Samar gov, congressman beef up security in face of rebel threat

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—The governor of Northern Samar and its representative in Congress have beefed up their security after being declared “enemies of the people” by communist rebels.

Governor Paul Daza said, however, that this did not mean he and his father, Representative Raul Daza, were scared. And people should not automatically blame the National Democratic Front if anything bad happened to him or his father, he added.

In a statement, the NDF, an  umbrella organization of underground leftist groups allied with the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New people’s Army, accused the Daza father-and-son duo of involvement in crimes against the people of Northern Samar such as plunder, corruption, illegal drugs and illegal gambling.

The NDF said the Dazas’ rule in Northern Samar was the biggest argument in favor of dismantling political dynasties.

Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria, police chief for Eastern Visayas, said the authorities were assessing the threat to the Dazas.

Governor  Daza, who is seeking reelection, described as “baseless” the NDF accusations.

The NDF accused the Dazas of diverting funds from the P3-billion allocation for an irrigation project—the Help Catubig Agricultural Advancement Project—which was started in 2001 with a loan from Japan but remain unfinished until today. NDF said Dazas milked the project so badly that they got up to 30 percent of the project cost.

The Dazas denied this. The governor said that while his father was governor when the project started in 2001, they had no direct role in the project’s implementation.

The younger Daza said the benefits of the project were now being enjoyed by farmers in the town of Catubig and Las Navas, where average farm yield has increased to up to 130 cavans per hectare from 50 cavans per hectare before irrigation came in.

The governor also took pride in a seal of good housekeeping that the province received from the Department of Interior and Local Government, saying this was proof of his efforts to reduce poverty in Northern Samar.