Suspected Reds attack Smart celliste in Aurora – police

By Ronron
January 11, 2008

Suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) attacked a cellsite facility of Smart Communications in Aurora province dawn of Friday, police said.

PO2 Michael Ruivera, radio operator of the Aurora Police Office, told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview that the incident happened at around 1 am when the facility was being guarded alone by the lot owner and its caretaker, Raul Daylo.

Ruivera said the facility was located at Barangay Esteves in Casiguran town, and the perpetrators numbered to more or less 17, almost of whom were carrying long firearms like M16.

He said the suspects first poured kerosene all over the facility and ignited it by firing their guns.

Ruivera said among the equipment burned was the facility’s power generator set.

He said the damage was so huge that it rendered the facility non-operational and the communication line to Aurora disconnected.

Cost and extent of damages, however, were not immediately known.

Ruivera said that during the course of the attack, Daylo was hurt. He said the 43-year-old caretaker, who is also a councilor in said village, suffered two gunshot wounds on his left leg, and one on his right foot toe.

“It was not indicated in the report if he was shot by the suspects or was just accidentally hit in the course of the shooting spree,” Ruivera said in Filipino.

Ruivera said Daylo was held by the perpetrators during the duration of the attack, and left him when they escaped.

The local police did not catch any of the suspects anymore when they arrived at the site, Ruivera said.

The government has vowed to neutralize the communist movement by 2010, citing its adverse effect to investment and economic development not just in the countryside but the entire nation as well.

The 5,700-strong NPA has been attacking cellsites in the countryside over the last few years, although it has spared Smart Communications.

The police and military have been saying that the attacks are due to the telecommunication companies’ refusal to pay the so-called “revolutionary tax” in favor of the communist movement./DMS