Monday, January 05, 2009 Drunken man burns house down By George M. De La Cruz & Merlinda A. Pedrosa
THE local police in Negros Occidental reported a relatively peaceful New Year celebration except for three separate cases of stabbing and an arson case fueled by alcohol use.
The most significant crime occurred around 10:25 a.m. on December 31 when an intoxicated man burned his house down for no apparent reason, the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office (Noppo).
Suspect Gaspar Canencia, 36, a resident of Sitio Ilawod Pangpang in Barangay Napoles, Bago City, remains lodged in the Bago City police precinct on charges of arson. Damage to his property was pegged at P60,000.
Also on New Year's Eve, laborer Orlando Pajaro, 42, was stabbed to death by suspects Dennis Dorigo alias Bemboy, 32, and Ronald Mandolado alias Insong, 18, allegedly after a heated argument with the victim.
The suspects, both cousins, stabbed Pajaro after the former, who was allegedly drunk, provoked the suspects into a fight, said Police Officer (PO) 1 Marion Buenaflor.
The suspect surrendered to the Bago City police precinct.
In Bacolod City, a sidewalk vendor succumbed to stab wounds while his live-in partner is in critical condition after they were attacked by two unidentified suspects on January 1.
Chief Inspector Luisito Acebuche, chief of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) Station 1, said that at 2:45 p.m. last January 1, John Ledesma, 50, of Barangay 32, an accessories and cell phones vendor, was killed by unidentified suspects beside Pharma AA Drugstore, Central Market along Gonzaga Street.
His live-in partner also sustained stab wounds on her back and chest. The assailants fled from the crime scene after a security guard responded to cries for help.
Follow-up investigation is ongoing.
Meanwhile, the stabbing to death of a 46-year-old man last December 30 was solved in less than 24 hours after the suspect was endorsed by a barangay official to the local police in Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental.
Victim Nestor Minanga, resident of Barangay Odiong, Moises Padilla town, succumbed to a stab wound inflicted by suspect Rico Malcontento, 24.
The two allegedly figured in a heated argument after a drinking spree.
Minanga was rushed to the Elumba Clinic in nearby La Castellana town where he was pronounced dead on arrival by Dr. Enrico Elumba.
However, Malcontento voluntarily turned himself over to village councilor Agustin Belzunce of Barangay Odiong the next day, who in turn informed Inspector Arnold Mesias Jr., Moises Padilla police chief, through the 'I-Text Mo Si Chief' hotline.
