Troops seize NPA camp in Quezon

Government troops overran a New People’s Army (NPA) camp, capturing an arms cache, and seized explosives intended for possible rebel sabotage in two separate incidents, military officials said yesterday.

Army Special Forces were tipped off by villagers to the presence of the NPA camp near the town of Santa Catalina in Quezon Monday.

A clash was averted after the guerrillas fled when they spotted the 21-man government team approaching.

The camp consisted of at least three huts surrounded by foxholes and a perimeter fence. Homemade shotguns, revolvers, ammunition, medical equipment and documents were recovered, the military said.

Meanwhile, in Balbalan, Kalinga, soldiers seized C-4 explosives and blasting caps that were allegedly being transported to the communist guerrillas for sabotage activities, the local Army commander said.

The explosives, hidden in cardboard boxes, were being transported last Saturday aboard a commuter mini-bus when they were intercepted at a military checkpoint, Lt. Col. Ted Torralba said.

Torralba said civilian informers tipped them off about the explosives. The driver of the mini-bus was questioned over the cargo but was later released.

The mini-bus driver told the soldiers that the boxes were being delivered to a certain Roberto Tangdol, who the military identified as an NPA sympathizer.

Military officials said the explosives could have been used to blow up bridges, hydroelectric dams and government installations.

In Eastern Visayas, police units are on heightened alert following intelligence reports that the NPA is targeting 25 towns in Samar for attacks in the runoff to its Dec. 26 anniversary.

Additional policemen have been fielded to augment municipal forces.

The NPA has recently stepped up attacks on civilian targets, burning cellphone relay stations and construction equipment and raiding police stations in rural areas.

The 10,000-strong guerrilla force is the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines which has been waging a 33-year insurgency.

Peace talks between the government and the communists collapsed last year after the NPA assassinated two legislators. — AFP, Artemio Dumlao, Paolo Romero, Miriam Garcia Desacada and Christina Mendez