NPA rebels torch heavy equipment in Mindanao

From the Manila Times (Feb 8): NPA rebels torch heavy equipment in Mindanao

MEMBERS of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) have struck again in two separate incidents in northeastern Mindanao by burning the heavy equipment of construction firms that refused to pay their revolutionary taxes.

First Lt. Joe Patrick Martinez, commanding officer of the 42nd Civil Military Operations Co., Fourth Infantry Division, said on Thursday that the first incident happened in Barangay San Pedro, Alegria, Surigao del Norte province.

Martinez said that some 10 fully armed men of the guerilla Front 16 of the North Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NMRC) burned a crane truck used in the ongoing construction of a bridge along the national highway of the said province.

The rebels, he added, poured gasoline on the heavy equipment followed by a gunfire to sow terror among the residents in the area, while fleeing in southeast direction.

“The crane truck is owned by Dumalo Construction and it was burned because of the failure of the owner to give in to the extortion demands of the NPA,” Martinez further said.

The second incident happened at Barangay Curya, Santiago, Agusan del Norte, just a day after the burning incident in Alegria, wherein they burned a dump truck and a mixer being used in the repair of the national highway.

Martinez said that the culprits belong to the NPA Region sentro de Grabidad of NMRC.

According to Martinez, the trucks were burned by the NPAs because their owner, Vice Gov. Henry Oaminal of Misamis Occidental province, also refused to pay revolutionary tax.
http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/news/nation/41042-npa-rebels-torch-heavy-equipment-in-mindanao