JUANITA Veloso, 77, a former municipal administrator and sister of San Isidro Mayor Remedio Veloso, was gunned down last December along the national highway in Barangay Libongao, Kananga, Leyte.
It was three days before Christmas, 2022. The group was on their way home to Villaba, Leyte from Ormoc City on board a pickup truck. Veloso's companions were unharmed.
Swift and thorough investigation by the provincial police led to the timely solution to the crime.
The Leyte Provincial Police Office filed murder and attempted murder cases against the suspects identified by the Special Investigation Task Group (STIG) JB Veloso as James Damayo and Archie Cosinillo of Tabango and two “John Does.”
Col. Edwin Balles, Leyte police chief, said the charges were filed before the Leyte provincial prosecutor on January 18.
Balles commended the SITG JB Veloso and the Criminal Investigation Team for identifying the suspects.
We thank and salute the Leyte police for a job well done.
Senator Tolentino on friendship, sovereignty
Senator Francis ‘Tol’ N. Tolentino threw his all-out support on the latest development in the defense and security cooperation between the Philippines and the United States.
“I am in favor of defense/security cooperation ‘upgrades’ with reliable allies like the United States, considering the evolving regional conditions and challenges, so long as this is anchored on solid constitutional foundations and for the greater interests of the nation and EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) is evidently a good model,” Tolentino, vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security said in a statement.
Tolentino who is also a senior vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations made the remarks following the joint announcement made by Manila and Washington on Thursday over plans to accelerate the full implementation of EDCA, with the agreement to designate four new Agreed Locations in strategic areas of the Philippines and the substantial completion of the projects in the existing five Agreed Locations.
According to Tolentino, “friendship and sovereignty” must be the key pillars in laying down the parameters for this new partnership between the two Pacific-ally nations.
Last January, Tolentino proposed the conduct of a multilateral show of maritime security cooperation with the United States and other neighboring countries which belong to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.