Military denounces NPA for burning public school in Bukidnon

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 29): Military denounces NPA for burning public school in Bukidnon

The military on Wednesday denounced the burning of a public school allegedly by the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in the hinterland village of Concepcion in Valencia City in Bukidnon.

A belated military report reaching here said that the NPA rebels allegedly burned the public school in Concepcion last Sunday after school officials refused to give in to the rebel’s extortion activities.

“The teachers refused to give in to the demands of the NPA rebels, who resorted to terroristic activities,” Lt. Erwin Bugarin, the spokesperson of the Army’s 8th Infantry Battalion, said in the report.

Without considering the effects of their actions to the civilian populace, especially the students of the said school, the armed group burned the faculty room, one classroom and the school library, Bugarin said.

He said that it becomes evident "that the NPA exempts no one in their extortion activities, not even the schools which are essential in providing education to the pupils and students living in marginal communities."

Bugarin said that the military and also the civilian community denounced the cowardly acts that "show the real character of the NPA as a terror group even at a time when the resumption of the peace talks was scheduled to commence in the first week of April."

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=976038