Globe cell site in Guihulngan bombed

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – A cellular site of the Globe Telecom at Barangay Hilaitan in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental was bombed early this week by suspected members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army, police report said.

Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, chief of the Regional Intelligence Division of the Police Regional Office 7 (PRO-7) based in Cebu City, said that a still undetermined type of improvised explosive device was used in the bombing.

Lawas said all indications and the manner in which the bombing was carried out showed that the rebels might be the alleged perpetrators. Hilaitan, where the Globe cell site is located, is among the barangays in Negros Oriental that remains affected by the insurgency problem, he said.

Even as the CPP-NPA has not issued a statement claiming responsibility for the crime, the police believed the group has the motive, after reports received by the PNP showed the NPA hierarchy has allegedly issued a directive to resume its tactical offensives against the government, said Lawas.

A progress report submitted by Chief Insp. Errol Garchitorena Jr., Guihulngan Police chief, to the Negros Oriental Provincial Police and the PRO-7 in Cebu, showed that an explosion was heard at around 10:30 p.m. Monday at Hilaitan in Guihulngan.

The police, however, received information about the bombing only the following morning as potential witnesses did not immediately report the incident to authorities, apparently fearing retaliation from the perpetrators.

Guihulngan policemen, who responded Tuesday morning, said the crime scene was already “contaminated” as Globe personnel, headed by a maintenance engineer, were already there.

Police investigators lamented the seemingly uncooperative attitude of Globe personnel, who allegedly did not coordinate with the Guihulngan police station at the start of the year regarding private security personnel.

Damage to the cell site was pegged at P1 million although the extent of the blast was not immediately known.

Recovered at the scene of the bombing incident were pieces of shrapnel and broken metal, and a broken part of a cellular phone key pad, believed to have been used by the perpetrators.

A team from the PNP Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) and post-blast investigators from Police Provincial Office, who arrived later, took soil samples at the blast area to determine the type of explosive used by the suspects. The SOCO team also found a wire insulator from where the explosion occurred.

Further police investigation showed that a certain Danny Carampatan of Hilaitan revealed that, soon after the explosion, he and other residents in the area heard several bursts of gun fire or possible warning shots, a customary practice of NPA rebels after a mission was accomplished.

Carampatan further said they heard the sound of a pump boat engine revving up in the seawaters of Hilaitan shortly after the blast, and that the vessel was believed to have headed towards Cebu province.

Globe personnel reportedly remained silent when asked about the bombing incident, even as police investigators believed the incident could be a retaliatory act by the rebels after their “extortion attempt for revolutionary taxes” from the said telecommunications company was not heeded, the police report said.

Lawas further said the incident might be part of the NPA’s showing they are still “a force to reckon with,” amid the plans for the resumption of peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front-CPP-NPA.

The Guihulngan Police have initially included in its assessment that the “sudden pull out” of the 32nd Reconnaissance Company of the Philippine Army in Barangay Hibaiyo, Guihulngan, gave the rebels an opportunity to move freely in the area. - THE FREEMAN