Once NPA haven, AgNor's remotest village gets electricity

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 11, 2022): Once NPA haven, AgNor's remotest village gets electricity (By Alexander Lopez)

LET THERE BE LIGHT. Residents of Sitio Baboy-baboy, Camagong, Nasipit, Agusan del Norte, hold the solar lights before the actual installation on Sunday (April 10, 2022). The project in a village formerly influenced by the communist rebels was a convergence effort under the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, which included the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the Army's 23rd Infantry Battalion. (Photo courtesy of 23IB)

A remote tribal village in Nasipit, Agusan del Norte finally got its own electricity over the weekend after the Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-ELCAC) partnered with other government agencies to secure solar lights.

Residents of Sitio Baboy-Baboy, Barangay Camagong, Nasipit, also received a four-day training on basic solar power installation to be able to maintain the lights themselves, PTF-ELCAC officials said.

In a statement Monday, TESDA-ADN Director Rey Cueva said the residents installed the solar lights Sunday following the April 4-7 training, benefiting at least 36 Higaonon families in the village.

Cueva said the lack of access to electricity remains one of the basic challenges in far-flung areas such as Sitio Baboy-Baboy, which the military described as under the influence of the communist New People's Army (NPA).

In a phone interview, Sitio Baboy-Baboy tribal leader Doven Talja said the community has also received several projects through the PTF-ELCAC's Poverty Reduction, Livelihood, and Employment Cluster (PRLEC).

"We thank the government for the projects initiated in our community, the latest of which is the solar light project to illuminate our houses," Talja said in vernacular.

The Higaonon elder said for the past decades, their village's development was hampered by the presence of the NPA rebels.

“After we abandoned the communist movement and returned to the government, developments, through the different programs and services of the agencies started to arrive in our community,” Talja added.

In a statement, the Army's 23rd Infantry Battalion (23IB) said the residents of Sitio Baboy-Baboy are among the 278 members of the Underground Mass Organization who surrendered to the government on Nov. 20, 2020.

The Army unit also underscored the importance of PRLEC's development initiatives in remote communities, noting that the solar project was a convergence initiative led by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in Agusan del Norte and the 23IB.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1171962