occidental and Oriental solons were among 174 members of the House who succeeded in unseating Jose de Venecia as speaker of House at past 12 a.m. today.

Rep. Prospero Nograles ( Davao City ) assumed the post as the new speaker on nomination of de Venecia after he was ousted by a vote of 174-35 with 16 abstentions.

The six Neg. Occ. solons who voted yes to declare the speaker's seat vacant said they backed Nograles, who has roots in Negros , to become the new Speaker of the House for the good of the province.

Eight Bacolod City officials asked the Regional Trial Court to deny the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction prayed for by the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. in the case it filed against the passage of City Ordinance 454, or the “takeover” ordinance.

Defendants Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, Councilors Al Victor Espino, Dindo and Kevin Daniel Ramos, Homer Bais, Greg Gasataya, Celia Flor and Roberto Rojas, in their answer yesterday, also asked the court to dismiss the case outright and uphold the validity of C.O. 454.

BREDCO, represented by its president Simplicio Palanca, had filed the case last month against the city, Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Sayson, Espino, Dindo and Kevin Ramos, Bais, Gasataya, Flor and Rojas.

The Office of the Solicitor General moved for the dismissal of the case filed by chief of clinics Dr. Benito Bionat of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital against Health officials including Francisco Duque.

In a motion submitted to Judge Demosthenes Magallanes of Negros Occidental Trial Court, the OSG cited that the charges against the DOH officials should be dismissed since legal remedies were not exhausted before the complaint was elevated to the court.