ABOUT six unidentified armed men allegedly burned farm equipment estimated to amount to P3 million in Hacienda Nieva, Barangay To-oy, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental Monday night, April 1.
Lieutenant Colonel Egberto Dacoscos, commander of the 62nd Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Philippine Army, said the armed men arrived at 8:30 p.m. and threatened the security guard.
They reportedly shot the guard but he evaded injury when he ran away.
The armed men then went inside the compound, destroyed four tractors, a 10-wheeler truck, a cane harvester, and two wooden bunkhouses.
Dacoscos said there were workers inside the compound when the incident happened but they were unharmed.
Authorities recovered from the scene three fired cartridges of M16 rifle, a live ammunition of the said firearm, and two empty gallons of gasoline.
Though the assailants did not identify themselves as New People’s Army and the attack has no signature of an extortion scheme from the rebels, Dacoscos said they are still not discounting the possibility that the rebels might be behind the attack.
He said they are still probing if the businessman-owner, whose name was withheld for security reasons, had previous threats of extortion from an armed group.
He said there were no suspicious-looking individuals previously seen in the area for possible surveillance.
He said policemen and some military forces were deployed in the area for security and investigation. (GYM)