Manila: Communist rebels burned the hauling equipment of a banana company in the southern Philippines, the military said.
Twenty suspected members of the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) forcibly entered the compound of the GY Company in Bangbang village, Matalam, North Cotabato, disarmed the security guards, poured gasoline and set to fire six parked hauling trucks Wednesday morning, said Captain Antonio Bulao, spokesman of the military’s 602nd Infantry Brigade in Cotabato.
Three of the trucks belonged to the hauling firm, and the three others to Sumitru banana plantation, said Bulao, adding that GY serves Sumitru’s hauling needs.
The NPA members seized four shotguns and communication equipment from the company’s security guards before they fled.
The company has been receiving demand for payment of “taxeds” from NPA Front 72, known to operate in North Cotabato said Bulao.
The NPA has been demanding the same payment from other multinational firms in the southern Philippines, said Bulao.
The NPA is the armed wing of the 44-year old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the oldest running leftist group in Southeast Asia.
The Philippine government has been holding on and off peace talks with the communist National Democratic Front (NDF), the negotiating arm of the CPP-NPA, which controls “red zones” in far-flung and underdeveloped villages.
