Rebels torch road equipment in Agusan Norte

BUTUAN CITY — The New People’s Army (NPA) has struck again in Agusan del Norte, torching the heavy equipment of a road rehabilitation contractor in Las Nieves town last Wednesday morning.

Caraga police director Alberto Rama Olario said some 40 NPA rebels burned down the equipment of Pascual Construction upgrading a road stretch in Barangay Mat-I in Las Nieves, apparently because of the company’s refusal to give in to their extortion demands.

Residents helped put the fire under control.

Olario said the NPA attack only shows the true color of the communist guerrillas as "terrorists," adding that it should not boast of being a "people’s army" because their acts are "anti-people."

In another attack, rebels ambushed a convoy of military personnel led by Lt. Col. Oscar Solano, commander of the Army’s 28th Infantry Battalion, in Barangay Sampaguita in Veruela, Agusan del Sur.

The ambush left three soldiers wounded. The military said a number of rebels were also wounded in the 20-minute firefight that ensued.

In Central and Northern Luzon, meanwhile, bus operators have reportedly threatened to reduce their daily trips should authorities fail to protect them from NPA attacks.

This, as the NPA’s Josepino Corpuz Command admitted responsibility for Tuesday’s burning of a Baliwag Transit bus in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija. — With Benjie Villa