NPAs terrorizing Davao banana farm owners

DAVAO CITY — An Army official here has lambasted the New People’s Army (NPA) for "terrorizing" banana plantation owners in Southern Mindanao who refuse to pay "revolutionary taxes."

Maj. Jose Maria Cuerpo, Southern Mindanao chief of the Armed Forces’ Civil Relations Group, cited the series of arson attacks on the equipment and vehicles of banana plantations in this part of the country.

"These communist-terrorists are doing very big damage to the banana industry here in the South. It is sad because banana is one of our country’s leading export products and the NPA rebels are destroying the plantations," he said.

Last month, at least 60 suspected rebels torched a trailer truck loaded with bananas that were supposed to be exported to South Korea.

The insurgents flagged down the trailer truck in Barangay Linoan in Montevista, Compostela Valley and set it on fire.

In Panabo, Davao del Norte, a proprietor of a small banana plantation also complained about the burning of his equipment after he failed to pay "revolutionary taxes" to the NPA.

The insurgents have also destroyed several hectares of banana farms.

Cuerpo said the NPA’s terrorist acts not only affect the banana plantation owners but the thousands of people under their employ who depend on the industry for their families’ daily subsistence.

Another banana plantation in Paquibato district here almost stopped its operations last month after its farm equipment was torched.