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TAGUM CITY, Davao Del Norte – Suspected communist rebels in Philippine Army uniforms attacked a banana plantation in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley, on Sunday night, divesting guards of their arms and burning trucks and other equipment, police said Monday.
About 20 armed men who identified themselves as members of the Philippine Army’s 25th Infantry Battalion forced their way into the compound of Dizon Farms in the village of Antequera around 8 p.m., said Supt. Antonio Rivera, Southern Mindanao police spokesperson.
The intruders divested five guards of their firearms, poured gasoline on four farm tractors, three trucks and a generator set.
“An undetermined number of banana plants were also chopped down by the armed men, accusing the company of grabbing land from poor landowners in Mawab (municipality),” Rivera told the Inquirer by mobile phone.
He said the raiders then fled in two vans and that the police and the military were pursuing them.
Sunday’s attack came just weeks after rebels, disguised as workers, raided a Japanese-owned banana plantation in neighboring Davao del Norte province and abducted two soldiers guarding the farm.