5 civilians killed, heavy equipment burned by suspected NPA rebels in Agusan Sur

Five civilians were killed while five heavy equipment were burned on Tuesday by suspected New People’s Army rebels in Esperanza town, Agusan del Sur, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said Wednesday.

Citing a report from the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, the AFP said that around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, around 40 insurgents attacked Sitio Kamarangan in the town and burned the equipment of Shannalyne Corporation.

The corporation was hired by the Esperanza local government to plant acacia trees on a land awarded to the Higaonon tribe there.

The Armed Forces condemned what they deemed “NPA atrocities.”

“The incident is not a form of armed struggle but an outright criminal act,” the military said.

Military information chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said the details remained “sketchy” as to how the five civilians were killed in the raid.

Major Leo Bongosia, spokesperson of the 4th Infantry Division, has yet to reply for a clarification.

It was the latest reported attack by suspected communist rebels as peace talks with the National Democratic Front appeared to have collapsed.

Last January 27, at least nine people were killed and six others wounded in an ambush by suspected NPA members in La Castellana town in Negros Occidental.

Last May 4, at least five soldiers were also killed in an encounter with NPA rebels after the later ambushed the Philex Mining Corp. compound in Barangay Camindangan in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental province.

The NPA has been waging a 44-year-old Maoist armed campaign that has claimed at least 30,000 lives. The military estimates the NPA has about 4,000 fighters.

The government had been hoping to sign a pact to end the rebellion before President Benigno Aquino ended his six-year term in 2016. But the government said in April that peace talks had collapsed.

Last month, the government decided to stop pursuing formal peace talks with the NPA’s political arm, the National Democratic Front, which were “going nowhere.” — Marc Jayson Cayabyab/RSJ, GMA News