Suspected Reds torch backhoe in Quirino province

JONES, Isabela – Four suspected communist rebels burned a backhoe at a road construction site at Maddela town in Quirino province on Sunday – the same day three construction equipment were burned in Alcala town in Cagayan province, the military said.

The backhoe, owned by the Ricardo Interior Construction Corporation, was being used to build a road in Sitio (sub-village) Dinungon, Ysmael village.

The excavator was torched after the construction firm’s officials have allegedly refused to pay revolutionary taxes, said Col. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the Philippine Army’s 86^th Infantry Battalion which is stationed here.

Cagara urged residents to alert the Army of suspicious activities in the area.