Gov’t can easily win vs NPA

Now that the government has declared an “all-out war” against the New People’s Army (NPA) after the termination of the peace talks, it can easily win the war against the NPA.

How? By winning the hearts and minds of indigenous peoples who will deprive NPA guerrillas their refuge in the mountains.

The government can form armed groups among tribes —like the Mandaya, Bagobo, Manobo, B’laan in Mindanao and the Agta, Aeta and Igorot in Luzon, and the Tagbanua in the Visayas—to fight the NPAs.

The Army Special Forces can train these tribes to fight the NPAs.

If these options are not possible for one reason or another, the government can deploy spies among selected members of a tribe.

Or it can pay handsome rewards to informers for the capture or death of NPA leaders.

Excellent intelligence can be achieved if military intelligence funds are used for their intended purpose: espionage.

Hand in hand with placing spies among indigenous tribes, the government may increase its fleet of helicopters which can swiftly transport troops to places where the NPAs are camped.

Most important of all, it should keep troop morale high by making soldiers aware that if they are wounded in combat they will immediately be airlifted to the nearest military hospitals.

Several years from now, the urban blight in Manila will be solved when a “city within a city” rises at the reclamation project on Manila Bay.

The multibillion-peso reclamation project on 407.42 hectares off North Harbor will have skyscrapers, shopping malls, residential condominiums, sports and recreational facilities and universities on the Tondo foreshore area.

The “city within a city,” which is at the other end of Manila Bay from SM Mall of Asia, will have its own water taxi service.

It’s considered the biggest and most advanced project on Manila Bay.

Manila Mayor Erap has approved the project which was signed by the Philippine Reclamation Authority and UAA Kinming Development Corp.

UAA is owned by a Hong Kong-based developer, Xu Ming Liang, also known to his Filipino friends as Jose Kho.

Kho and his children Kitson and Luis had an audience with President Digong in Malacañang recently and they volunteered to build a P750-million drug rehabilitation center in Bukidnon.

The most modern CT-scan was inaugurated on Monday at Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center (CGHMC).

The P100-million CT-scan determines what ails a patient within seconds after the scanning.

Called “Revolution CT,” it is the first of its kind in the country.

“The scanning time has been narrowed down. For example, previously, it’s five minutes. Now it has narrowed down to one minute. So scanning time has been shortened, which means that radiation exposure of the patient is also decreased,” said Dr. Cesar Co, CGHMC radiologist.

But what’s more significant about Revolution CT is that the fee for scanning has not changed.

“The benefit is for the patient, especially the poor ones. We don’t charge a higher price [than before],” said philanthropist James Dy, CGHMC president.