Reports reaching the Army’s 7th Infantry Division (7ID) at the Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation here said that the joint police and military troopers were conducting patrol operations when they stumbled on the large plantation of cannabis in Barangay Dianawan, Maria Aurora.
Lt. Col. Albert Yambing, commanding officer of the Army’s 70th Infantry Batallion, said suspected communist rebels were maintaining the plantation themselves based on the reported several sightings of unidentified men roaming the place.
He said that some villagers had confirmed that the rebels maintained the plantation purportedly to finance their operations.
The rebels averted a possible armed confrontation with law enforcers when a suspected runner of the guerrillas tipped them off on the arrival of the government troops and they withdrew.
Col. Jovenal Narcise, commander of the 702nd infantry brigade, said that transients from Benguet province had apparently been hired to cultivate the marijuana plants, estimated to be worth P1 million.
Earlier, Narcise said the NPAs were also pprotecting illlegal loggers in Aurora.
Meanwhile, Narcise also said that an NPA guerrilla identified as Glen Espiritu alias Ka Mawi who surrendered to the 71st Infantry Brigade has vowed to cooperate to neutralize his rebel group.
Espiritu said he used to work as mass organizer for the NPA. — Manny Galvez, Ding Cervantes