Isabela government to buy 150 more firearms

ILAGAN, Isabela — The provincial government has approved the purchase of 150 more firearms to beef up its present arsenal following Gov. Faustino Dy Jr.’s declaration of all-out war against communist rebels whom he accused of destabilizing the economic growth of this vast province.

Earlier, the Philippine National Police had approved Dy’s proposal to purchase 50 M-16 Armalite rifles for the province’s anti-insurgency campaign.

Dy clarified though that the firearms are not for local officials but for the local police force "to improve their capability to deter persistent dissident activities."

Dy said it is becoming imperative for local government units to help their police "to meet the challenges" posed by New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who, he admitted, were better armed than law enforcers.

"The strong presence of insurgent groups in the province and their overt determination to undermine the flagship projects of the provincial government necessitates the purchase of firearms." Dy said.

The acquisition of firearms, he said, was triggered by NPA threats to sabotage the implementation of the multimillion-peso cassava plantation and other local flagship projects, and continued harassment of local officials supporting these projects.

In a series of statements, the NPA’s Fortunato Camus Command, led by Victor Servidores, claimed that these projects are "anti-poor and anti-environment."

The proposed 100,000-hectare cassava plantation and flour mill, the rebel group said, would displace hundreds of impoverished farming families in the province’s Mallig region.

Last year, the provincial government entered into an agreement with Eduardo Cojuangco’s San Miguel Corp. for the conversion of at least 100,000 hectares of idle lands here into a cassava plantation.

The project, Dy said, will directly benefit at least 3,000 families whose major sources of livelihood at present are small-scale rice and corn farming.

This, aside from the more than 50,000 jobs the project will generate, the governor said. But the NPA alleged that the venture only allows the Dys and Cojuangco to grab hundreds of hectares of farmlands from poor farmers.

Aside from the cassava plantation, the rebels are also opposing field trials for genetically engineered crops, a coal-mining project in Cauayan City and other projects which Dy said are crucial to the further development of this major rice-producing province.

The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas has denounced the firearms purchase, claiming that Dy would use them to "quell and squash legitimate opposition of the people" to the cassava farm project.

Because of the controversial projects, the NPA has placed Dy and his brothers, former governor Benjamin Dy, Cauayan Mayor Caesar Dy and Cauayan barangay league president Victor Dy, in its hit list.

Recently, third district Rep. Faustino Dy III admitted that the NPA is also "watching" him for supporting his governor-brother’s projects.

The move to acquire more firearms was also triggered by the April 22 killing of Mayor Jesus Sebastian of Jones town by the NPA’s Benito Tesorio Command. The slain mayor was a known political ally of the Dys. — With Benjie Villa