DAVAO REGION ON RED ALERT AS COMMUNIST REBELS INTENSIFY ATTACKS

NPAs intensify attacks;  3 killed , 14 wounded

By ROGER M. BALANZA

The military and police yesterday hoisted a red alert over Region Eleven as three people were killed and 13 others were wounded in a new wave of attacks by the communist New People’s Army rebels in the region in a span of less than 12 hours.

Shortly after midnight of Wednesday, communist rebels lobbed a grenade on a bakery in Compostela Valley, following it up with a raid on a police station in Davao Oriental.

Three people—two students and a motorcycle driver—were killed, while twelve were wounded, in the grenade blast in Nabunturan, while a policeman was injured as communist rebels rained heavy fire on the Banaybanay town hall in Davao Oriental around 8:30 am yesterday. The rebels took off after the brief raid with six M16 rifles, two 9mm pistols and one caliber .22 revolver.

Police regional chief Andres Caro he has ordered a red alert all over the region to stave off more attacks by the NPA. Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) commander Major General Armando Cunanan said more field troops and helicopter gun ships have been flown down to Davao Oriental to hunt down the rebels.

In the Banaybanay raid, rebels pulled down the Philippine flag and hoisted in its stead the communist flag as some 50 rebels cleaned the police armory of three assault rifles and two handguns. They arrived aboard two dump trucks and a van, and pretended to be militant protesters seeking permit for a rally.

Compostela Valley Governor Arturo Uy condemned the attack and offered P200,000 for information on the identity of the attackers. Uy visited the injured victims at the Davao Regional Hospital in nearby Tagum City. Whoever carried out this terrorism should answer for it, said Uy.

“This is the handiwork of the New People’s Army rebels,” said Captain Michael Aquino, of the 10th Infantry Division. The attack in Nabunturan, he said, apparently targeted a group of for-hire motorcycle drivers suspected as military spy. “We have reports saying that the attack targeted the ‘habal-habal’ drivers in the area because the NPA suspected them as government spies,” Aquino said. The bakery is a 24-hour eatery and was teeming with people when attacked.

Major Armand Rico, 10^th Infantry Division spokesman, said two men and a woman on a motorcycle lobbed the grenade into the bakery in Nabunturan town. “We believed the grenade attack was a punitive action for the failure of the business establishment to pay revolutionary taxes to the rebels,” he said, adding local businessmen have been receiving extortion letters from the insurgents.

In the mining barangay of Mt. Diwalwal, Monkayo also in Compostela Valley, NPA rebels on Wednesday morning also raided the compound of JB Mining and Asares Mining, after the mining companies reportedly refused to pay revolutionary tax.

Last week, the rebels raided two town halls in Surigao del Norte province, stealing weapons and communications equipment, but soldiers caught up with the guerrillas, killing 15 of them and capturing a dozen others.

The Philippines has been battling communist rebels in 69 of 81 provinces across the country in a protracted conflict that has killed 40,000 people and stunted economic growth in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest states.

The Philippine Army’s 1001st Brigade said the raiders belonged to the Pulang Bagani Command 3 under Ka Lando and Ka Noli.

Police personnel in the said town reportedly put up a fight against the rebels that lasted for 30 minutes. Forces from the police and military immediately responded to the area but the rebels already left the area when they arrived.