AFP: NPA rebels massing in strike-torn Benguet town

La Trinidad, Benguet — New People’s Army (NPA) rebels are reportedly massing in strike-torn Mankayan town, prompting the military to beef up its anti-terror forces in the municipality.

The Army’s 77th Infantry Battalion has deployed a unit in Mankayan after communist guerrillas were reportedly sighted moving around the town.

An Army officer, who requested not to be identified, said they have uncovered a plan by the NPA to attack the facilities of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co., as it did more than a decade ago, to cripple its mining operations.

Maj. Vicente Basilan, deputy chief of the AFP Civil Relations Group for Northern and Central Luzon, confirmed the deployment of Army soldiers in Mankayan after some 40 armed NPA guerrillas were sighted in Barangay Bedbed last week.

Basilan added that 140 other suspected rebels were seen at the boundary of Mankayan and Cervantes, Ilocos Sur.

He said the insurgents are trying to convince the striking workers of Lepanto to join the underground movement.

Last June, the 1,800 strong-Lepanto Employees Union went on strike after a breakdown in its collective bargaining agreement with the management.

Although the Department of Labor has ordered the striking workers to return to work after assuming jurisdiction over the strike, the union members refused.

The Army officer hinted that the NPA may be physically supporting the strikers amid intelligence reports of increased rebel movements in Mankayan since the strike started.

Superintendent Ernesto Gaab, chief of Task Force Lepanto, said the police have identified five suspected NPA members, including a certain Ka Rambo and Ka Judi, who have been joining the union’s strike.

Former government engineer-turned-rebel leader Simon Naogsan, spokesman of the Cordillera People’s Democratic Front, which is allied with the National Democratic Front, the umbrella group of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the NPA, however, refused to confirm if they have deployed rebels in Mankayan.

He added, though, that they remain firm in their ideological support for the striking workers.

The striking workers said the "communist bogey" is just a lame excuse of the police and the military to harass them.

Security forces and the strikers have clashed several times, resulting in injuries to both sides. — Artemio Dumlao