A spokesperson of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines(NGCP) yesterday said the company has not ruled extortion by the outlawed New People’s Army (NPA) as one of the angles behind the blast that rocked a tower of the Bohol Backbone Line in barangay Sta. Catalina, in Sagbayan town last Sunday. Lawyer Cynthia Alabanda called up the Post yesterday to air the NGCP side of the bombing in Sagbayan saying this possibility was not farfetched after a contractor of the power lines received a demand letter for revolutionary tax and purportedly coming from a rebel band operating in the area. Although the damage was minimal, the CGCP spokesperson said it was looking into the extortion angle. This developed after Camp Dagohoy and military authorities doubted the NPA factor in the blast. Citing several reasons, the authorities were not convinced that it was the handiwork of insurgents. It was last Sunday that tower 164 owned by the NGCP in Purok 2, Barangay Sta. Catalina, Sagbayan was rocked by an explosion that alarmed Boholanos. NGCP is constructing 250 steel towers from Ubay going to Corella town. Text messages which circulated a day after the blast pointed to the NPA as the possible perpetrators.

Many years ago, rebels ambushed a military truck in Sta. Catalina that killed a young Army officer who was a fresh graduate of the Philippine Military Academy. The NGCP tower is not far from the area where government troopers were ambushed more than 10 years ago resulting in the death of Lt. Socrates Que and four militiamen who were on their way back to their base after checking a report of an aborted rebel attack in an outpost in Balilihan. Authorities refused to be drawn into the fray just yet. Senior Supt. Constantino Barot Jr., Bohol PNP provincial director, and Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner of the Special Forces Battalion dismissed the NPA angle during the weekly radio program of Gov. Edgar Chatto. Barot said that based on the investigations conducted by the police and the military, the blast did not fit into the pattern employed by the rebels particularly the type of bomb used, the manner in which it was detonated and the place where the blast took place.

The provincial director said they are looking into the disagreement between the contractors and sub-contractors as well as ownership disputes over the land where the towers are being built. Barot belittled the capability of the NPA to launch a bombing of this magnitude at this point saying they appear to be more interested in recruiting new members to recover lost ground. For his part, Brawner agreed that it did not fit the pattern of a rebel operation noting that there has been no statement claiming responsibility for the blast. He cited the burning of heavy equipment and the raid of a mining area in Surigao and the burning of a bus in Tarlac where the admission of rebel complicity was very quick. The Army officer, one-time the spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, also noted that the type of bomb used in Sta. Catalina is different from the type used by the rebels. A policeman in Sagbayan town, however, saw it differently. Hermes Sanchez of the Sagbayan PNP said that two letters recovered a month after each other showed rebel involvement. One letter found in Dimiao last July and in August in Corella indicated that the rebels were interested in the on-going NGCP project.

He said the demands for revolutionary tax coincided with the start of the project. Sanchez, however, believes there was no intention to topple the tower since the devise used was only battery-operated and had no capability to bring it down. Tagbilaran Mayor Dan Lim dared authorities to be more forthright. “The question remains: is Bohol insurgency-free or not?” he asked. The mayor said the hesitation on the part of responsible officials to report on the incident is not helping. “If it is not the rebels, we will be happy with that,” he exclaimed. Lim, however, wondered why there has been no categorical position on the part of Gov. Edgar Chatto on the feared revival of rebel activity. “Boholanos want to hear from him if he will do everything to stop the rebels from regrouping in Bohol,” he added. The mayor lost his cool over insinuations from his critics that he is happy over the blast. “What I said was that I would be happy to be proven wrong (that there are signs of rebel activity),” he added. Lim said it is easy for Chatto because he can simply beef up his escorts and visit only populated areas. “It is another thing for farmers who are afraid to go out to their farms and businessmen who are asked to pay revolutionary taxes,” he added. The mayor said downplaying the incident or resorting to news blackout will not help because “sooner or later it will come out in the open”.

NGCP SEEKS HELP

With the failed bombing caper, the NGCP is coordinating with police and local authorities in Bohol to reinforce security measures along transmission lines in the area. The incident did not cause any interruption on power customers in the area. The concrete pedestal of the tower legs remained intact despite the blasts. The tower was erected just two weeks ago at Barangay Sta. Catalina, Sagbayan, Bohol. It is said to be located 100 meters away from the highway and about 300 meters from nearby houses. Initial reports indicate that barangay residents heard three successive explosions in the area. Residents then saw five unidentified persons who fled from the bombing site on motorcycles. NGCP, the privately owned grid operator and power transmission provider, strongly condemned the incident and said it was continuously employing measures to maintain the stability and reliability of the grid. Barangay residents are now being tapped to help prevent attacks by reporting to local authorities the movements of suspicious persons or groups.