Interfaith group staging
‘bigger’ rally today
CPP SLAMS ‘RESIDENT EVIL’,
NEGROS PRIEST TO MAKE STAND
BY CARLA GOMEZ

An interfaith rally that is expected to draw a larger crowd than the 10,000 who joined a protest in Negros Occidental  on Monday will be held at the Bacolod public plaza at 3 p.m. today  to pray for the nation and to call on concerned Filipinos to rise up for change, Pastor Emilio Henares said yesterday.

“We no longer recognize the presidency of GMA (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo). Since she has no decency to resign or go down from power, we support all communal actions for her eventual removal from office,” a joint statement of the Negros Ecumenical Movement read by Henares said.

Henares of the River of Life Church was joined by representatives of Catholic, Protestant and Philippine Independent Churches at a press conference at the Bacolod Bishop’s House.

Four persons, including a minor, were arrested by law enforcers yesterday, about 24 hours after they allegedly sexually-molested their two female friends in Bacolod City Wednesday, the police said.

Ryan Quijano, 18, JR Defensor, 18, Rocky de los Santos, 18, and their 16-year-old companion, were nabbed by Police Station 1 and special tasks group members outside the Panaad Park and Stadium in Brgy. Mansilingan, Bacolod, at about 6:30 p.m. yesterday, Chief Inspector Noel Manaay said.         

Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 states that minors who violate the law cannot be detained but Manaay said they put the 16-year-old boy under custody because it was a rape case.

Having a relationship with his 18-year-old cousin cost him his life.

Alfonso Yonson, 16, whose body bore three stab wounds and signs of abrasions, was found yesterday by his family and neighbors along a creek in Sitio Madre de Cacao, Brgy. Santa Cruz, Murcia.

Senior Inspector Simone Gane, Murcia police chief, said one of three suspects who is a minor, was invited for questioning, in connection with the death of Yonson, his cousin.