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,
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
CHR’s Cañete, however, said he will recommend the filing of charges against Lourdes Baloy, Kaugmaan chairman of
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
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
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
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
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