He said the NPA are engaged in arson because the people refused to give in to their extortion.
Military and police reports said suspected NPAs raided two coal mines and destroyed their equipment in Calatrava town in the northern part of the province. The rebels also disarmed two security guards guarding a port in Sipalay City in southern Negros during the weekend.
Earlier, the rebels were tagged behind the torching of the three delivery trucks of Tanduay, causing damages pegged at P6-million, at the port in Escalante City.
Major Nathaniel Villasor, 303rd Infantry Brigade Civil Military Operations chief, said Tuesday that the damage to the coal mines equipment, owned by former Board Member Fernando Leonor and Melvin Villamero in barangays Macasilao and Lipat-on, were estimated at P150,000.
Villasor said the separate raids on the two coal mines were simultaneously done by burning three delivery trucks of Tanduay Distillery Inc. at the Barcelona Port in Barangay Old Poblacion, Escalante City last June 4.
Military investigations, meanwhile, showed the rebels, allegedly led by a certain Odot Danoso, carted away the handheld radios and cellphones of the mine workers.
The failure of their respective owners to pay revolutionary taxes triggered the burning of delivery trucks and the raids on two coal mines in Calatrava, Villasor claimed.
Six suspected NPAs, armed with M-16 assault rifles and .45 caliber pistols, meantime raided the Campomanes Bay Port in Barangay Maricalum in Sipalay City.
The rebels disarmed two security guards of their .38 revolver and 12-gauge shotgun, respectively, Sunday.
The burning of trucks and destruction of equipment in Calatrava led to the suspension of work at the two mine sites.
Villasor alleged that the series of atrocities committed by the insurgents in a week's time, including the liquidation of a former member of the Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO) and the attack against an army detachment in Guihulngan, Oriental Negros, "showed desperation on the part of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA after losing their guerilla bases in central Negros to the 11th Infantry Battalion."
"They are now sowing terror on civilians who are rejecting their demands," he added.
Senior Superintendent Rosendo Franco, provincial police director, reiterated his call for the community's active participation in preventing future insurgents' atrocities by reporting suspected individuals in their barangays.
Lieutenant General Pedro Ike Insierto of AFP Central Command chief ordered military forces in Negros to exert more efforts in running after the suspects behind the two separate incidents in northern Negros.
