Monday, April 14, 2008 Armed men torch Dolefil equipment By Malu Cadelina Manar
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Unidentified armed men torched another equipment owned by Dole Stanfilco, the biggest banana firm operating in North Cotabato, in Barangay Luvimin here, around midnight Wednesday.
Robert Juligao, warehouse manager of Dole Stanfilco assigned in Makilala town in North Cotabato, said the incident was the second attack against the company since Monday.
On Monday night, suspected New Peoples' Army (NPA) operating in North Cotabato torched a sprayer truck that the company also owned in Barangay Kisante, Makilala.
The equipment, worth P200,000, was a mobile mini-packing plant that can process at least 180 boxes of bananas in a day.
About seven people operate the machine, Juligao said, which was placed in Barangay Luvimin, a kilometer away from the highway in Kidapawan City.
The company is clueless as to who set the equipment on fire.
Juligao dismissed as baseless the report that their workers or the residents in the community were behind it.
"I don't think there's truth to it. In fact, we still need more workers because we're at peak season. We hire as many workers in the community as possible.
Also, our workers are given the benefits and incentives that they deserve," said Juligao.
He, however, refused to confirm if the NPA rebels perpetrated the attack.
"I don't know about it," he said.
The Front 51 of the NPA operating in Makilala, Kidapawan, and Magpet areas, was tagged as behind the torching of sprayer truck last Monday in Makilala, according to Chief Superintendent Casimiro Medes of the Philippine National Police (PNP) regional information office based in General Santos City.
Medes said the communist guerillas had been extorting "protection money" or "revolutionary taxes" from the company.
