NPA attack on construction firm in Batangas linked to land dispute

Communist rebels set heavy equipment on fire at a road clearing site in Nasugbu town, Batangas province, in retaliation for the supposed property dispute and rights abuses in Cavite and Batangas provinces.

Between 12 and  15 armed guerrillas, wearing head lamps usually used by miners, torched nine pieces of heavy equipment owned by Toreja Construction Co. on Friday, said Nasugbu police chief Supt. Marlo Torina in a phone interview on Sunday.

Torina said the armed men who introduced themselves as members of the New People’s Army (NPA) swept  into the clearing area as 15 construction workers at the site were about to take their rest on Friday evening.

The workers, he said, were hired by Toreja Construction to clear a forested, uphill area in Barangay (village) Bulihan to pave the way for a government road project that would connect Nasugbu to Magallanes town in Cavite.

“The workers were ordered to take their shirts off and surrender their phones to the rebels,” Torina said.

He said no one was hurt from the incident.

A day following the attack, the NPA’s Edgardo Dagli Command in Batangas posted a statement on the website of the Communist Party of the Philippines saying it meant to “punish” those involved in an eco-tourism project that would displace farmers at Hacienda Looc.

Hacienda Looc is an 8,650-hectare estate in  Nasugbu and Magallanes and was formerly covered by the government’s agrarian reform program.

On April 15, farmer activist Armando Lemita and his wife, daughter and brother were arrested from the area for charges of illegal possession of firearms and obstruction of justice.