Armed men burn agri firm’s vehicles in Misamis

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Armed men believed to be communist rebels burned four vehicles owned by an agricultural company in Claveria town, Misamis Oriental province, on Tuesday, a military report said.

First Lt. Jefferson Mariano, spokesperson for the Army’s 58th Infantry Battalion, said three dump trucks and a bus owned by Del Monte Philippines Inc. were set on fire by suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) at Sitio Talambao in Barangay Bulahan, Claveria.

The attack came two days after the killing in Lianga, Surigao del Sur, of an anticommunist tribal leader who was linked to the murder of “lumad” (indigenous people) leaders and the executive director of a lumad school in 2015.

Maj. Alex Mindalano, public information chief of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command, said 15 NPA rebels attacked the motorcycle convoy of Hawudon Jomar Bucales, indigenous peoples mandatory representative of Lianga, on Oct. 4. Two of Bucales’ companions were wounded.

Bucales had been tagged as leader of the Mangahat-Bagani paramilitary group that was suspected to be behind the killing of Emerito Samarca, executive director of Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development, and lumad leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Bello Sinzo in Diatagon, Surigao del Sur, five years ago. —JIGGER JERUSALEM AND JEOFFREY MAITEM