Suspected NPA rebels torch day care center in NoCot

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 16): Suspected NPA rebels torch day care center in NoCot

Suspected members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) set ablaze a daycare center in Magpet, North Cotabato on Thursday.

Supt. Aldrin Gonzales, speaking for the Police Regional Office in Region 12 (PRO-12), said the torching of the center ensued after officials of the remote village of Mahongkog failed to pay the NPA's demand for revolutionary tax amounting to PHP50,000.

“The communist terrorists attacked the mountain village in North Cotabato and set ablaze a daycare center after village officials ignored the rebels’ extortion," said Gonzales, quoting a report relayed to PRO-12 by Chief Insp. Jun Jinete Napat, Magpet police chief.

Gonzales said some 25-military fatigue-wearing men claiming to be members of the Army’s 39th Infantry Battalion (IB) entered the village at past 7 a.m. Thursday.

“They then ordered the pupils and the teacher to go out of the center, then set the center on fire,” Gonzales said, adding that several daycare volunteer workers were also tied up by the armed group.

After setting the center on fire, the rebels fled but now without reminding the village officials of the PHP50,000 revolutionary tax that the group had previously demanded.

2Lt. Angie Taban, the Army’s 19th IB spokesperson, said the group behind the attack could be members of the NPA Guerrilla Front 53.

Taban said the rebels told the villagers they would launch roadside bombings and ambuscades should any government reinforcements pursue them.

Magpet is one of the North Cotabato towns where there is heavy presence of communist rebels mainly because of the town’s amorphous borders traversing the mountains of North Cotabato, Davao City, and Bukidnon.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1054077