Students at the Nueva Vizcaya State University view an exhibit by Amnesty International showing the inequalities being suffered by the indigenous peoples during the observance (August 10) of the International day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. Floro Taguinod

By CHARLIE C. LAGASCA BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – The Aquino administration has around 5,000 New People’s Army (NPA) fighters remaining to contend with in its efforts to finally find lasting peace and a solution to the four-decade-old communist insurgency. According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) based at Camp Aquino, Tarlac City, the strength of the communist combatants has been decimated by almost half, from 9,260 in 2002 to 4,642 as of the first quarter of 2010. Likewise, Major Rosendo Armas, head of the Nolcom’s 1st civil-relations group, claimed that communist-influenced villages also dwindled to 1,017 or 2.4 percent of the country’s 42,025 barangays from 2,395 eight years ago or a year after President Arroyo took the helm of the government. However, despite the communists’ weakened strength and influence, the Nolcom, in adherence to the call of the new administration, said it is still open to peace talks with the insurgents as a l

By CHARLIE C. LAGASCA BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya - A US power firm, which owns and operates the Casecnan multipurpose irrigation and power facility, has donated earlier this week financial assistance to augment the province’s calamity fund. The provincial government yesterday said that the P6-million fund assistance given by the California Energy (CE), through its local subsidiary, the Casecnan Water and Energy Company, Inc. (CECWECI), will be intended for victims from previous typhoons and other calamities. According to CE-CECWECI president Joseph Lee Sullivan, who handed the amount in check to Gov. Luisa Cuaresma in Monday’s brief rites, which were also witnessed by other local officials led by Vice Gov. Jose Gambito, such a gesture was part of their firm’s social corporate responsibility to needy communities, especially to where their firm operates. “(Ours is not only about) irrigation and power generation. (Providing assistance to needy communities) is one of our commitments and

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Eight of the 21 elementary pupils in Santiago City who underwent a swab test for possible infection of the AH1N1 virus were found to be positive of said illness. Reports said that as a result, the city government and the Department of Education had already ordered the indefinite suspension of classes at the Santiago City West Central School where the AH1N1 patients came from to prevent the further spread of said virus to other pupils. The infected public elementary students, it was learned, were a grade 1 and seven grade 4 pupils. They were among the 21 elementary pupils who were hospitalized two weeks ago at the Southern Isabela General Hospital after exhibiting symptoms of the virus. According to the city health office, they are now closely monitoring the condition of the eight pupils for their immediate recovery. The Department of Health (DOH), meanwhile, said that they have already provided the city health office with vaccines to counter the possible

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Sixty-five villages throughout the archipelago or less than a percent of the country’s 42,025 barangays, including those in strife-torn Mindanao areas have yet to be energized, the Department of Energy (DOE) said. Norman Martirez, DOE senior research specialist, said that besides budgetary constraints, the electrification of the remaining unenergized villages, 39 percent of which are in Mindanao, has been hampered by rough terrain, as well as peace and order problems. Likewise, Martirez, in line with the government’s rural electrification program, said that the energy sector is targeting at least 90 percent enegization of household in the country by 2017. The DOE said that of the still unenergized areas, 25 barangays are located in Mindanao , most of which are those having problems with peace and order or caught in conflicts between the government and Muslim separatists and communist rebels as well as common bandits. On the other hand, the 37 and three r

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – The number of children suffering from anemia or iron deficiency in Cagayan Valley is higher by 16 percent than the national rate, according to the latest survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI). Citing the said report, Rhodora Maestre, nutrition council director for Cagayan Valley, said that of those surveyed in the region, children aged five to six years old were found to be the most suffering anemia, even surpassing the national rate. On the average, the report shows that for every five children in the region, two are suffering from anemia, a condition in which one has poor level of red blood cells, which provide oxygen to body tissues, that, if not treated during the early stages, may lead to serious health problems such as leukemia or cancer of the blood. Likewise, 60 and 58 percent of pregnant and lactating women, respectively, in the region were also found to be lacking in iron in the body, which, if not treated during th

By CHARLIE C. LAGASCA BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – The Army is bracing for possible attacks by the traditionally Maoist New People’s Army (NPA) on several communication facilities in Cagayan Valley , among them a major facility of a multi-national telecommunication company. “We are not taking chances here as well as in other vital facilities in our areas. (The rebels) would resort to these actions just to make their dwindling presence felt under the new administration,” said Colonel Loreto Magundayao, chief of the civil-military relations battalion of the Isabela-based Army’s 5th Infantry Division (ID). The Army said that it has already deployed a number of its men as augmentation security force for the Globe facility in Barangay Bansing here, reportedly one of the targets of the NPA attacks to make its presence felt under the Aquino administration. Once the NPA succeed in sabotaging said facility, Magundayao said that communication links among Globe subscribers here, in Quirino and

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya–The family of a slain Kalinga-based journalist is seeking police protection amid reports that some of them were receiving threats following their patriarch’s murder. Chief Inspector Glen Ganpac, police chief of Kalinga’s Tabuk City capital, said that family members of the late Jose Daguio, especially his son Joey, have been seeking assistance for security in the wake of threats they have been receiving following Daguio’s slay. “In fact, (Daguio’s) family has already left their place due to threats. His son Joey is now in our custody for his safety,” the police said. Daguio, 75, the first journalist killed under the Aquino regime, was a former broadcaster of dzRK Radyo Natin-Kalinga. He was a member of the Kalinga Media Board at the time of his slay. Joey reportedly saw the gunman of his father, who was shot on the chest at close range with a shotgun inside their house in Tabuk’s Barangay Tuga on the evening of July 3. Over the week, the body of Daguio’s al

By CHARLIE C. LAGASCA TUGUEGARAO CITY – Village folk in Peñablanca town here have been tapped to act as guardians of the remaining forest cover in said Cagayan’s southeastern town, which also is host to the famed seven-chambered Callao caves. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) yesterday said that it awarded tracts of land within the Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape (PPLS) to members of the Bugatay Upland Farmers Multipurpose Coop. to ensure its continued protection from the entry of timber poachers and other environmentally-destructive activities. “We believe that if people have a stake in a certain area, they are more than keen in protecting it from others who are out to destroy the environment,” said Felix Taguba, provincial environment and natural resources officer. A government-protected, the PPLS, comprising some 119,000 hectares of forest land forms with the nearby Isabela’s Northern Sierra Madre National Park and other wildlife reserves in

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya–The security of a vital communication facility here serving as links to various provinces has been tightened amid threats from the New People’s Army (NPA) to sabotage its operations. The Army said that it has deployed a number of its men as augmentation security force for the Globe telecommunication facility in Barangay Bansing here, reportedly one of the targets of the NPA activities to make its presence felt under the Aquino administration. Colonel Loreto Magundayao, chief of the civil-military relations battalion of the Isabela-based Army’s 5th Infantry Division (ID) said that once the NPA succeed in sabotaging said facility, communication links among Globe subscribers here, in Quirino and parts of southern Isabela and central Cordillera would be totally cut-off. “We are not taking chances here as well as in other vital facilities in our areas. (The rebels) would resort to these actions just to make their dwindling presence felt under the new administrati

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya–For the first time in many years, one of the province’s mountain towns, dubbed as the region’s citrus capital, won’t have an annual citrus festival this year, or every month of August, amid its huge drop in production. This after the long dry spell and still uncontrolled pests and diseases afflicting the plants in citrus-growing Kasibu town, especially its Malabing Valley resulted not only in an extremely low harvest but in poor quality and stunted fruits as well. According to Kasibu town Mayor Alberto Bumolo Jr., such produce have resulted in poor sales, bringing many citrus farmers in the area to the brink of bankruptcy. “There is no reason for the people to celebrate this year, due to the poor quantity and quality of our harvest as a result of the dry spell. Besides, our citrus industry continues to be threatened by diseases,” he said. It was learned that this year’s citrus production, which included the sweet perante oranges as well as those seedless va

By CHARLIE C. LAGASCA BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Amid the stormy weather, thousands paid their last respects to the late Cagayan Rep. Florencio Vargas as his remains were finally laid to rest in his Abulug hometown Saturday (August 7). “All people from all walks of life attended the funeral. Almost all the officials of Cagayan led by Governor (Alvaro) Antonio paid their last respects to the late congressman,” said Vice Gov. Leonides Fausto. Vargas, 79, whose second congressional district covers the towns of Abulug, Ballesteros, Calayan, Claveria, Lasam, Piat, Rizal, Sanchez Mira, Santa Praxedes and Santo Niño, was laid to his final resting place at the Abulug municipal cemetery at 12 noon Saturday. One of the few remaining active politicians from the 1960s, Vargas succumbed to complications from leukaemia while being confined at the Saint Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City on July 22. After necrological rites and an overnight wake at the House of Representatives, Vargas’ remains