Reds also target Isabela vice governor

ILAGAN, Isabela — The New People’s Army (NPA) has also included former congressman and now Vice Gov. Santiago Respicio on its hit list, Gov. Faustino Dy Jr. disclosed yesterday.

Dy, who earlier admitted that the NPA has targeted him for liquidation since late last year, said Respicio earned the communist rebels’ ire for supporting what they claimed to be "anti-people" and "anti-environment" flagship projects of the provincial government.

"Even the vice governor was not spared. Both our (movements) are now being watched by the NPA," he said.

Dy’s brother, former Gov. Benjamin Dy, Cauayan Mayor Caesar Dy and Cauayan barangay league president Victor Dy, are also reportedly on the NPA hit list. Another brother, Rep. Faustino Dy III, also admitted being watched by the rebels.

Recently, Gov. Dy approved the purchase of 200 high-powered firearms to beef up the local police’s capability to deter dissident activities in the province.

One of the biggest provinces in the country, Isabela is home to at least three NPA units: the Fortunato Camus, Filomena Asuncion and Benito Tesorio commands.

The Benito Tesorio Command claimed responsibility for the killing of Mayor Jesus Sebastian Sr. of Jones town last April 21.

One of the projects the insurgents have criticized is the multimillion-peso cassava plantation and flour mill project which is now underway following the signing of a memorandum of agreement last year between the provincial government, through the Valley Planters Development Cooperative, and Eduardo Cojuangco’s San Miguel Corp.

The project, Dy said, stands to directly benefit at least 3,000 farmers in at least eight towns in the vast Mallig region where the rebels, he admitted, enjoy mass support.

But the NPA’s Fortunato Camus Command claimed that the project would displace hundreds of impoverished farmers in the Mallig region.

Aside from the cassava plantation, the NPA and local militant groups are also against the coal power plant in Cauayan City and the ongoing field trials for genetically engineered crops.