PAGADIAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 20, 2012) – Communist insurgents raided a small village and torched a payloader owned by a construction firm after its owner allegedly rejected extortion demands by the New People’s Army in Mindanao’s Zamboanga del Sur province, a military spokesman said Friday.
Army Captain Albert Caber, of the 1st Infantry Division, said the rebels torched the equipment late Thursday in the village of Guinlin in Tigbao town, which was previously raided by the NPA.
“The rebels fled after the attack,” he told the Mindanao Examiner, adding the rebels were demanding money from White House Construction owned by Wilson Co prior to the attack.
He said Maj. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz, the division commander, ordered troops to hunt down the rebels. “Our commander urged concerned units to be of help to the police in its law enforcement functions through the Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Center. The Tigbao police force is also investigating the incident,” Caber said.
Police in April sacked its provincial commander, Superintendent Jose Gucela, after dozens of rebels raided the Tigabo’s main police headquarters and carted assorted weapons and took one policeman PO2 Juhali Faisal as prisoner of war.
The NPA has been fighting for decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)
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