AT BACOLOD EARTH HOUR RITES
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BY PATRICK PANGILINAN

 “And if everyone lit just a little candle, what a bright world this will be.”

These were the lingering words the choir sang as Negrenses turned off their electric lights and joined the worldwide commemoration of the Earth Hour in Bacolod City, Saturday.

Power consumption dropped by 1,585.10 kilowatts in Bacolod City from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. for Earth Hour, Central Negros Electric Cooperative reported.

Communist rebels in Negros and Panay are claiming that they are growing in number and have expanded in more areas, while vowing to further intensify their armed struggle as they marked yesterday the 40th founding anniversary of the New People’s Army.

The Komiteng Rehiyonal-Negros, in a statement issued by Ka Aurea Silang, said the platoon-sized NPA unit in 1994 has grown into a much stronger unit, that was able to launch 51 offensives last year.

Silang said the objective of the government to end the insurgency problem by 2010, under its Oplan Bantay Laya II, will remain an elusive dream.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. yesterday said he considers himself an “independent” after having been appointed a member of the Cabinet of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Teodoro who belonged to the Nationalist People’s Coalition, the political party founded by his uncle, businessman Eduardo Cojuangco, has signified his intention to join the presidential race under the party of President Arroyo.

“As secretary of National Defense, under the present administration, I felt that being the alter ego of the president and occupying the most sensitive department of the government, I owe utmost and full loyalty to the President alone,” Teodoro said.