'NPA rebels' burn P30M in equipment at Silay airport

At least 50 suspected New People's Army (NPA) rebels burned about P30 million in equipment after raiding the construction site of an international airport in Silay, Negros Occidental, police authorities reported on Sunday. The incident took place at 2 a.m. Sunday, when the men, who initially identified themselves as members of the police regional mobile group, swooped down on the construction site in Barangay Bagtic, two kilometers from the Silay City incentral Philippines. "Mahihinto ang trabaho for the airport dahil yan ang pinakaimportanteng part ng construction [This will delay the construction work because the damaged part was a vital part of the construction]," Supt. Celestino Guara, head of the Silay city police, said in an interview on dzBB radio. Guara said the international airport was one of the infrastructure projects that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo promised to undertake in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July. The Korean contractor Han Jin, according to Guara, was partly to blame for the incident, saying it refused to let policemen guard the site. The firm had hired only "unarmed" security guards, he said. Citing initial reports, Guara said the guerrillas burned the powerhouse of Japanese contractor Takenaka and the computer boxing plant equipment of Han Jin. "We suspect the New People’s Army (NPA) members burned the site because their demand for revolutionary taxes was not met. The NPA had been demanding revolutionary taxes since construction work started," he said. Investigation showed that about 50 armed NPAs approached the construction site of the airport that is being built by Han Jin. The armed men first identified themselves as members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Regional Mobile Group, and were allowed in. But once inside, the men allegedly disarmed the security guards, introduced themselves as NPAs, and proceeded to burn some P20 million in computerized equipment at the boxing plant. They went to another site and burned another P10 million in the powerhouse in the construction area, and fled after 30 minutes, the police said. - GMANews.Tv