MikeLigalig.com

The Provincial Board of Negros Oriental will hold a public hearing on Thursday in aid of legislation, of an ordinance that seeks to regulate the conduct of medical missions, fact-finding missions and similar activities in Negros Oriental.

Board Member Mellimore Saycon, peace and order committee chair, said the activity will support the proposed ordinance that he has authored and submitted to the legislative body.

To recall, special investigator Jess Cañete of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) had suggested during a Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) meeting last month that medical missions and similar civic activities carried out in Negros Oriental be regulated.

His recommendation stemmed from heightened media publicity in the region on questions surrounding the death of a young nurse during an encounter between New People’s Army (NPA) rebels and military troopers last September 18 in southern Negros Oriental.

In that incident, 21-year-old Rachelle Palang of Consolacion, Cebu was among the three suspected NPA rebels killed, although her family had insisted that she was on a medical mission here.

But the military said Palang was allegedly carrying a firearm during the encounter. - PNA