ON BUFFER ZONE
Atienza: We acted for
Negros majority
BY CARLA GOMEZ

 “We have to do our duty in the interest of the greater majority.”

This was the reaction yesterday of Environment Secretary Lito Atienza to a class suit filed by members of the Save Mt. Kanlaon Coalition against him before the Bacolod Regional Trial Court Thursday.

The suit, which also included the Energy Development Corp. and the Protected Area Management Board of the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park as respondents, seeks to stop EDC from entering the buffer zone surrounding MKNP for geothermal exploration.

Government officials yesterday issued a stern warning against individuals and groups behind timber poaching activities inside the Northern Negros Natural Park.

“Whoever you are, or whatever group you are affiliated with, as long as you are suspects, we will bring you to court,” Negros Occidental Governor Isidro Zayco said.

The involvement of a militant organization, a staunch supporter of a local chief executive in northern Negros, and alleged Army soldiers, in timber poaching activities in the Northern Negros Natural Park, is now being validated by the Task Force Ilahas.

A suspected New People’s Army rebel was killed, while an Army soldier was injured in encounters yesterday in Brgy. Pinggot, Ilog, Negros Occidental.

The sporadic armed skirmishes between an estimated 40 NPA rebels reportedly led by Reniel Cellon, alias Kumpol, and soldiers of the 61st Infantry Battalion started at about 8 a.m. and was still raging as of last night, the  military said.

The slain rebel was identified by the Ilog police as Rolito Magallanes of Dancalan, Ilog, while the slightly injured soldier was PFC Norime Llorente.