Father-son tiff worsens

A month before he is expected to go up against incumbent Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron in a recall election, former Mayor Edward Hagedorn has been charged with graft by the former’s supporters.

The graft case against Hagedorn is a desperate move on the part of Bayron and his camp because they know the voters will back the former mayor.

The majority of the city’s voters signed a petition for a recall election—set for May 8—after business in the city suffered a slump.

Under Bayron, tourist arrivals have gone down considerably in Puerto Princesa where the main industry is tourism.

If Hagedorn really committed graft during his term, why didn’t Bayron file a case against his predecessor in the early days of his administration?

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The feud between construction tycoon Reghis Romero and his son, Michael “Mikee” Romero, is getting worse as Mikee is allegedly selling the shares of stocks of his father’s Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. (HCPTI).

This has prompted Reghis to come out with a public notice that the shares of HCPTI and his other companies are not for sale.

HCPTI’s sister companies include R-II Holdings Inc., R-II Builders Inc., Philippine Ecology Systems Corp. and R-II Builders Group of Companies.

Mikee, the president and CEO of HCPTI, has been telling friends that his father has been gambling heavily, forcing him to take over the company to prevent it from going bankrupt.

But Reghis’ friends have come to his defense, saying that gambling is not one of his vices. They also described Mikee as an ungrateful son.

Reghis’ friends also claim that Mikee has hired a PR agency to discredit a Court of Appeals justice who had ruled in his father’s favor in the battle for control over HCPTI.

The justice was allegedly offered P25 million to hand HCPTI over to Mikee but he refused.

After failing to bribe the justice, there is now a campaign to smear his reputation, Reghis’ friends add.

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You think only civilians are victims of police abuse?

SPO2 Paul Edward Russel of the Logistics Support Service in Camp Crame is accusing PO3 Romulo Tarnate, a member of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, of killing his lovebirds in a quarrel between neighbors.

Both Russel and Tarnate live close to each other at Heroesville Subdivision in Barangay Gaya-Gaya, City of San Jose del Monte in Bulacan province.

The quarrel started when Russel took his four dogs out for a walk in his yard. One of his dogs,  a nine-month-old puppy, was then attacked by Tarnate’s dog.

To prevent Tarnate’s dog, which has bitten several neighbors, from inflicting further harm on his puppy, Russel said he kicked the aggressive animal.

In turn, Tarnate’s dog, Russel added, bit him in the leg.

Russel showed me the bite wounds on his leg for which, he said, he had an antirabies injection at his own expense.

One of his dogs, a pit bull, came to his defense and grabbed Tarnate’s dog by the neck, causing its death.

Mariza Ignacio, Tarnate’s alleged common-law wife, confronted him and pelted him with stones for the dog’s death.

Clearly, Tarnate’s dog was the aggressor because it attacked his puppy and bit him in his own yard, according to Russel, who is also a Protestant pastor and a member of Values Formation and Spiritual Transformation at Camp Crame.

Russel also outranks Tarnate by two grades but his higher rank didn’t prevent the latter from barging into his home whenever he was not around.

Tarnate, who was reportedly drunk at the time, allegedly smashed the cages of Russel’s lovebirds with his handgun, frightening the birds and causing their deaths.

Tarnate also allegedly fired shots into the air after leaving Russel’s house.