Army set to deploy after armed men burn road machines

By Angel Baybay

BONTOC, Mountain Province – An army battalion is on standby awaiting deployment orders to beef up government forces stationed in the province following burning of heavy equipment of a contruction firm here.

Col. Bismarck Soliba, Task Force Montanosa chief, reported during the Provincial Peace and Order Council meeting the army contingent just arrived from Mindanao and awaiting orders from higher authorities before joining the camp.

Except for some reported recruitment activities by the New People’s Army, Soliba said the peaceful environment prevailing in the province was foiled by the burning of construction equipment in here in Barangay Balili last Sept. 29.

As reported by a regional weekly, the NPA has denied any involvement in the act but persistent public pulse have it that the culprits belong to an organized armed group considering the number of people involved.

Jocelyn Culaling of the Department of Labor and Employment office here said days before the incident, some individuals visited their office asking the current minimum daily wage in the province.

Interestingly, the burning of the equipment was reportedly in protest to low salaries the RUA construction firm is giving to its hired laborers.

Asked by Gov. Maximo Dalog whether the salaries given by the said construction firm were just and fair, Culaling said she has yet to see the payroll explaining that she could only do it with authority from the regional office and with a duly sworn complaint from any of the laborers.

In the same meeting, all members of the PPOC affixed their signature to the manifesto condemning the torching of the equipments.

They unanimously said completion of works to rehabilitate the Halsema Highway along the ptovince will benefit the general public and any attempt to disturb the implementation of various projects is abhorred.

Meanwhile, provincial TESDA officer Gabriel Cayacay said graduates of their skills development trainings employed by the contractors are becoming apprehensive they might be laid off should construction firms back out.

Almost all drivers and heavy equipment operators are products of the TESDA training center.