NPA denies hand in burning of 4 houses, chapel in Misamis Oriental town

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines —The communist New People’s Army (NPA) denied involvement in the burning of four houses and a small chapel in Opol town, Misamis Oriental on Thursday.

NPA spokesperson Maybelle Guerrero in a statement on Sunday also said it was not true that villagers heard the shout, “Mabuhay ang NPA” as suspects left the village of Zone 2, Barangay Limonda in Opol.

“The NPA has nothing to do with the said torching,” Guerrero said in a statement sent to media organizations. “If this were true, then it raises the suspicion that the arson was the handiwork of AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) soldiers in the area.”

“(T)he NPA does not, and will not, destroy civilian infrastructure, especially places of worship,” Guerrero assured the people of Opol and Misamis Oriental.

The military and the police blamed the communist rebels for burning the houses and chapel after residents reportedly refused to give in to the rebels’ demands for food.

Army 403rd Infantry Brigade spokesperson Capt. Rene Belmonte Jr. said the perpetrators were NPA rebels led by a certain “Decoy” of the Guerilla Front 12 that operated near the border of Misamis Oriental and Iligan City.

Guerrero also belied military claims that Ka Maria Malaya, spokesperson of the NDFP in Northeast Mindanao, and Ka Joaquin Jacinto, NDFP-Mindanao spokesperson, were among those killed in the series of military and rebel encounters in Surigao del Sur.

She showed undated photos of Malaya and Jacinto on the rebel website, Philippine Revolution Web Central, as proof that the two communist leaders were still alive.

“This is contrary to military reports and social media propaganda claiming that they were killed in a firefight in Surigao del Sur,” Guerrero said.

/MUF