Chase for Silay City attackers on; 5 rebs fall

The ongoing chase for the 30-man NPA group, which attacked the Silay airport of international standards last Sunday, continued yesterday. But the results were minimal and did not disturb the Masskara festival celebration of Bacolod.

The reason: the pursuit was in the mountainous, upland villages of Calatrava town in northern Negros Occidental.

It may not have disturbed the lowlanders’ celebration of Masskara, but the encounter between the New People’s Army and the military triggered the evacuation of some 1,500 residents of five villages (barangays) in Calatrava town.

Calatrava Mayor Samuel Fabroz reported that two helicopters of the Philippine Army dropped bombs on areas where the suspected rebels were seen and troops cordoned the area.

As of press time, provincial police chief Rosendo Franco said the firefight was still ongoing between the 303rd Infantry Brigade led by Col. Gregorio Fajardo and the 30- to 40-man NPA team.

As I earlier had noted, most of the NPAs who participated in the Silay airport attack were reportedly minors. Troops captured five Red fighters, three of them minors, according to Superintendent Franco. Government troops also recovered three M-16 rifles, a shotgun, and a Belgian-made Fusil Automatique Leader (FAL), as well as subversive documents.

The two adults captured were Ruel Tapio and Joel Tipdas, who were turned over to the Calatrava police.

But there was another report that two others — Noel Bacordo and Dominador de la Torre — were intercepted by soldiers manning a checkpoint in Barangay Bug-ang, Toboso town.

Senior Inspector Romeo Leyte, Toboso police chief, said police seized two caliber .38 revolvers with ammunition from the duo.

But a certain George Agustin, 27, who was rushed to the Alfredo Maranon Sr. District Hospital in Barangay Bato, Sagay City, was cleared by the police of any involvement in the Calatrava clash. He reportedly had a wound in the left leg.

Troopers also seized a M-60 machinegun with an ammunition belt and a handheld radio set.

Fajardo said apparently more rebels might have been wounded as evidenced by bloodstains along their withdrawal routes.

There were no casualties on the government side, according to the official Army report.

The two minors, meanwhile, were turned over to the social welfare department.

Calatrava town also rushed relief assistance to the evacuees who, according to Fabroz, voluntarily left their homes.

Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon ordered the provincial government to rush some 100 sacks of rice, five boxes of sardines and 15 boxes of noodles and medicines to the evacuees.

But the earlier apprehension that the workers would be laid off sundered with the call by the two foreign contractors for them to resume work on the project.

The raiders destroyed some P30 million worth of equipment and facilities.

"Everything is back to normal," commented Transportation Assistant Secretary Ricardo Tan. The national government, he said, does not intend to suspend work for long.

In short, Tan said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo aims to fast-track the remaining construction work to meet the scheduled date of completion on the first and second quarters of next year.

In short, the disruption of the project, if that was the intended aim of the NPA, failed to materialize. This will ultimately lead to Negros Occidental’s transformation from purely agricultural to an upbeat commercial and industrial economy, pointed out Silay City Mayor Carlo Gamban.

But that attack stirred a hornet’s nest. The military dispatched a company of the elite Special Forces to Negros Island to help track down the rebel raiders.

Biofuel passage hailed, boosts sugar prices

If there is an off-repeated phenomenon in Negros Occidental, it is the clamor from sugar farmers when sugar prices dip. The outcry for assistance to boost the millgate prices of raw sugar usually happens every year.

Well, despite last week’s alarums from the Philippine Sugar Alliance, sugar prices swung up from P985 per KLG last week to P1,010 Thursday at the Hawaiian Philippines Co. in Silay City.

At Victorias, the millgate price rose to P1,001.25. The Binalbagan Isabela Sugar Company sold its sugar as P996.88.

Sugar Administrator James Ledesma said the drop last week may have been caused by the perception that there was an oversupply of sugar. This could not happen with the milling season just starting. But as pointed out by Ledesma, it is governed by perceptions.

But the passage by the Senate of the biofuel bill Wednesday may stabilize the sugar industry and do away with the fluctuating prices of sugar.

Ethanol production will provide an alternative product for sugarcane. In short, sugarcane is no longer considered now as a purely food product but also an energy source. Thus, the transition from sugar industry to sugarcane industry.

The passage of the biofuel bill, said Marañon, assures investors in ethanol that their produce will be used as a gasoline blend.

Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation, said the passage of the biofuel bill "will make Negros boom again."

"That also gives assurance that it will good for the sugar industry because it will provide a bigger market for sugarcane," said Bernardo Trebol, director of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Inc. (Confed).

The first ethanol distillery in Negros Occidental, the San Carlos bioethanol plant, will start operating early next year. The Land Bank announced recently that it has given the San Carlos project P400 million.

It is expected that with the approval of the bill, investors who have been waiting on the sidelines for the passage of the bill, will now push through with their plans to generate ethanol and engage in co-generation of power.

There are also investors in jatropha (kasla), which can be used in the manufacture of oil for mixing with diesel into biodiesel.

Six cops, 10 others rapped for murder

The most startling development insofar as Bacolod and Iloilo are concerned was the decision of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ordering the Oriental Negros provincial prosecutor to file an amended information for kidnapping with murder against six policemen, a Bacolod businessman and nine others for the death of a former barangay captain and two others in August 2003.

Two of the six policemen are Bacolod precinct commanders.

The case involved the killing of former Barangay Pahanocoy captain Eleuterio Salabas, Maximo Lomillio and Ricardo Suganob. The bodies of the two companions of Salabas, which bore signs of torture, were dumped in Bago City and Pulupandan.

Salabas’ decomposing body was found floating in the waters between Ajuy, Iloilo and Manapla, Negros Occidental.

Gonzales ordered the Oriental Negros prosecutor to file the amended information against Inspector Clarence Dongali, SPO2 Freddie Natividad, Chief Inspector Jimmy Fortaleza, PO1 Bernardo Cimatu, PO2 Allen Winston Hulleza, Senior Inspector Jonathan Lorilla, businessman Manolo Escalante, Ronnie Herrera, Julu Flores, Carlo de los Santos, Lorraine Abay, Mamerto Elma and Elson, both surnamed Canet, and Judge Montilla.

Lorilla is Bacolod Precinct 7 chief, and Fortaleza heads Precinct 1.

Western Visayas regional police director Geary Barias said Dongali serves as liaison with the PNP directorial staff at Camp Crame and is no longer assigned to the region.

Gonzalez gave Oriental Negros provincial prosecutor Diosdado Hermosa 10 days from receipt of his order to file the amended case with the court. But Hermosa said he has not yet received a copy of the order.

Thus, the most celebrated case that has rocked Bacolod for sometime will again be the principal news of the year when Hermosa files the amended information with the Guihulngan (Negros Oriental) Regional Trial Court Branch 64.