NPA burns P12M worth of heavy equipment

BACOLOD CITY — The Rachalle Mae Palang Command (RMPC) of the New People’s Army (NPA) reported that it successfully carried out “punitive action” against a quarry operator in Barangay Cawitan, Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental, by burning three of its heavy equipment.

RMPC spokesperson Ka Estrella Banagbanag, in a press statement, said the NPA fighters also disarmed the security personnel of the quarry operator, then set afire two backhoes and a pay loader.

Senior Superintendent Raul Tacaca, director of the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NORPPO), yesterday placed the estimated damage on three heavy equipment at P12.9 million.

Ka Estrella claimed that RMPC was prompted to take action in response to various complaints and demands of residents in the area, in connection with the plummeting of their crop production due to the quarry operations.

Nestor Lim of HN Trading — engaged in quarrying at Sitio Major Danao in Barangay Cawitan of Santa Catalina town, Negros Oriental — told the military about the damages of his heavy equipment due to the burning incident.

Captain Samuel Maglinao, acting chief of the Civil Military Operations Office of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, said the NPA terrorists also took with them two 21-plated batteries of the heavy equipment, two cellular phones, a backpack containing cash and personal belongings of quarry workers.

Ka Estrella called on all businesses, operating within the “guerilla zones,” to abide by environmental policies and other social impact regulations “set forth by the people’s democratic government.”

The NPA will not hesitate to impose punitive action to those who destroy the environment and deprive the people of their sources of livelihood, the rebel spokesperson added.

In previous months, three heavy equipment, used for a national road concreting project, were separately burned by the NPA rebels at Barangays Luyang and Bagtic in Mabinay town, Negros Oriental, and caused an estimated damage cost of P5.4 million.

The Army’s 303rd IBde condemned the latest atrocities of the NPA in southeast Negros. In the past eight months of this year, the brigade command recorded 22 incidents of atrocities perpetrated by the NPAin Negros Island, including 14 liquidation activities.