Whirlwind destroys 3 houses in Bukidnon, causes 21-hour brownout

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 16 Oct) – A whirlwind in Valencia City Tuesday totally destroyed three houses and caused a 21-hour long brownout in parts of Bukidnon.

The Valencia City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council also reported that 31 houses were partially damaged by the whirlwind affecting 33 families.

The CDRRMC report, signed by Mayor Azucena Huervas, blamed “very strong winds” for causing the collapse of trees, some of which landed along the highway, and the destruction of houses in Barangays Dabongdabong and Mailag along the Sayre Highway.

Most of those affected, 25 of the 33 families, are from Purok 8 in Mailag. Damage to houses were estimated at P178,500. No one was reported hurt from among the 156 persons affected in the CDRRMC account.

The CDRRMC, quoting the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), said the incident was caused by a “local thunderstorm.”

Stronger whirlwinds are referred to as tornado.

Elizabeth Ladaga, corporate communications officer of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, said in an advisory Wednesday that the incident toppled two NGCP transmission structures in the area. Power transmission tripped along the Maramag-Malaybalay 69-kilovolt lines at 3:07p.m. on Tuesday, causing a total of 21 hours of power interruption in Malaybalay City and other towns served by the Bukidnon Second Electric Cooperative (BUSECO). Areas covered by First Bukidnon Electric Cooperative (FIBECO) were also affected but was restored at 5:05 p.m. on the same day.

Ladaga initially reported that linemen had difficulty doing repairs as they were prevented by flood waters in the Colonia to Mailag area of Valencia City.

Some areas in Bukidnon – including the barangays along the Pulangui River in Valencia – are prone to tornadoes, the PAGASA reported. Anianita Fortich, who used to be the meteorological officer of PAGASA-Bukidnon, said that the whirlwinds recorded in the area were not too strong.

She said tornadoes usually develop in areas with rivers, mountains, and plains. She warned that those who dwell in houses built with light materials and those who live along river banks are most vulnerable.

Fortich, who is now with the regional office of the weather bureau, said that climate change is yet another factor that affect wind movements.

Ma. Leah Barquez, of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council office, said they received no reports from other towns about similar incidents in their areas. - From mindanews.com

GPH-NDF meet in Utrecht won’t take up release of soldiers held by NPA in Bukidnon

MAKATI CITY (MindaNews/22 October) – The release of two Army soldiers held captive by the New People’s Army in Bukidnon will not be taken up in a meeting between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) in Utrecht in the Netherlands this week, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles said Wednesday.

Deles said the meeting in Utrecht will be “low-key” and will focus on finding ways to resume the stalled peace talks between the government and the NDF.

“There is no ceasefire. The release of the POWs will not be taken up in the meeting,” the official said during a roundtable discussion with journalists in Makati City.

Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma and Iglesia Filipina Independiente Bishop Felixberto Calang met with Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin last week to renew their request for a suspension of military operations to pave the way for the safe release of two soldiers held by the rebels in Bukidnon.

Army Privates First Class Marnel Cinches and Jerrel Yorong have been held captive by the NPA since August 22.

The military in Bukidnon said the two soldiers were snatched by the NPA while buying food supplies at a market in Impasugong, Bukidnon.

They were scheduled to be released last September but the plan was cancelled for unknown reasons.

Ledesma and Calang have taken up the cudgel of the families of the captured soldiers, and have asked both sides to ensure their safe release. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)  - From mindanews.com

SOMEONE ELSE’S WINDOWS: Casualties of peace

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 17 Dec) – Police have filed charges against one Macmod Manibpil as a suspect in the December 9, 2014 bombing of a bus in Maramag, Bukidnon which killed 10 people and injured 42 others. Manibpil, who reportedly bolted the Kidapawan City Jail, is also a suspect in the 2006 bombing in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

Inspector Jiselle Longakit, spokesperson of the Bukidnon provincial police office, said Manibpil belongs to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Let’s try weaving together the facts presented by the police. If Manibpil really belongs to the BIFF, it is implied that he was with the MILF at the time he allegedly carried out the Kabacan bombing. The BIFF only came about as fallout of the 2008 Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain fiasco. Before the BIFF, authorities were quick to point an accusing finger at the MILF (almost) every time a bombing occurred in parts of Mindanao even if a ceasefire between the government and the rebel group was already in place.

Police claimed a sketch based on the description made by two witnesses matched the photo of Manibpil photo in the rogues gallery. Nonetheless, they added that aside from “furtherance of their (BIFF) cause”, they are also looking at extortion and business rivalry as the other possible motives. That’s another way of saying they’re not 100-percent sure as yet of BIFF involvement for reasons other than the BIFF’s denial they had a hand in the incident.

Meawhile, Maj. Christian Uy of the 4th Infantry Division said that an official from Rural Transit Mindanao Inc. told the Regional Peace and Order Council that the company received text messages demanding P50,000 monthly or one of their buses would be bombed. Such story tends to give credence to the extortion angle except that the amount being demanded seems too small compared to the degree of brutality of the act.

Why the supposed extortionists only demanded P50,000 a month – just a drop in the bucket of RTMI’s daily revenues – raises more questions than there are answers. If it was indeed extortion, why settle for a pittance? Why not P500,000 or even a million pesos a month? Would a real extortionist take the risk of carrying out a bombing for a measly sum? The pieces simply don’t fit. - From mindanews.com