French firm stops P1.1-B power project after NPA attacks

[jonski]

French firm stops P1.1-B power project after NPA attacks
By Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:20:00 06/20/2008


MANILA, Philippines—A Filipino-French company involved in a P1.1-billion rural electrification program has stopped work in the province of Masbate after suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels torched its equipment and demanded “revolutionary taxes.”

The company, Paris-Manila Technology Corp. (Pamatec), is in charge of transporting and installing French government-funded solar panels as part of the Philippine Rural Electrification Services (PRES) project.

In a telephone interview, Pamatec chief Hubert d’Aboville said his company received several letters demanding money from parties claiming to represent the communist NPA.

Soon after, and without provocation, he said that some of the company’s assets in Masbate, south of Manila, were destroyed in two separate incidents.

“The first incident took place in Osmeña, Cataingan, Masbate, on June 15, where wires and other equipment used for Solar Home Systems were burned,” Pamatec chief operating officer Philippe Saubier said in an emailed report to d’Aboville.

“Our installation team there was harassed and told not to install any equipment and not be seen in the area or neighboring ‘barangay’ [villages] of Cataingan,” he added.

A day later, more Solar Home Systems units were burned in the village cockpit in Guadalupe, Esperanza, Masbate, he said.

“Following this ritual, a life was taken in an unrelated execution,” the Pamatec official reported. “The barangay captain reported this incident and repeated the threat of the NPA who will make an example if they capture [Pamatec] staff in the area.”

All told, some P10 million worth of the company’s equipment had been destroyed by the NPA, the company said.

D’Aboville said the operations of Pamatec, which is doing a P200-million segment of the project, have ceased completely until authorities are able to “restore peace and order in the area.”

Pamatec is part of the PRES consortium, which aims to provide electricity to 18,000 households in 128 remote villages in Masbate, one of the poorest provinces in the country and a hotbed of communist insurgency. The program is financed by the Filipino-French protocol to deliver social services to the area.

D’Aboville expressed his disappointment over the recent NPA attacks, saying that progress has been halted with only 4,000 households in the area receiving electricity from solar panels.

“I don’t understand why they are doing this,” he said. “The NPA is supposed to be on the side of the people. This is a shame and a disappointment.”

The Pamatec chief said he spoke on Wednesday with Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, who he said promised to help resolve the company’s concerns so it could resume operations at the soonest possible time. With editing by INQUIRER.net

http://business.inquirer.net/money/b...er-NPA-attacks

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Proud na proud siguro yung mga party list at ang sundalo nilang mga NPA na ang reklamo lagi ay wala daw binibigay na trabaho sakanila and kung bakit naghihirap and Pilipinas. I wonder why

[falken]

Along with the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers, these NPA EXTORTIONISTS have got to go.

[uls]

Yan ang matagal ko na sinasabi...

ikaw ba gaganahan mag invest kung:

ung mga cell site mo sinusunog/binobomba...

ung mga construction equipment mo sinusunog...

ung mga bus mo sinusunog...

ung mga power transmission towers mo binobomba...

[baludoy]

kaya ayaw ng mga komunista umalis sa movement nila kasi very profitable para sa kanila ang extortion eh

[impulzz]

sana ilipat na lang dito sa manila yung project, mas kelangan ng alternative energy dito para mabawasan ang polusyon, imagine all the roof tops in metro manila sporting Solar Cells... malaki na siguro impact nun sa meralco at napocor...

[Flagg]

This is just SOP for the commies kasi if you read Karl Marx's manifesto, one of their priorities is destabilization to facilitate the takeover of power.

Kaya naman sila ubusin ng AFP e. Yung problema e syempre may commercial interest yung AFP in keeping the commies alive.

[ghosthunter]

Every wonder why there is so little investment in industry and improvement in areas outside the cities?... That's the reason why.

The NPAs and Abu Sayafs should all be wiped out to the last man. :eathis:

[Altis6453]

Naku! These NPAs better learn not to f#ck with the French. The French government jealously protects its commercial interests.

French army commandos are just as nasty as their counterparts in the US and UK. I mean, what's to stop them from sending a small light reaction force to deal with a ragtag bunch of mountain militia with antiquated communist block weapons?

[jonski]

Hind pwede ubusin ang mga commish kasi magagalit mga Human Rights group sa mga sundalo.

[ess]

Naku! These NPAs better learn not to f#ck with the French. The French government jealously protects its commercial interests.

French army commandos are just as nasty as their counterparts in the US and UK. I mean, what's to stop them from sending a small light reaction force to deal with a ragtag bunch of mountain militia with antiquated communist block weapons?

If that's true, then I sure hope the NPAs really do try to f#ck with the French enough to get them angry and send their covert units to deal with them.