Mayor requests Army detachment in E.B. Magalona

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines —E. B. Magalona town Mayor David Albert Lacson has requested military authorities for a Philippine Army detachment to be put up in his town in the wake of reported raids of two haciendas allegedly done by the New People's Army.

Lieutenant Col. Nathaniel Villasor, Civil Military Operations officer of the 3rd Infantry Battalion, said they are still studying the mayor's request as there are several things to be considered, such as the proper strategic site, among others.

Lacson alleged that 80 percent of the landowners in E. B. Magalona have been coerced by the rebels to pay them revolutionary taxes, although none of them had given in to their demands.

The past weeks, the NPA had burned tractors owned by agriculture businessmen who refused to pay the rebels, and these concerned the mayor so much as to seek military's help.

Villasor, condemned the acts of the rebels, which he said were desperate moves that would only lose the support of the masses. — THE FREEMAN