When the VISAYAN DAILY STAR started in 1982, Negros Occidental was already a news "gold mine", particularly on peace and order, and the anti-insurgency campaign of the government. That "gold mine" has remained richer than ever. Your DAILY STAR also served as a witness to triumphs and failures of those individuals responsible for making what Negros Occidental is today.

A number of stories the attention of the world, among them the filing of murder charges and detention of the 'Negros Nine' , which included Australian priest Brian Gore and Irish Columban priest Niall O' Brien, allegedly tagged as behind the ambush-slay of Kabankalan Mayor Pablo Sola in 1993, which was pursued by the DAILY STAR news staff, personally led by present editor-in-chief Ninfa Leonardia.until their release from jail..

It was followed by the Escalante massacre in 1985 which claimed the lives of 20 people and injuries to 29 others, who were protesting in front of then municipal hall of Escalante.

Journalists from all over the world also trooped to Negros for updates on the kidnapping of American Peace Corps volunteer Timothy Swanson and Japanese development worker Fumio Mizuno in 1990, making the DAILY STAR as their major reference among local media outlets..

Swanson and Mizuno were released after more than 50 days of captivity by the New People's Army through the series of negotiations by then Bishop Antonio Fortich, who was called as 'Kumander Tony", by his detractors.

The worsening insurgency problem in Negros in the 1980's up to the mid 1990's always landed in the front page of your DAILY STAR whose reporters have been also serving as correspondents of national newspapers and international wire agencies. Among the successful tactical offensives of the New People's Army included the raids of the Scout Ranger headquarters in Isabela in 1985, which resulted to the killing of 11 soldiers, the raid of the Visayan Maritime Academy in Bacolod City from which the rebels carted away more than 100 firearms, and the ambush-slay of 17 soldiers in Himamaylan City in August 2000.

The famous Oplan Thunderbolt launched by then Brig. Gen. Raymundo Jarque in 1989, which displaced more than 30,000 people in the upland CHICKS area, also resulted in the deaths of more than 100 children in the evacuation centers.

Ironically, Jarque went underground several years after and sought refuge with the New People's Army who were the objects of the war he waged for nearly three decades, because of what he calls trumped up charges filed against him in court.

The simultaneous raids of the BAC-UP 2 and 3 precincts in Bacolod and the Manapla Police Station in 1989, including the heightened Sparrow hitmen operations in the urban areas, has been a rally point for then Lt. Col. Miguel Coronel, provincial commander of Negros Occidental, and the private sector to unite in fighting the insurgents.

Sugar planters purchased firearms and paid meager allowances of the recruited members of the defunct Philippine Constabulary Forward Command, which helped the Negros Occidental PC-INP Provincial Command and the Philippine Army in addressing the expansion efforts of the New People's Army.

The battle of "winning the hearts and minds" of the 'masa" in the countrysides, a joint effort of the men-in-uniform, private sector and local government leaders, was also relentlessly conducted.

Then (now Brig. Gen.) Capt. Arturo Ortiz, commanding officer of the 606th Special Forces Company, got the much coveted Medal of Valor, the highest military decorations, for leading his men in the successful raid of a rebel training camp in Sitio Manipulon, Brgy. Pandanon, Murcia. Although they were heavily outnumbered, the element of surprise has proven a great advantage to them as more than 50 rebels were killed, with the same number of firearms were recovered from the overran NPA camp.

Because of what others described as "irreconciliable differences" between exiled CPP leader Jose Maria Sison and top New People's Army commanders, the rebel movement in Negros split into several factions in the middle of 1990s. One of the rejectionist group leaders, Arturo Tabara, who founded the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggawa-Pilipinas, political wing of the RPA-ABB, joined the list of former CPP-NPA officials Romulo Kintanar and Felimon Lagman who were assassinated allegedly by the New People's Army.

Other Negros rebel leaders, among them, Silvino "Macao" Gallardo and Federico Guanzon, also quit the rebel movement in the early 1990s.

These were only among the significant events that your DAILY STAR had covered in the past 25 years, which are now form part of the Negros history.

Covering the Defense and PNP beat is also challenging to some DAILY STAR reporters, and even scary to the famous Eddie "Kuya Eddie" de la Fuente whose name was included in the target list for liquidation by NPA hitmen in the late 1980's.

Managing Editor Carla Gomez cheated death twice after she was figured in an accident while covering a press conference of the RPA-ABB in Brgy. Pinggot, Ilog , and whose military gunship she was riding was strafed by rebels in Sitio Aluyan, Brgy. Caduha-an in Cadiz City.

DAILY STAR also covered the surrender of some members of the underground movement and their integration into the mainstream of society.

Newspaper clippings., including those of DAILY STAR stories , have been being used as a reference in the career advancement of some military and police officials who are now occupying sensitive positions in the AFP and PNP, for their career advancement.

However, rifts with some top military and police officials in Negros Occidental with the DAILY STAR occasionally happened because of their "onion-skinned attitude", who had been apparently not used to media criticisms.

Dubbed as the "newsmen newspaper's, the DAILY STAR has gone a long, long way and contributed a lot in the dissemination of information to promote order, unity and peace among the people of Negros island.*GPB

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