|
Saturday, March 27, 2004
5 workers, cops slain in Ormoc ambush
THREE employees of the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) and two policemen were killed when about 80 communist rebels ambushed them in Sitio Cabantog, Lake Danao, Ormoc City past 7 a.m. yesterday.
The ambush site was just a kilometer from PNOC’s Rig 8 geothermal power plant, which was torched by five suspected New People’s Army (NPA) guerillas an hour earlier.
The five fatalities were merely responding to the burning of the geothermal plant’s facility when the rebels opened fire at them.
The blaze destroyed some P200 million worth of equipment of the Leyte-based PNOC, which supplies power to the Visayas area.
The attack happened just as President Arroyo assured Cebu’s business leaders last night of stable power supply, which was bugged by shortages and interruptions last year.
Sun.Star Cebu tried but failed to reach PNOC officials for comment last night.
Maj. Norman Zuniega, Centcom spokesperson, said the NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, was expected to intensify atrocities in the countryside days leading to its anniversary on Monday.
He said this is part of their strategy to show they are still active and to instill fear among civilians, especially those in far-flung areas.
Zuniega said the move is also meant for politicians, seeking elective posts in the May 10 polls, to give in to their demands for permit-to-campaign fees. The fees will reportedly give access to candidates to campaign in the so-called NPA-controlled areas.
Fatalities
The Central Command (Centcom) identified the fatalities as PO1 Mario Udtuhan and P01 Michael Dagami of the PNP Regional Mobile Group (RMG); and PNOC employees Jaime Celeste, Jerry Flores and Aldrin Alcover.
Major Zuniega said a policeman was also wounded in the ambush, but his name was still not available as of press time.
Zuniega believed the three PNOC workers were among the state firm security officers who responded to the scene, along with RMG policemen.
The responding team was on board three Toyota vehicles, one of which was boarded by PNOC’s security force personnel, Zuniega said.
He said two M16 Arma-lite rifles, two .38 revolvers and two shotguns were lost and believed to have been taken by the NPA.
Zuniega said a laptop computer, two boxes of assorted medicine, a PNOC service vehicle and crane got burned after the rebels torched PNOC’s Rig 8 facility.
Pursuit
Zuniega said elements of the 19th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Philippine Army, led by Lt. Nelmida, were immediately dispatched to the area to conduct pursuit operations against the fleeing red fighters.
The 19th IB, which is under the 8th Infantry Division, is based in Barangay Aguiting, Cananga, Leyte.
The military said the non-payment of the so-called NPA revolutionary tax was seen as the motive of this latest NPA-initiated attack, which happened less than a week after the rebels burned a Ceres bus in Dalaguete, Cebu last Sunday.
Witnesses saw at least five perpetrators aboard a pump boat heading towards Bohol Province after the attack.
Intense military and NPA firefights also occurred the past weeks in Bohol, which saw casualties on both sides.
Prominent among the fatalities on the NPA side was its Central Visayas spokesperson Silvino “Ka Bino” Clamucha, a native of Balilihan town in Bohol. GC |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
