THE energy department condemned on Tuesday, February 28, a New People’s Army (NPA) attack on a hydro-power plant project in Lumbayao village, Valencia City, Bukidnon, last Saturday saying it will delay the facility’s completion.
“This attack is totally unwarranted considering that it is not a military installation but a development project that seeks to contribute to uplifting the socio-economic conditions of the people,” said Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Alfonso Cusi in a statement the agency released to the media Tuesday afternoon.
The attack, he said, will not only stall the project’s construction timeline, it will also set back efforts to improve the quality of life of the people of Bukidnon. The target date of commissioning is the first half of 2019.
“We are aiming to facilitate the development of all alternative and indigenous energy supply for the future of Mindanaoans. We have long been wanting our kababayans living there to feel the presence of progress, yet these people are stealing that chance from them,” Cusi said.
According to the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division, about 15 fully armed NPA fighters entered the proposed 10.6-megawatt Pulanai hydroelectric power plant site, confiscated the cellphones of workers, and fired several shots after planting a couple of improvised explosive device (IEDs).
A team from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal of the 8th Infantry Battalion was sent to go after the insurgents to disarm and recover the IEDs.
“The National Democratic Front has been urging the Duterte Administration to resume the peace talks but NPA attacks on a development project such as this do not inspire confidence that they are sincere in returning to the negotiating table,” Cusi said.
Last December, President Rodrigo Duterte personally visited the site to grace the power plant’s groundbreaking and in his speech pleaded with the NPA to spare the project from the attacks.
The President said the Pulanai plant, owned and operated by Repower Energy Development Corp., one of the power generation facilities seen to boost the economic activity in the area.
To ensure the completion of the project despite the attack, an Inter-agency Task Force in Securing Energy Facilities was activated comprising the DOE, Philippine National Police, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, Armed Forces of the Philippines, National Transmission Corporation, National Electrification Administration, and the National Power Corporation.