Military foils NPA attempts to attack hog farm in Bukidnon

From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 27): Military foils NPA attempts to attack hog farm in Bukidnon

CAMP EVANGELISTA, Cagayan De Oro City -– The military has foiled an attempted attack of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) on a hog farm in Libona, Bukidnon Tuesday night, a military officer said on Wednesday.

Army Maj. Christian Uy, spokesperson of the army’s 4th Infantry Division here, said that an undetermined number of suspected NPA rebels fired several shots Tuesday night in the vicinity of the farming village of Sil-ipon in the municipal town of Libona where a hog farm is located.

He said that the NPA rebels simply fired their guns and withdrew to unknown direction when they sensed the presence of the army soldiers in the area.

Uy said that the army’s 3rd Special Forces Command has been deployed in the agriculture-rich town of Libona after the NPA rebels waged a series of raids on various multi-national companies in the area since 2013.

Last Tuesday, the NPA rebels tried to attack the multi-million Ororama Mega Farm in Sil-ipon, the largest hog farm in Northern Mindanao, that supplies a chain of meat stores and mega malls in the premier capital city of Cagayan De Oro.

Uy said that the military has suspected that the NPA was out to attack the hog farm once again after the rebels attacked the firm sometime last year which resulted in the casualties of over 50 hogs.

He said that the military is no longer taking chances after the NPA rebels attacked the Del Monte Philippines pineapple plantation sites and the company’s administration building in February 2013.

Aside from the Del Monte Philippines, the communist rebels also attacked the banana plantation of the Agrinanas Company in Libona last year, Uy added.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=677192