NPA claims attack on Mt. Province hydro plant

Bauko, Mountain Province (Wikipedia maps)

BAGUIO CITY—The New People’s Army (NPA) on Thursday took credit for the Oct. 10 attack on the sub-station of a hydroelectric power plant at the Mt. Province town of Bauko, which briefly disrupted power throughout the province.

In a statement, the NPA Leonardo Pacsi Command claimed it blew up the transmission station of the 14-megawatt Sabangan power plant owned by the Hydro-Electric Development Corporation (Hedcor) at 10:45 p.m. for allegedly robbing residents there “of their land and water rights.”

The station connects the plant to the national grid.

The NPA also accused Hedcor of manipulating people to secure the “free prior and informed consent” (FPIC) of the community, which allowed the subsidiary of the Aboitiz Power Corp. to build the plant.

It says the company collects P4.56 per kilowatt hour in generation charges, but pays out royalty amounting to P0.005/kwh which was lower that the P0.01/kwh set by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (Republic Act No. 9136).

The police have yet to release details of its investigation into the attack. /jpv