Depot of Casecnan contractor raided

NUEVA ECIJA -- A group of heavily armed men suspected to be New People's Army (NPA) rebels stormed the depot of a wealthy Filipino-Chinese contractor in San Jose City last week and burned heavy equipment allegedly due to the failure of his firm to pay the salaries of its workers on time.

Superintendent Aurelio Hiteroza, provincial police director, said the armed men entered the compound of JTY Construction Corp. at around 11:10 p.m. last May 1.

They immediately disarmed the two security guards manning the gate and looked for Juanito Ty, one of the contractors of the $580-million Casecnan multipurpose irrigation and power project.

Failing to locate Ty, they set a Hyundai payloader and a dump truck on fire. Damage was placed at P700,000. They carted away three handheld radios and two caliber .38 revolvers.

The armed men fled after 10 minutes, leaving a note addressed to Ty, stating, "Ayusin ninyo ang pasuweldo sa mga trabahador (Take care of your workers' salaries)."

Ty also owns a lumber and hardware store in San Jose City.

PO3 Wrinfred Salvador of the San Jose City police, said the communist guerrillas were apparently acting on the complaints of Ty's laborers that they were allegedly not being paid on time.

At Camp Olivas in Pampanga, Chief Superintendent Roberto Calinisan, the regional police director, directed Hiteroza and the Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) to conduct hot pursuit operations against the rebel raiders.

Calinisan also asked the San Jose City police to put up roadblocks at possible escape routes of the rebels.