STL thrives in Antique despite bipartisan opposition

Antique has been rocked by the reported continued illegal operation of the Small Town Lottery (STL), which the Antique Sangguniang Panlalawigan and the governor had opposed.

Despite the fact that the SP had exposed the illegal operation of STL in the province a month ago, there have been no apprehensions so far and the common perception is that it is still ongoing.

Only the STL in Iloilo City has won the franchise to operate the legal game through the Iloilo Small Town Lottery Gaming Corp.

Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez said she already called the attention of Antique provincial police officer-in-charge Superintendent Ranulfo Demilar to the continued operation of STL and the towns where they were reportedly operating.

I do not want illegal gambling in Antique, said Perez. She also reiterated her call for the police to arrest the STL operators and their minions.

Vice Gov. Rhodora Cadiao stressed that the SP has not approved any application for any STL franchise. She pointed out that the Church, students and various organizations in the province have been vigorously opposing the STL.

Last Jan. 11, the SP passed a resolution calling the Antique Provincial Police Office to crack down on STL and other illegal gambling activities in the province.

The municipalities where STL is reportedly being played clandestinely, sometimes, even in moving vehicles, are Sibalom and the capital town of San Jose.

Well, when the cat closed its eyes, the mice will always play, as the saying goes. In short, the police must stand up and be counted.

Why the delay in Gardoce slay case probe?

Last week, I wrote how the widow of the late Tapaz Vice Mayor Victor Gardoce opted to run for mayors reportedly because her dead husband’s ghost appeared to her.

The question bugging residents of Tapaz though is what is holding the investigation into her husband’s killing and that of Caridad Barangay Captain Leonardo Gemino and bodyguard Antonio Gequillo, who were killed last Dec. 30 in Barangay Taft, Tapaz town.

The Police Regional Office 6 created Task Force Gardoce to probe the shooting.

Last week, they reported that one of the suspected triggermen, Noel Fuentesfina, a driver of Sangguniang Panlalawigan Ronaldo Exmundo, was taken into custody. Exmundo is reportedly the cousin of Tapaz Mayor Romualdo Exmundo and has been endorsed by the town executive as candidate for mayor in the May polls.

Senior Superintendent Reynaldo Rafal said several witnesses had confirmed Fuentestina’s presence at the crime scene.

But media reports identified another possible suspect, an escapee of the Capiz Rehabilitation Center, identified only as Manuel “Boy” Bianeza.

Fuentesfina, however, vigorously denied any participation in the killing. Gardoce has announced earlier that day, Dec. 30 that he was running for mayor.

Fuentesfina was arrested Jan. 5 at the compound of Exmundo. The arrest was, however, for a different case. He has a standing warrant of arrest for murder and frustrated murder in Lambunao, Iloilo. He was flown later on Jan. 8 to Camp Crame in Manila where Philippine National Police (PNP) director Gen. Oscar Calderon presented him to the press.

The question is with these developments, how come there was no progress in the investigation of the case? Mayor Exmundo has asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) here to investigate the case.

The case must be resolved before tensions break out into something more serious in Tapaz, although Mrs. Gardoce may not be the one who will lose her head over a simple matter as revenge. Political followers can take up the cudgels for her. > A political contest usually generates a lot of beat, but usually the worst of its kind. In the case of Bacolod City, the steam boiled with the filing of a complaint with the Ombudsman by former chief inspector Victor Eduardo against City Mayor Evelio Leonardia and 15 others before the Visayas Ombudsman in Cebu City.

Eduardo denied that he was spurred by a political organization or group to file a suit against Leonardia, et al.

The case involved primarily the contract between the city government and Hilmarc’s Corp., the winning solo bidder of the contract for the government center.

Former Councilor Archie Baribar is Eduardo’s legal counsel.

Although Leonardia has pointed to “ill motives” as behind the opposition to the government center construction project, city legal officer Allan Amora has zeroed in on Rep. Monico Puentevella as the main culprit.

Yesterday morning, Zamora, on his own, said Puentevella has a lot of issues to answer to the people of Bacolod, including the alleged fertilizer scam involving Rotary member and former agriculture undersecretary Jocjoc Bolante, the improvement of the Paglaum Sports Complex, which remains unliquidated, the Southeast Asian Games’ (Basoc) unliquidated expenses and some still unsettled accounts, and a host of other anomalies such as the distribution of P400,000 worth of computers to several schools in the city.

Zamora said News, as he is better known among Bacolodnons, should first answer these questions before he hurls charges against Leonardia and company.

Saturday, I chanced upon former mayor Joy Valdez and several of her ticket at the Pendy’s restaurant. Valdez, who is running for mayor against Leonardia, confirmed that she has picked on party mate Rep. Puentevella as her group’s candidate for re-election.

Leondardia has reportedly chosen Vice Mayor Renecito Noero as his congressional tandem.

During that chance encounter with Valdez, the latter gave me permission to interview her selected party vice mayoralty mate Councilor Elmer Siy and Councilor Dr. Reynold Iledan on their position regarding the government center issue.

Both have stressed that they are unfazed by the series of investigations and charges filed against city officials, including members of the SP, “because we just did not want to get involved in something we suspected as not right.

Iledan, Siy and Councilor Catalino Alisbo have distanced themselves from the vote of the majority on the government center.

Anyway, Siy pointed out to me that there was something inherently wrong from the very start with deed of donation by the Gonzaga family of five hectares of their prime land in Villa Angela.

The family discovered that the title was missing. Since it was still early last year that they discovered it missing, why did they not ask for the court to reconstitute the title? Instead, what was given in the deed of donation to the city was the physical description of the property and a photocopy, pointed out Siy.

And he brought out many more issues. The most serious was the intent of the city government to borrow P15 million from the PNB and other private banks to be used as mobilization fund to pay Hilmarc.

“Something is fishy here. The LBP, which is a government bank, refuses to release the mobilization fund, so why should a private bank pick up the controversial loan? And how much will that cost in terms of additional interests?” Dr. Iledan and Siy asked.

Well, there are usually a lot of sides to any political issue. But the courts must be able to shed light into the issue soon. Unfortunately, that may be after the elections.