. ROUNDUP .

NPAs raid Danding’s Negros farm

BACOLOD CITY – An estimated 20 New People’s Army rebels burned the farm equipment of business tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental and held hostage his 25 farm workers Sunday night, military and police said.

Lt. Col. Franco Nemesio Gacal, 11th Infantry Battalion commander, yesterday said the rebels, believed to be members of the Leonardo Panaligan Command, disarmed two security guards of Hacienda Nieva ECJ and burned the irrigation house and engines of five power sprayers used in the mango farm while herding the workers together at gunpoint.

Gacal said Cojuangco’s workers were later released as the rebels withdrew to the hinterlands of Barangay Buenavista.

The attack came a week after 11th Infantry Battalion troopers arrested five suspected members of the Leonardo Panaligan Command in Buenavista and seized three firearms, a CPP-NPA flag, and an ICOM radio handset from them. The five were charged with rebellion and illegal possession of firearms but human rights group Karapatan and its allied organizations insisted that the five were plain farmers. The group said it will also file counter-charges against the Army for the arrest of the five.

Gacal said the attack on Cojuangco’s farm could be a retaliatory act by the NPA. "I think they are trying to make their presence felt to the community, that they are still a force to reckon with."

Security has been tightened on the detained NPA suspects following reports of a plan to spring them from the Himamaylan police jail. – Gilbert Bayoran

Rice stocks enough, price adjustments normal: DA

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) yesterday advised the public "not to worry about" the country’s current rice supply and price changes in the weeks ahead as domestic inventories are enough even without counting in the summer harvest.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the slight adjustment in retail prices of the rice is normal at this time, during the transition phase between the wet and dry harvest seasons. "There is nothing to worry about. It is just normal for prices to adjust a little at this time. In fact, prices are lower than what they should be right now because of the adequate stocks held by the National Food Authority as well as by the commercial and household sectors," he said.

The main harvest season ended last December and the summer harvest season will start in March.

Yap said the slight price adjustment is also beneficial to the agriculture sector because it will mean higher incomes for rice farmers and will encourage them to plant more rice this year.

At the same time, Yap warned dealers who would connive to create an artificial shortage or unusual market rate adjustment that they would get the law sicced on them. He said adequate rice stocks all over the country do not justify any price spiral at this time. – Angela B. Lopez de Leon

DENR launches charcoal briquette project

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources yesterday started the production of charcoal briquettes made from forest wastes at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Tondo, Manila.

DENR Secretary Lito Atienza said the project can help solve the problem on shortage of liquefied petroleum gas, fuel, pollution and economy. Additionally, it can also reduce the cutting of trees and provide additional livelihood opportunities for everyone.

"The charcoal briquettes when burned, emit a steady heat with low clean flame, therefore, it is environment-friendly. It is also easy to ignite and burns completely in 50 minutes," said Atienza.

He said the technology of making charcoal briquettes was developed by the DENR through its research arm, the Ecosystem Research and Development Bureau, using leaves, twigs, stems and other forest wastes as raw materials.

The raw materials are first carbonized in a drum before they are fed into a grinding machine to transform them into fine materials. These ground materials are then mixed with binders like gelatinized starch, and then compacted in a molder to produce uniform size briquettes.

Atienza said technical people and students of Don Bosco will build the machines that will make the charcoal briquettes. He said the briquettes can be sold at P20 per kilo at a production cost of P8. "It can give additional income for families and barangays who will go into it. We will provide funds and teach anyone who is interested," he said. – Angela Lopez de Leon

Put Trillanes on the stand, prosecution urges defense

ASSISTANT state prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon yesterday challenged defense counsel Ernesto Francisco in the coup d’etat case against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and the Magdalo group to put Trillanes on the stand instead of summoning government officials whose testimonies were "immaterial and irrelevant" to the case.

Francisco had already summoned former Press Secretary Jesus Dureza, had also asked for Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita (who said it will be a waste of his and the court’s time) and is trying to get another former Press Secretary, Ignacio Bunye, for the next hearing.

"They can present as many witnesses as they want and we will not oppose that, but I am asking them why not present his client, even Sen. Trillanes since they have direct knowledge of the events surrounding the July 27, 2003 Oakwood incident," Fadullon said.

But Fadullon said he understands Francisco’s apparent reluctance to put Trillanes or any of the Magdalos on the stand since the mutinous officers do not admit to this day their role in seizing the Oakwood hotel in July 2003.

"They should admit first that they did go to Oakwood kasi ang nangyayari ngayon they are presenting witnesses to prove their arguments that the Oakwood incident was not a coup d’etat but they are not admitting they were there on that day," Fadullon said.

Francisco insists the testimonies of Dureza and Ermita will prove that the Magdalos did not plan to overthrow the Arroyo administration but merely wanted to air their grievances.