I recently posted a message as to the heightened danger in the phils
and not from the Abu Sayeff, Here is a recent news story from CBN.
Communist rebels intensify attacks
Amid Malacañang’s call for the entire citizenry to get involved in the fight against the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), communist guerrillas struck anew Friday evening, burning P10 million worth of heavy equipment belonging to a construction company owned by the mayor of Botolan, Zambales.
Officials said about 40 communist guerrillas raided the construction company’s compound in barangay Banguilan, Botolan town, at around 8 p.m., Friday, and set to fire a backhoe, a jeepney, two stone crushers, a bulldozer and payloaders.
The vehicle and heavy equipment were jointly owned by Botolan Mayor Roger Yap and a business partner identified only as Maniquis.
Officials said the workers and security personnel could not resist because the raiders were heavily armed.
The Botolan attack came on the same day that 50 NPA rebels attacked the police station of Lopez, Quezon, killing its police chief and wounding another policeman and two civilians.
Killed from grenade shrapnel was newly promoted Supt. Cesar Santander and wounded was Senior Police Officer 2 Nestor Santiago. Two of the rebels, who were seen being dragged by their companions, also died, according to Senior Supt. Roberto Rosales.
The firefight started at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the approach of the town’s police station of Lopez and lasted for about 30 minutes.
Malacañang condemned what it called the communist group’s “acts of terrorism.”
“We call on the entire citizenry to get involved in the fight against the CPP-NPA and we exhort the citizenry, especially the human rights groups and even the communist organizations which are not involved in the violence, to join us in condemning this latest acts of terrorism,” Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.
Asked in a radio interview to comment on the series of attacks, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez replied: “It appears that they have a message to send. Some think that they would like to resume peace talks because groups that wish to begin peace talks act that way; they are feeling the pressure of the government.”
Golez added that the attacks were part of the CPP-NPA’s “desperate effort” to convince the government that they are still a force to reckon with. The truth, he said, is that the organization is collapsing.
In Bulacan the CPP-NPA -- which is on the United States’ list of foreign terrorist organizations -- claimed responsibility for the raid of a quarry site in Angat town, where rebels burned heavy equipment on Thursday morning.
In a press statement, the CPP-NPA-ndf Komite ng Larangang Gerilya-Silangang Bulakan claimed that the attack was a form of “punishment to the capitalistic bureaucracy of the local government of Angat.”
The statement said the target of the attack was Angat Mayor Narding de Leon, provincial board member Jun Rivera, Angat Planning and Development officer Nilo Santos, Vice Mayor Cornelio Junio, municipal administrator Alex Saligao, councilor Jowar Bautista, the chairmen of barangays San Roque and Laog, and others it identified only as Villangca, Mr. Ghan and Julie Reyes.
These people, the group said, were responsible for the destruction of Angat River because of their unhampered quarry operation in the waterway.
The group also said that the quary operations are causing the depletion of underground water, the primary source of the resident’s potable water.
“Tinugunan lamang ng rebolusyunaryong kilusan ang matagal nang karaingan at kahilingan ng mamamayan na pigilan o sagkaan ang pinsalang dulot ng perwisyong negosyo,” the statement read.
In Davao City, the police filed charges against the mayor of Maco, Compostela Valley, along with NPA guerrillas who raided the town’s police station and took 34 rifles.
Chief Supt. Isidro Lapeña, Southern Mindanao police commander, defended the filing the charges saying that “there was no evidence showing that [Maco Mayor Miller Alaba] was under pressure or under duress” when he accompanied the raiding guerrillas.
Lapeña said the police filed charges of robbery-in-band against Alaba and the raiding NPA guerrillas at the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao and an administrative charge against the mayor at the Department of Interior and Local Government.
“He did not show any sign that he was under pressure when he pulled down the window of his car and waved to the police at the checkpoint,” he said.
It was due to Alaba’s gesture that made the guard pull up the boom and allowed the raiding convoy to enter the compound.
He said that these were the accounts of some of the 10 policemen manning the police station that time. The accounts were contained in the affidavits they filed at the court.
Lapeña said the mayor was being investigated by the Task Force Maco, the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Investigation Section of the Provincial Police Command. M. Cayon R. Lazaro, J. Bello, M. Punongbayan, M. Gonzalez
