Surigao City mayor condemns NPA for burning equipment

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 15, 2021): Surigao City mayor condemns NPA for burning equipment (By Alexander Lopez)

Surigao City Mayor Ernesto U. Matugas, Jr. (PNA file photo by Alexander Lopez)

Surigao City Mayor Ernesto U. Matugas Jr. has condemned the communist New People’s Army (NPA) for disrupting a farm-to-market project by destroying the contractor's heavy equipment.

In a statement Thursday (April 15), Matugas said he is saddened by the atrocity of the NPA, noting that the attack came amid the continuing challenges posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

“It has also disrupted the progress that we have made so far as building concrete roads for easy transport of the people and goods from the barangays to the city and vice-versa,” Matugas lamented.

It was clear that the rebels were not interested in the Surigaonons' desire for progress and development in the area, he added.

An undetermined number of NPA rebels torched some PHP5 million worth of heavy equipment, including a backhoe and a concrete mixer truck, in Barangay Mapawa on Monday.

Police said the rebels belonging to the NPA's Guerilla Front 16B were involved in the attack.

“The atrocious act is not an advancement of an advocacy nor a propagation of an ideology,” Matugas said, adding that the NPA rebels committed a criminal act against the community.

“I urge the people of Surigao City to be vigilant in safeguarding the progress and development that we have achieved so far. Let us not allow the elements of lawlessness and violence to prevail within our midst,” the mayor said.

He also asked the residents in barangays to report to authorities any suspicious persons or activities to prevent a similar incident.

The NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1136828