‘Army in WV starts
flushing out rebels’
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

Two Philippine Army infantry brigades have started the campaign to flush out armed New People’s Army rebels from their guerilla bases in Negros and Panay, Maj. Gen. Vicente Porto, 3rd Infantry Division commanding general, said yesterday.

Porto said the order for field commanders is to “flush out armed rebels from their hiding areas and find them” in line with its efforts to reduce the NPA into an insignificant level by 2010.

This is coupled with the employment of a strategy called “deterrence and prevention”, aimed at stopping the NPA tactical offensives and curtail their freedom of movement, Porto also said.

The 130 low-cost housing units constructed by the Army’s 542nd Engineering Construction Battalion are now ready for occupancy by homeless soldiers and their families at the military reservation area in Brgy. Minoyan, Murcia, Negros Occidental.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Victor Ibrado will lead the turnover of the newly-completed houses to their beneficiaries today, at rites to be held at Camp Maj. Nelson Gerona in Murcia.

It was Ibrado who had pushed for the establishment of a low-cost housing units for solders assigned in Negros, while he was still the commanding officer of the 303rd Infantry Brigade in 2003, military records show.

Leaders of the livestock and poultry associations Saturday called on Governor Isidro Zayco and members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental to expedite their decision on the controversial ordinance banning the entry of genetically-modified organisms into the province, saying they have already incurred an add-on production cost of P162 million from April to June.

Albert Lim, president of the Negros Occidental Hog Raisers Association, said the prices of corn increased by P2 per kilo due to banning of genetically-modified corn feeds, adding that the livestock and poultry industries in the province consumed 900 tons of feeds a day.