Rebels burn heavy equipment in Agusan

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 10): Rebels burn heavy equipment in Agusan

Suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) reportedly burned heavy equipment used in the repair and construction of national highways in Santiago, Agusan del Norte, on Friday.

An army report reaching here said that the heavy equipment, a dump truck and a mixer, owned by Vice Gov. Henry Oaminal of Misamis Occidental were burned Friday morning by heavily armed men believed members of the NPA’s Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee.

Lt. Patrick A. Martinez, spokesperson of the army’s 42nd Civil Military Office in Agusan del Norte, said that the burning of the heavy equipment reportedly took place when Oaminal refused to pay ‘extortion money’ asked by the NPA rebels.

Martinez said that the timely response of elements of the army’s 3rd Special Forces Battalion forced the rebels to withdraw resulting in the minimal damage to heavy equipment.

Lt. Col. Potenciano C. Camba, commanding officer of the army’s 3rd Special Forces Battalion, said that responding troopers were able to extinguish the fire on the heavy equipment.

Camba said that the army dispatched government troopers to the area after the army command received text messages from concerned residents that armed men burned the heavy equipment along the national highway.

‘We were glad that the civilians were now feeding us timely information about movements of the NPA rebels in our area. This shows that the rebels were losing support,’ Camba added.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=496096