Reds torch farmhouse of Quezon mayor

CAMP NAKAR, Lucena City — Some 20 armed men believed to be New People’s Army guerrillas torched the farmhouse of the mayor of San Andres, Quezon last Thursday morning, police said.

The rebels, reportedly belonging to the NPA’s Maria Teresa de Leon Command operating in southern Quezon, swooped down on the farmhouse of Mayor Sergio Emprese in Sitio Guinobatan, Barangay Pansoy at about 8 a.m. and then burned it down.

No one was reported hurt in the one-hour incident, Senior Superintendent Federico Terte, Quezon police director, said.

The armed men, Terte said, carted away eight imported fighting cocks, a two-way radio and other belongings of the mayor.

Joint elements of the 416th Provincial Police Mobile Group and the 74th Infantry Battalion have been pursuing the rebels. — Arnell Ozaeta