Communist rebels torch cell site in Quezon

Suspected communist rebels torched a cell site of Globe Telecom in Sampaloc, Quezon shortly before dawn yesterday, just a few days after the first part of the holiday truce expired.

Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, Armed Forces public affairs office chief, said New People’s Army (NPA) rebels disarmed the lone security guard and set the equipment on fire.

He could not yet give an estimate of the damage but other field reports said the cabin, generator set and other equipment were destroyed.

The rebels earlier had attacked Globe cell sites in the Batangas towns of Taysan and Lemery.

NPA rebels were also suspected to have lobbed an improvised explosive at the police station of Placer, Masbate Saturday night, damaging glass windows and the ceiling, authorities said.

The other day, NPA guerillas figured in clashes with government troops in Western Samar and Agusan del Norte, leaving a soldier dead and another wounded.

Torres said elements of the 34th Infantry Battalion encountered some 20 rebels in Barangay Layo in Pinabakdaw, Western Samar, just hours after the NPA’s unilateral truce expired midnight of Dec. 27.

There were no casualties reported on the government side.

However, an Army man was killed while his comrade was wounded in a clash with some 20 rebels in Barangay Tagmamarkay in Tubay, Agusan del Norte.

During the first two days of the suspension of military operations last Dec. 24-25, soldiers maintained an active defensive posture to prevent NPA rebels and other threat groups from taking advantage of the holidays.

The Communist Party of the Philippines, which has control over the NPA, said rebels should intensify their attacks and advance from strategic defensive to strategic stalemate and finally to strategic offensive.

President Arroyo has given the military until 2010 to crush the rebel group, which has been waging a guerrilla war in the countryside for four decades. – James Mananghaya, Arnell Ozaeta, Ed Amoroso, Michelle Zoleta and Celso Amo