Tuesday, April 16, 2013
ABOUT 40 members of the New People’s Army (NPA) burned on Monday the equipment owned by the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) and the mini-packing house of Agrinanas Development Corporation Inc., police said.
The rebels burned the Dole’s bulldozer and three backhoes used in the proposed banana plantation in sitio Tapon in Barangay Mat-I, Claveria town at 1:30 a.m. on Monday.
At 7:00 a.m. on the same day, the mini-packing house of Agrinanas Development Corp. Inc. in Libona, Bukidnon was also burned by at least 15 NPA rebels wounding an employee identified as Jewersky Revilla after he was reportedly shot.
Police Regional Office-Northern Mindanao (PRO-10) spokesperson Superintendent Ronnie Francis Cariaga said the rebels’ intent of burning the equipment is extortion and harassment to the company affecting agri-workers and employees.
“We could not find any other motives than extortion. That is really their aim and it has nothing to with the environment,” Cariaga told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro in an interview on Monday.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) condemned the NPA attacks as inhuman and a violation of human rights especially that employees of Agrinanas are non-combatants.
Edgar Nanolan, president of the Employees Union of Agrinanas Development Corp. Inc., has been worried over the burning of the mini-packing house in Libona, because the management has already warned to pull out its business and leave the area if the NPA attempts to attack its plantation.
Nanolan said the NPA rebels burned the equipment after Agrinanas didn’t respond to the demands of the armed group. He said the management informed him of the money the NPA allegedly demanded from the firm.
“The deadline they gave to the management was supposed to be on Sunday, so we were relieved nothing happened on that day, but they staged their attack today (Monday)” he added.
In a radio interview, Jorge ‘Ka Oris’ Madlos, NPA spokesperson, who confirmed that the NPA rebels were responsible for the incident, vowed to continue their operation until the companies stop their banana expansion and leave the area.a
