Showdown vs NPA, Karapatan in Guihulngan

For the past week, a showdown has been building up between the CPP-NPA and Karapatan in Guihulngan in Oriental Negros with the village folk of Linantuyan, Trinidad and T. Hill, all barangays of that city.

The funny thing is that Karapatan has been dishing out charges against the military for allegedly harassing the militant organization. And the Army has been on the receiving end of a propaganda war hitting them for instigating the barrio folk.

The ironic thing is that the Commission on Human Rights in the province has already served a subpoena to one of the respondents of Karapatan to answer the preliminary investigation into the charge against her for allegedly extorting money from several Linantuyan farmers.

And the CHR head, Jess Cañete, was also charged by militant groups of being biased toward the female head of Karapatan and for acting as spokesman of the 11th Infantry Battalion.

The villagers unfurled streamers and placards decrying the alleged NPA revolutionary tax collections, summary killings, forced recruitment and other forms of harassment. They also denounced Karapatan’s alleged black propaganda against the government and the military.

Lt. Col. Francisco Gacal, 11th IB chief, claimed that Linantuyan barangay chief Elpidio Villar recounted the ordeals that the local residents had endured in the hands of the NPA. This included last week’s indiscriminate firing of grenades at the barangay proper. This, after their foiled ambush of 10 civilians in Barangay Mani-ak.

The civilians were reportedly on their way home from Dumaguete City when they were fired upon by a group of ambushers. But the three soldiers escorting them managed to fight them off.

CHR’s Cañete, however, said he will recommend the filing of charges against Lourdes Baloy, Kaugmaan chairman of Guihulngan City, who allegedly refused to receive a copy of the CHR subpoena to a hearing of residents’ complaints that she was collecting revolutionary taxes from them.

Baloy reportedly denied the charges against her but refused to sign the subpoena. This prompted Cañete to annotate the document and state that he had no recourse but to recommend the filing of charges against Baloy.

Cañete had earlier described as “baseless and untrue” the complaints filed by the Alliance for the Advancement of People’s or Karapatan-Central Visayas against the Philippine Army in Guihulngan for alleged arson, rape, grave coercion and other human rights abuses.

Linantuyan residents indicated their willingness to file complaints against Baloy for alleged grave coercion and extortion for demanding goods from them for the rebel movement.

Baloy claimed during the forum that six farmers had allegedly signed affidavits of desistance. The farmers though later debunked this.

Karapatan condemned the continuing harassment of its members staying in Baloy’s house and claimed that the deployment of soldiers several meters away has put their lives at risk.

This is the first time that residents themselves have taken the cudgels to rid their barangays of what they described as illegals. They have already barred Karapatan members and their allies from entering their villages.

That is something unprecedented. And it bears watching. It is an uprising by the residents.

Two hydro plants eyed in Negros Occidental

The P1-billion mini-hydro plant in Villasiga, Antique may have given impetus to the trend for mini-hydro plant projects in Negros Occidental.

That project of Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez may not have been the first of its kind, but it prodded Negros officials to develop alternative and sustainable energy sources like the Malogo River in Silay City and Sicaba in Cadiz City.

This time, the same group that handled the Antique mini-hydro plant – Sunwest Water and Electric Co. – is eying two areas for a possible project.

CEO Robert Uy and president Jose Silvestre Natividad of Sunwest met Tuesday with Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco and Silay City Mayor Jose (Oti) Montelibano to discuss their plans for the two projects.

Zayco disclosed that Alto Power Management Corp. vice president Joseph Nocos signed on June 5 a memorandum of understanding with the province to conduct a study on the technical and economic feasibility of a hydro-electric power plant along the upper Bago River in Bago City. This will reportedly produce 75 megawatts of electricity.

ADDENDUM. Last Saturday, the Eduardo Cojuangco Foundation and the University of St. La Salle launched a master’s degree program for 120 members of the Negros Occidental police. Projects COPs, according to Cojuangco, will enhance the leadership capacity of police officers and ensure that there is a large pool of PNP members that will meet the growing leadership challenges in the organization. The pilot batch of 120 police officers will enroll in the Master of Public Management and specialize in national security and law enforcement. Regional police chief Isagani Cuevas called the Cojuangco project a “welcome morale booster... something we cannot take for granted.”