A BIG banana plantation was attacked by 25 New People’s Army guerrillas who burned heavy equipment worth P5 million and took six firearms of the company’s security guards in Barangay Kapatagan, Laak, Compostela Valley, Lt. Col. Lyndon Paniza, spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry “Agila” Division, said.
“They raided the compound of the Sumifro Corp. at around 4:20 a.m. They disarmed the security guards of two shotguns and four caliber .38 revolvers. The rebels used one of the trucks of the company in their escape. Pursuit operations are ongoing,” Paniza said in a telephone interview.
Sumifro is owned by Japan-based Sumitomo Corp. that owns hundreds of hectares of fruits plantations, particularly banana, for export purposes.
Paniza said the attack was connected to the NPA’s extortion activities “masked as collection of so-called revolutionary taxes.”
“It’s simply extortion by the NPA,” Paniza said.
In a separate interview, the National Police spokesman, Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., said the rebels burned the company’s radio room, generator set and two water tankers.
“Based on the initial investigation report, the rebels also destroyed some properties of the company before they escaped,” Cruz said.
The incident came barely three weeks after the attacks against three mining companies in Claver, Surigao del Norte, where the rebels destroyed heavy equipment and structures worth more than P2 billion. They also took scores of high-powered firearms.
Paniza said the NPA raid was “treacherous,” adding that the NPA violated the terms of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law when it “attacked a civilian compound.”
“There is no military camp nearby to make it a target,” he said.
Government forces, meanwhile, killed an NPA guerrilla and captured another in an encounter with rebels in Arakan, North Cotabato, on Thursday.
A junior Army officer was wounded during the clash, which occurred at about 5:45 a.m. in Sitio Lumbo, Barangay Cabalantian in Arakan.
The Army commander, Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz, said a team from the 10th Special Forces Company was on combat patrol when it encountered the guerrillas.
The troops also recovered three high-powered firearms.
(With R. Acosta and M. Cayon)
