NPAs swoop down on Surigao banana plantation

BUTUAN CITY, Philippines – Suspected New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas swooped down on a banana plantation owned by Dole Philippines in Barobo, Surigao del Sur last Tuesday morning and destroyed some 1,600 banana plants.

Police identified the rebel group of one Kumander Tata as the one responsible for the attack.

Last month, suspected guerrillas also swooped down on a portion of the banana plantation in Barobo town and destroyed 4,600 fully grown banana plants worth millions of pesos.

There have been four other attacks on the Dole plantation since 2008.

Meanwhile, arson charges have been filed against four NPA rebels for the burning of P20 million worth of quarry equipment in Cagayan’s northern Gonzaga town earlier this month.     

Charged were Jonathan Fondaga and his wife, Mylene Salvador; Rolando Igis and Allan Balanay, all belonging to the NPA’s Northern Front Committee, formerly the Henry Abraham Command.

The four were held responsible for the burning of the quarry equipment of Taiwanese-Filipino-owned Uni-Master Conglomeration Inc. (UMCI) in Pateng village last Dec. 2.

The four, together with 20 other fully armed rebels on board a commandeered truck, swooped down on the UMCI compound and torched a backhoe, payloader, two 1,000-kva generators, and a stockroom full of quarry tools and spare parts. –-Ben Serrano (The Philippine Star) with Charlie Lagasca and Raymund Catindig