PRO-12 condemns NPA school burning in NoCot

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 19): PRO-12 condemns NPA school burning in NoCot

The Police Regional Office–12 (Soccsksargen) has condemned the recent burning of a daycare center by suspected communist militants in the North Cotabato town of Magpet.

In a statement released Sunday, Chief Supt. Eliseo Tam Rasco, director for PRO-12, said the Nov. 15 attack was "clear proof" that the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) is a terrorist organization.



“This atrocity only shows that the NPA is a solid terrorist group claiming to have been liberating Filipinos against corrupt leaders, but they are extorting and threatening civilians,” Rasco said.

About 25 alleged members of the NPA Guerilla Front 53, disguised as fatigue-wearing government soldiers, attacked the village of Mahongcog, Magpet on Thursday last week.
Prior to the school burning, the group reportedly demanded revolutionary tax amounting to PH50,000 from the village officials.

Rasco has appealed to the public, especially people in the hinterlands of Region 12, not to give in to rebels’ "sweet promises of good life."

“Report to the nearest police station or military detachment should you see NPA rebels in your communities so that the government can counter the groups’ ill motives or terror plots,” Rasco said.

Police said communist rebels and extremist groups remain to be the biggest threat to the security of Region 12.

On Saturday evening, the NPA also set ablaze three dump trucks belonging to a construction firm in nearby Magsaysay town in Davao del Sur, about 25 kilometers from here.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1054255