‘NPA threat on mining firms an act of desperation’
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro yesterday said the threat of communist rebels to attack mining firms shows desperation due to the continued weakening of the New People’s Army.
In an interview with The STAR at
“The more they weaken, the more desperate they become and we have to guard against that. Desperation you know conjures up more violent or more vile forms of reactions sometimes, and we have to really guard against such eventualities, so at this point in time, given that kind of a statement by the NPA, we enjoin vigilance on the part of business establishments to be more security-conscious and aware of their surroundings,” he said.
He said the statement of the NPA, saying they will intensify attacks specifically on businesses is a function of their thinking and their mentality, which is “really adverse to the national interest.” “I condemn that kind of thinking, attack on any particular establishment of Philippine society is condemnable and for an organization to spouse such kind of thinking is to condemn to the highest degree,” he said.
He said adequate intelligence gathering in specific areas could focus on this threat, because according to him, it is “unfortunately quite easy to do damage to any establishment.
“This already borders on terrorism and bordering on terrorism may, it’s more – you know highly condemnable because the ideology behind it is very questionable,” he said.
The NPA marked its 39th founding anniversary on March 29, and vowed to take advantage of the pullout of soldiers from rural communities to control protest actions in Metro Manila by attacking mine concessions, logging firms and plantations to compel the military to scatter its forces to make them more vulnerable to rebel offensives.
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