SP ACTS ON PNOC EDC BID
Buffer zone entry ok’d
with strict conditions
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental approved yesterday  the entry of the Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corp. into the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park buffer zone in Brgy. Mailum, Bago City, but set up strict conditions for them to observe.

The entry of PNOC EDC to tap more geothermal power for its North Negros Geothermal Power Plant  had been vehemently opposed by Bishop Vicente Navarra and environmentalist groups.

Members of the provincial council who expressed support for the entry of PNOC EDC to the buffer zone, that had already been endorsed by the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources and Energy, as well as the Protected Area Management Board, took turns in proposing conditions for the state-owned firm to comply with.

Roberto Montelibano, president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, yesterday insisted that the power shortage in Western Visayas is not only in Panay, it is also in Negros Occidental.

Montelibano was reacting to the report that President Gloria Arroyo said the shortage is only in Panay.

“We are part of the Cebu, Negros and Panay grid and Negros and Panay have been suffering from shortages of power,” he said.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales yesterday stressed that he has taken a hard line position only against armed rebellion and not on Communism, as he rallied Western Visayas leaders to do their share in helping end what he called the “festering menace of armed rebellion.”

Gonzales was in Bacolod City to speak at a two-day Local Peace and Security Assembly for Western Visayas at Planta Centro Bacolod Hotel, attended by local government and sectoral leaders in the region.

The LPSAs are being conducted throughout  the country as part of the effort of President Gloria Arroyo to involve the different stakeholders  in coming up with approaches to resolve the insurgency problem  other than by military means alone, participants were told.