15,000 banana plants in Dole plantation chopped down; NPA suspected

Suspected members of the New People's Army hacked down more than 15,000 fully grown banana plants in a Dole Philippines plantation in Anahao Daan village in Tago town, Surigao del Sur on Friday evening, police said. The plants at the Dole-Stanfilco plantation had been ready for harvest, Caraga regional police spokesman Superintendent Martin Gamba said in a statement released Sunday. He also said the cost of the damage may be in the millions of pesos. As they left, the suspected members of NPA's Guerrilla Front 19-B under a certain "Susay" also fired at four backhoes and a mini bulldozer parked along the road as they passed Sitio Ibo in the same village. Gamba said the Tago police station has intensified its intelligence in monitoring the movement of the communist rebels while nearby police stations were conducting checkpoints. Earlier, newly installed Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief  Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista vowed to continue the government's counter-insurgency program Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) Bayanihan. In his assumption speech last Thursday, Bautista urged those involved in the armed struggle to give up their fight in order to allow the country to move forward. "We, your soldiers need your help. Join us in calling for an end to armed violence and in advocating for peace, to allow us to focus on the important task of securing the sovereignty of our state and the integrity of our national territory and protecting our people from the adverse effect of climate change and environmental degradation," he said. — Amanda Fernandez/BM, GMA News