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Thursday, January 29, 2004
Military intensifies anti-NPA drive
By Adrian Sedillo
GOVERNMENT forces intensified their drive to flush out the New People's Army (NPA) rebels believed to be hiding in the hinterlands of southern Negros Oriental.
The intensified drive followed a series of terrorist attacks in Negros Oriental, the most recent of which was the burning of a stone crusher and a power plant of China Estate Corporation in Nagbalaye, Sta. Catalina, Tuesday.
As this developed the provincial command of the PNP deployed additional men to the China Estate Corporation compound.
PNP provincial director Amaron Morrok did not say how many men were deployed at the road construction compound in Sitio Litid, Nagbalaye, where the armed rebels burned down the firm's stone crusher and power plant around 10 p.m.
Senior Supt. Morrok said military and special security forces were also combing the hinterlands of Sta. Catalina where the rebels might have fled after burning the construction equipment.
The Sta. Catalina hinterlands, particularly the rich Tamlang valley that straddles the common borders of Siaton, Zamboanguita, Valencia, and Pamplona, were the hotbeds of insurgency at its height in the late 80's and early 90s.
At least two helicopter gunships are continuously patrolling the skies above while ground troops are moving in those areas.
Initial PNP reports said before the incident, an unidentified woman rented a van from one of the rent-a-car firms in Dumaguete City and then proceeded to Sitio Litid, Nagbalaye.
Upon arrival, five armed men joined the woman inside the van and entered the China Estate compound.
The armed men then disarmed the compound's two security guards of their .38 caliber pistol and shotgun and burned the two facilities. No one was hurt in the incident.
He said police investigation confirmed the attackers were NPA rebels or dismissed workers who could have joined the armed movement.
Meanwhile, Sr. Supt. Morrok said that witnesses refused to cooperate with the ongoing investigation into the attack.
He said staffers of a non-government foundation refused to offer information about the incident prompting him to suspect that it might be a secret supporter of the leftist movement.
Moreover, villagers denied knowledge about the attacks, Morrok said.
Tuesday's attack came 10 days after NPA rebels burned two Ceres passenger buses in Canlaon City, allegedly to force Vallacar Transit to increase their revolutionary tax. Damage was placed at P2.5 million.
Hours before the Sta. Catalina attack, Gov. George Arnaiz dispelled public concern over the reported heightened NPA activities.
Governor Arnaiz told newsmen the arrival Monday of two military Huey helicopters and an armored personnel carrier did not mean that the province is heading into a war zone.
The governor explained that the military hardware was part of the preparation against the reported build-up of the armed mainstream communist presence in Negros Oriental.
Earlier, the PNP confirmed the arrival last month of about 100 armed NPA rebels from the nearby provinces to the northern municipality of Guihulngan, Negros Oriental.
The same group was later confirmed to have landed aboard motorized boats in Siit, in the southern town of Siaton.
(January 25, 2004 issue)
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