Kabankalan City (shaded in red) on Negros Island (Image from Google Maps)
BACOLOD CITY – Suspected communist rebels swooped down on a quarry site and bombed a backhoe Sunday night in Barangay Orong, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.
Lt. Col. Antonio Tumnog, commanding officer of the 1st Negros Island Geographical Battalion, said 12 New People’s Army rebels took the cellular phones of the quarry site employees before blowing up a backhoe, owned by Barangay Councilor Raquel Siguero, using an improvised explosive device.
Estimated damage was placed at P200,000, Tumnog said, adding that the rebels didn’t hurt the employees.
Last Nov. 24, NPA rebels ambushed a group of police officers in Maasin town, killing one of them and injuring 10 others.
Last Nov. 22, three police officers were wounded when they were waylaid by communist rebels Sibalom town, Antique.
Tumnog said the attack on the quarry site was a mere attempt by the NPA rebels to project that they remained strong on Negros Island following the cancellation of peace talks with the National Democratic Front by President Rodrigo Duterte. /atm