The police arrested a 54-year-old sugar planter yesterday for allegedly shooting at the vehicles of his neighbors in a high-end subdivision in Bacolod City and for illegal possession of prohibited drugs.

Police reports said Arsenio Acuña Jr. of No. 4, Sto. Domingo Street , Sta. Clara Subdivision, Brgy. Mandalagan, in Bacolod , was arrested by Bacolod City Police Office City Mobile Group, and Police stations 3 and 4 officers about 30 minutes after the shooting incident was reported.

Confiscated from Acuña were a Walter PK99 .9mm pistol with one magazine and 13 bullets, police reports said.

Army probes firing
of guns on island
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Col. Honorato delos Reyes, 303 rd Infantry Brigade commander, is investigating a complaint that an Army official and his soldiers acted as escorts to a private group who indiscriminately fired M-16 rifles from an Island in Hinoba-an town for three days during the COMELEC gun ban period.

Nergos Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon yesterday said he had brought the complaint of sugar leader Manuel Lamata to his attention and de los Reyes had assured him of an impartial investigation.

Lamata yesterday sent letter-complaints to Marañon and Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines chief.

Bacolod ram pumps
now in Afghanistan
BY CARLA GOMEZ

An Afghan learns how to operate the ram pump that was designed in Bacolod.*

Three ram pumps produced by a Bacolod-based non-government organization were installed in the Kunduz River Basin in Northern Afghanistan from mid September to October to help Afghan farmers.

Auke Idzenga, a Dutch development worker who has lived in the Philippines for 16 years and heads the AID Foundation's Appropriate Technology Department, said the project was contracted by Mercy Corps that is carrying out a long term program to help Afghan farmers with European Union funds.

The Bacolod NGO's ram pump was one of 10 winners of the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy in London in June. Former US Vice President Al Gore presented the award, which came with a 10,000-pound cash prize.