TANDAG CITY (MindaNews / 19 July) — Lighting through a solar-powered generator system has arrived in Sitio Andap in Barangay Mahaba, Marihatag, Surigao del Sur.
An initiative of the Surigao del Sur Police Provincial Office, the system was inaugurated on Wednesday as part of “Project Pailaw sa Sitio: Tungo sa Kapayapaan” (Sitio Lighting Project: Towards Peace).
The project, spearheaded by provincial police director Col Harry B. Domingo and directed by Lt Col Felix P. Gonzales Jr., offers solar-powered lighting to “geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas to improve security and quality of life.”
“Our goal here is to enhance public safety and security, to light up the roads to deter criminals who may be planning to commit atrocities,” Domingo said in an interview.
He added it will also prevent rebels from going to these areas.
“This is Campaign Plan Tinabangay. This is the campaign plan under the APC (Area Police Command) here in Eastern Mindanao, what is called Revitalized Police sa Barangay (RPSB),” Domingo said in Filipino, adding the RPSB’s task is to enter areas that have been cleared by the Philippine Army [of rebel presence].
Sitio Andap is part of the Andap Valley Complex, a resource-rich area spanning seven municipalities that has long been a hotbed of communist-led insurgency. Efforts by the military to drive out the New People’s Army in the area has led to numerous displacements of the civilian population, many of them Lumad or indigenous peoples.
Domingo admitted that Surigao del Sur has not been cleared of NPA presence and there are many far-flung barangays without electricity. “This is what pushed us to realize this project. This is the only one of its kind in Caraga region.”
The project has provided a total of 189 solar-powered streetlights and 11 units of solar-powered generator system to 30 far-flung sitios in two cities and 16 municipalities in Surigao del Sur. (Queenie Casio/MindaNews)
