Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Police says Zamboanguita peaceful
By Maricar Aranas
THE Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office confirmed that it has no problem with the peace and order situation in Zamboanguita, contrary to statements by Provincial Board Member Marcelo Adanza.
Provincial director Melvin Ramon Buenafe made the reaction following the reported shooting incident last June 2 in Sitio Catubahan, Barangay Mayabon involving two families who claimed to be land tenants of Adanza's rice farm and a group of men allegedly hired by the former mayor to evict them.
Buenafe said except for the report, he has not received any other that would put the lives of city residents in danger.
In a recent press conference in Dumaguete City, Adanza, whose wife is the present mayor of the municipality, said the place had long been suffering from peace and order problems.
He claimed New People's Army rebels have occupied 110 hectares of the 200-hectare land managed by the United Caterei Farmers' Association, Inc. under the community-based forest management agreement.
Adanza's tenant, Asteria Lazaga, whom he presented to the media at the press conference, had claimed of seeing unidentified people in practice shooting and training near the house of her sister and rival tenant Epifania Orias in Catubahan.
Orias triggered the controversy when she accused Adanza of harassment to evict her from the property she and another family claimed to have been tilling as tenants of Adanza's father since 1985, an allegation denied by the board member.
Meantime, Adanza had set aside P100,000 to set up a police detachment in Sitio Salangan, Mayabon to ease the peace and order problem, which he claimed, was due to the presence of armed communist rebels crisscrossing the remote hinterlands of the municipality.
(June 18, 2006 issue)
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