3 power transmission towers bombed

Three transmission towers of the state-run National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) in the cities of Marawi and Iligan and Lanao del Norte were bombed, causing no immediate outages but triggering a security alert in the region, officials said yesterday.

Identical homemade bombs toppled a transmission tower of TransCo in Marawi City late Tuesday and downed another in nearby Baloi town in Lanao del Norte Sunday, the company said in a statement.

A third tower in Iligan City was bombed on Sunday, causing it to lean precariously and damaging one of its cables, the company said.

TransCo spokesman Arvee Villafuerte said the power losses caused by the attacks were covered by the company’s power reserves.

Two big industrial users, however, were asked to reduce their electricity usage so Transco would not be forced to cut power in some residential areas in case the repairs on the damaged towers took too long, he said.

Government troops were patrolling the other Transco transmission facilities which could also come under attack in the south, the company said, declining to identify any group it suspected of carrying out the bombings.

Army Col. Ronnie Javier said Moro and communist guerrillas have a presence in the regions of the attacks, adding it was difficult to immediately identify the attackers.

"All personnel of Transco’s facilities in Mindanao are now on high alert status," the company said.

Meanwhile, suspected communist guerrillas damaged three Globe Telecom cellular phone transmission towers in Camarines Sur and Masbate after the company refused to bow to their extortion attempts, police said.

About 15 New People’s Army rebels barged into the compound of Globe Telecom in Pamplona, Camarines Sur Saturday and set one of the transmission tower’s generators on fire, Chief Superintendent Ricardo Padilla said.

They fled without harming anyone, he said.

The guerrillas damaged another Globe Telecom tower in Malinta village in Masbate Sunday, and a third in the same province on Monday, police said.

Globe Telecom would never give in to rebel demands for "revolutionary taxes," spokesman Jones Campos said.

President Arroyo’s administration has intensified efforts to crush the guerrillas’ 38-year-old Marxist rebellion with military offensives and a plan to proscribe the rebel group under a new anti-terrorism law. – AP