100 NPAs torch heavy equipment in Mindanao

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Some 100 heavily armed communist rebels raided a private construction firm and torched some P20-million worth of heavy equipment yesterday in New Bataan, Compostela Valley, military officials reported here.

The military immediately deployed its troops to track down the rebels who immediately fled after the attack.

The New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the National Democratic Front (NDF), swooped down on the job site of the Sebastian Construction Corp. in Bgys. Banlacan and San Roque at about 12:30 a.m.

The private security guards, who were surprised and outnumbered by the raiders, failed to resist the attack, according to Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, AFP information chief.

Lucero said no one was hurt in the raid but the rebels set on fire a bulldozer, backhoe and payloader.

Reports reaching the Armed Forces Southern Command disclosed that the communist rebels staged the attack due to the persistent refusal of the construction firm to pay revolutionary taxes to the communist group.