Rebels attack wood firm in southern Philippines

Manila: Communist rebels have burnt three pieces of heavy equipment belonging to a woodworking company owned by the family of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile in the southern Philippines, a police report said.

Some 80 members of the communist New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the 45-year-old Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), burned a mechanical hoe, a grader machine, and a ten-wheeler logging truck in the grounds of the Casilayan Softwood Development Corporation (CSDC), a wood processing firm in San Salvador village, Prosperidad town, Agusan del Sur on Tuesday, said regional police chief Reynaldo S. Rafal.

CSDC's match factory in Magallanes town, Agusan del Norte, was not attacked, said Rafal, adding that a certain Eman of Guerilla Front 19 in northeastern Mindanao led the attacking NPA members.

After their attack, the NPA rebels escpaed towards San Martin village in Prosperidad town.