NPAs burn P20 million worth heavy equipment in South Cotabato
Peace and Order • 17:45 PM Tue Jun 16, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
The backhoe that rebels burned using gasoline. (Contributed Facebook image)
SOUTH COTABATO --- Communist rebels set on fire more than P20 million worth of construction equipment in the hinterland Tiboli town Monday.
The Gemma Construction Company lost a backhoe, a payloader and a dump truck in the incident.
The South Cotabato provincial police said a group from the Far South Mindanao Region unit of the New People’s Army was behind the arson attack.
Workers were busy gathering sand and gravel in a quarry in Barangay Edwards in Tiboli when the NPAs arrived, herded them at one spot and burned the equipment using gasoline.
Members of the Tiboli municipal peace and order council said the NPAs warned the workers of more attacks if the firm’s management shall continue to ignore their demand of “protection money” on monthly basis.
The private construction outfit lost more than P50 million worth of road-building equipment to previous NPA arson attacks in South Cotabato province.
Tiboli Mayor Dibu Tuan, chairman of the municipal peace and order council, told reporters Monday the local police and soldiers from an Army Special Forces unit and the 72nd Infantry Battalion are now running after the NPA arsonists.
He said personnel of the municipal police will enlist the help of barangay officials in identifying the culprits for prosecution.