Marawi power rehab starts

THE DEPARTMENT of Energy (DOE) said the rehabilitation of power supply in Marawi City has started and is targeted to be finished before the year ends.

DOE Assistant Secretary Redemptor Delola, during the Kapehan sa Dabaw yesterday at The Annex of SM City Davao, said the department has to start the electricity rehabilitation early to immediately provide residents with electricity supply when they return to their

homes as mandated by Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi.

Twenty five percent of the city are being rehabilitated, particularly areas where gunfights no longer take place.

The rehabilitation, Delola said, consists of electricity posts rebuilding, power plant operation resumption, and connection of electricity supply to establishments and houses.

The rehabilitation is focused on the rebuilding of electric posts and the full restoration of the power plant operation.

"We are thankful that the Inter-agency Taskforce who were securing our power facilities in the area were successful in assuring that the power plant will not be affected due to war," he said.

DOE, Delola said, has been supplying electricity to areas where the government troops are since the beginning of the siege to help them with their operations and other related activities. BSC

He said he was at least 20 meters away from where Arnaiz was executed.

Bagcal identified the cops who shot dead Arnaiz as Police Officer 1 Jeffrey Perez and Ricky Arquilita.

He said he only knew the names of Arnaiz and De Guzman when he saw their faces in the news.

Based on his sworn affidavit, which he executed in the police station, Bagcal reported that he was robbed along C-3 road by men who posed as passengers and asked him to bring them to Caloocan City from Navotas.

He said the police officers chased one of the suspects and found him along C-3 road. They killed the suspect during a shootout, he added.

However, Bagcal said the sworn affidavit which was earlier released to the media was not his real statement. He said he only signed the statement prepared by the police for fear that he would meet the same fate as Arnaiz.

Meanwhile, another witness identified as "Joe Daniel" told the Senate panel that he saw how Arnaiz was killed by the police officers.

He said there was no shootout as earlier claimed by the police as Arnaiz was kneeling down when he was shot dead.

Arnaiz body was found a funeral parlor 10 days later, while the body of De Guzman was found floating in a creek in Gapan, Nueva Ecija on September 5. The body had at least 30 stab wounds.

De Guzman was positively identified by his parents but a police autopsy report said the DNA from the cadaver did not match those of the parents.

Despite this, the parents buried the boy's remains and filed murder and torture complaints against the Caloocan police officers. SunStar Philippines