Del Monte loses P26m in NPA attack

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 23): Del Monte loses P26m in NPA attack

Del Monte Phil. Inc. (DMPI) lost some P26 million worth of damaged to properties resulting in attacks waged by the New People’s Army (NPA) on its plantation site in Camp Phillips, Bukidnon last Tuesday, a company statement said Saturday.

It said that the NPA rebels torched heavy equipment at the company’s motor pool, lost a security guard and wounded three security personnel during the 30-minute siege Tuesday evening.

“The attack, the first to occur since Del Monte was founded in 1926 in the lush valley of Bukidnon, shocked personnel, workers, and stakeholders,” the statement said.

It said that the company took care of the family of the security guard who was killed in the attack and took charge of all the medical expenses of the wounded personnel.

Some 150 rebels staged a simultaneous attack on DMPI’s major camps in Manolo Fortich and its satellite camp at Villa Vista in Sumilao, all of Bukidnon, Tuesday evening.

The NPA rebels accused DMPI of unabated plantation expansion that has caused major environmental damaged in Bukidnon that caused deadly flash flood during tropical storms in low lying areas particularly in Cagayan de Oro City in December 2011.

Despite the incident, the working conditions at the company’s plantation site in Camp Phillips, Manolo Fortich, has returned to normal now, the statement said. DMPI operates two major divisions: the cannery at Bugo in Cagayan de Oro City and its operating arm at the pineapple plantation in Camp Phillips, Manolo Fortich.

It developed some 16,000 hectares of lands (some rented) into a pineapple plantation, making it one of Asia’s major suppliers of tropical fruits in the world market. The statement said that the company employs more than 1,000 regular workers in the cannery and plantation area apart from the seasonal plantation workers hired by contracting firms.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=500714