NPAs torch P2.5-M heavy equipment

DAVAO CITY — Communist guerrillas torched P2.5 million worth of heavy equipment of a construction company in Maco, Compostela Valley, apparently because of its refusal to pay "revolutionary taxes," police said.

The New People’s Army (NPA) rebels swooped down on the compound of Davao Rock Mixer Construction Inc. in Sitio Tagsawa, Barangay Concepcion and burned a Mitsubishi dump truck, a Mitsubishi backhoe and a Kumatsu grader.

Davao Rock was leasing the equipment to NRT/JS and V. Construction Inc. for the construction of a substation of the National Power Corp. in Maco.

Compostela Valley and the adjoining provinces of Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Surigao del Sur are known strongholds of the underground communist movement.

The military recently renewed its alert against NPA attacks which self-exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison supposedly ordered. — Edith Regalado