NPA slaughter of pigs in Bukidnon was 'economic sabotage', military says

Published October 31, 2013 9:52pm

It was a massive attack on pork, the real kind, which the military has called "economic sabotage."

Without any apparent intent to eat the animals, a group of suspected communist guerrillas slaughtered at least 50 pigs on Wednesday and hacked as many as 400 more which survived.

The attack occurred at a farm in Barangay Sil-ipon, Libona town in Bukidnon.

"This is an economic sabotage by the NPA," Eastern Mindanao Command Chief Lt. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III said in a statement released on Thursday.

Around 30 members of NPA Front 68 hacked 50 pigs at a farm in Barangay Sil-ipon, Libona town, according to the statement. At least 400 pigs were also injured and had to be treated by veterinarians.

At least 20 sacks of animal feed were also burned by the communist insurgents, the military said.

A military spokesman said in an AFP report Wednesday evening that the attack may have been prompted by the farm's failure to meet rebel extortion demands. The insurgents often demand money from rural businesses like farms and plantations.

Police and military were deployed to the area to pursue the rebels, the statement read.

The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has waged one of the longest-running communist insurgencies in Asia.

Peace talks collapsed in April with both parties claiming negotiations were not working. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab/JDS/KG, GMA News

Tags: bukidnon, newpeoplesarmy