NPA behind attack on Negros cellsite, says rival rebel group

Blame the New People’s Army (NPA).

Carapali Lualhati, leader of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA), a breakaway communist rebel group, pointed to the mainstream NPA as behind the torching of a Globe Telecom cellular site in Escalante City, Negros Occidental last Sunday.

Lualhati, however, refused to provide details about the NPA’s involvement in the attack. Police said they have no conclusive evidence yet against the NPA.

Police found in the vicinity of the Globe Telecom cellsite in Barangay Balintawak two gallons of gasoline, a molotov bomb, and shrapnels from 40-mm projectiles fired from an M203 grenade launcher.

The NPA’s Reselyn Pelle-Marapo Command reportedly operates in the hinterland Escalante barangays of Malasibog, Jonobjonob and Libertad. RPA guerrillas also operate there, police said.

The NPA has also been blamed for similar attacks on other transmission facilities of cellular phone companies Globe Telecom and Smart Communications elsewhere in the country.

The attacks stemmed from the companies’ alleged refusal to pay so-called "revolutionary taxes" to the communist movement.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has insisted that its collection of "revolutionary taxes" in rebel-controlled areas is a "legitimate work" and "state right of the people’s democratic government."

Since negotiations to peacefully end the communist insurgency started in 1986, shortly after the first EDSA Revolution, the CCP, through its political wing, the National Democratic Front (NDF), has insisted on being treated as a "belligerent state" by the Philippine government.

Thus, the enforcement of "revolutionary taxation." The CPP claimed that it only "proves that the people’s revolutionary government is functioning and operational in large areas that are being controlled by the revolutionary movement."

The CPP claimed that its "fund-raising program" is neither extortion nor a terrorist activity, adding that those who "comply" show their "recognition" of its political authority.