Another rebel returnee
shot dead in Escalante
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

Suspected hitmen of the New People's Army Jean Pelle Command struck again yesterday killing a rebel returnee-turned-militiaman, who used to work with Vice Mayor Santiago Barcelona, at a public market in Brgy. Balintawak, Escalante City , police said.

Added to the list of victims of violence in Escalante City since the May election last year was Jury Alzado Sr.

Alzado, 55, sustained multiple gunshot wounds at the back of his head and waist, and died on the spot, initial police investigations showed.

Neg. Occ. crime rate drops 8%
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

Incidents of murder may have increased by 25 percent, but the total crime volume in Negros Occidental last year decreased by almost eight percent, compared to 2006, police records show.

The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office recorded 80 murder cases in 2007, compared to 50 in 2006, of which prominent were the lingering agrarian reform-related violence, especially in the controversial Hacienda Malaga-Velez property in La Castellana, ambush-slay of a barangay kagawad in Escalante City , and the failed ambush of Pulupandan Mayor Magdaleno Peña.

Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, provincial police director, however, said he has already ordered all police chiefs to exert extra efforts to solve other cases in their areas that totaled 20 last year.

Sir Edmund inspired
RP climbers, too
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition 2006 and 2007 team has sent its condolences to the family of New Zealand 's Sir Edmund Hillary, who along with Nepal 's Tenzing Norgay Sherpa became the first to conquer Mount Everest .

Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper who shot to global fame in 1953 as the first person to climb to the top of the world's tallest mountain, died Friday at age 88.

Negrense Art Alvarez, Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition leader, said in their letter of condolence “Our country's successful quests to climb Mt. Everest were inspired by the pioneering exploits of Sir Edmund.”