Extortion behind burning of four road equipment in Nueva Ecija

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 15): Extortion behind burning of four road equipment in Nueva Ecija

The burning of four heavy construction equipment in Barangay Pesa here last Monday was an act of “extortion” by four alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA). This surfaced as the local police submitted a progress report to Nueva Ecija Provincial Police Director Sr. Supt. Walter Castillejos on Wednesday. The four alleged NPA members that set on fire four heavy construction equipment were said to have demanded payment of “revolutionary tax” from the owner of the equipment. The four heavy construction equipment were then doing some rehabilitation work along a river bank in Barangay Pesa when doused with gasoline and set on fire by the alleged NPA rebel group. Town chief of police Chief Inspector Jonathan Alayon reported that Israel Reguyal of Barangay Larcon, this town, had received a letter sometime in 2011 from the NPA group demanding P200,000 as “revolutionary tax.” Reguyal owns the heavy equipment. Reguyal told the police that at the time he gave P40,000 only. Reguyal said he later received a call through his cell phone demanding that he pay the remaining balance of P160,000 until December 2011 or something bad will happen to him. The police also learned that right after the Nov. 12 burning incident, at 11 p.m., a caller who identified himself as “Ka Lenny” contacted Reguyal and told him that they were responsible for the burning. Meanwhile, the army’s the Intelligence and Security Agency and Military Intelligence Group, and the 7th Infantry (“Kaugnay”) Division confirmed the identity of “Ka Lenny” as the commanding officer of the sub-regional guerrilla unit under the command of Arsenio Paras alias “Ka Bobong Paras,” secretary of Central Luzon Regional Command of the NPA.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=471685