NPA plan to burn down Albay cellsite foiled

Soldiers and militiamen repulsed 20 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels who swooped down and attempted to torch a cellsite of Smart Communications in Guinobatan, Albay last Saturday.

The guerrillas stormed the cellsite, some five kilometers from the Guinobatan town proper, at about 9:30 p.m. but an eight-man group of Army men and CAFGU (Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit) members, tipped off by villagers, foiled their plan to burn down the Smart facility.

A 20-minute firefight ensued, leaving a soldier (T/Sgt. Florante Nieva of the 22nd Infantry Battalion) and three militiamen (Romeo Ragodon, Edgar Sano and Vergel Loyola) wounded.

A number of rebels were also wounded in the clash.

Saturday’s incident was the second unsuccessful attempt of the NPA to torch a cellsite in Bicol this month. Last Oct. 22, alert guards and policemen foiled the rebels’ plan to destroy a Globe Telecom cellsite in Barangay Sua, Sorsogon City.

Last Oct. 10, 25 NPA members burned down a BayanTel-RCPI relay station at Mt. Kamurubala in Barangay Kinalabasan, Bula, Camarines Sur.

In Hermosa, Bataan, meanwhile, at least 10 suspected rebels intruded into the Hermosa Economic Zone Development compound and disarmed four security guards manning the ecozone’s gate over the weekend.

Guards Harry Mina, Nolito Viduya, Wilfredo Rufino and Prudencio Domingo were caught by surprise when the rebels appeared from behind them and at gunpoint, told them to lay down their firearms.

The rebels warned the guards not to stop civilians from entering the ecozone and planting trees there. Before leaving, they asked the guards to sign a deal that if they ignore the warning, they will be "liquidated."

The dissidents fled toward the mountainous area of Barangay Nazareno in Hermosa town, bringing with them the guards’ three 12-gauge shotguns, 15 rounds of ammunition and two handheld radios.

In a related development, suspected guerrillas gunned down a Cadet Officers’ Candidate Course (COCC) officer in Pampanga and a barangay chairman and his companion in Nueva Ecija, both last Saturday.

Police said Arnulfo Sudaria, COCC commandant of St. Joseph Academy in Mexico, Pampanga, was supervising cadets when two men approached him from behind and shot him several times with a caliber .45 pistol.

Another student, Regino Lacson, was hit by a stray bullet.

In Talavera, Nueva Ecija, Romualdo Maranan, 56, chairman of Barangay Baluga, and his secretary, Fedelito Nava, 46, were on their home aboard an Army-type jeep when the rebels, riding a white Nissan Sentra, fired at them.

Maranan and Nava suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died while being rushed to the hospital. Police found 19 M-16 empty shells at the ambush scene.