Defense chief urges business establishments to be vigilant against NPA

By Ronron
March 31, 2008

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. on Monday conceded that the New People’s Army (NPA) may indeed intensify its attacks against private firms in the country as they have recently threatened, thus he is urging them to be vigilant.

In an interview with reporters, Teodoro said the communist rebels have become “more desperate” now because they have been “weakened” by the persistent efforts of government forces against them in line with their self-imposed deadline of 2010 to make the NPA an “inconsequential force.”

“We have to guard against that. Desperation, you know, conjures up more violent or more vile forms of reactions sometimes,” Teodoro said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has claimed reducing the NPA strength to 5,760 by the end of 2007, the lowest in more than 20 years. They intend further to make the NPA just a concern of the Philippine National Police (PNP) by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.

In their 39th anniversary statement last Saturday, the NPA said their fighters are targeting certain enterprises “because these are detrimental to the interest of the people.”

“It is of strategic importance to disseminate mining, plantation, logging and other operations of foreign and big comprador firms because the people do not want to be robbed of their natural resources and because they wish to use these in the future for the development of their own country,” it said.

Just last Sunday evening, two rice delivery trucks in Iloilo province were burned by suspected NPA rebels due to the owner’s alleged refusal to pay the so-called “revolutionary tax” of the movement.

“Given that kind of a statement by the NPA, we enjoin vigilance on the part of business establishments to be more security conscious and aware of their surroundings,” Teodoro said.

He said that “unfortunately,” it is “quite easy to do damage to any establishment,” and this, to him, “already borders on terrorism.”

“The statement that they will intensify attacks specifically on businesses, to me, is a function of their thinking and their mentality, which is really adverse to the national interest. And I condemn that kind of thinking,” Teodoro said.

Among the measures being taken by some business firms in the provinces is hiring para-military men as their guards. The security personnel belong to Special CAFGU companies being controlled by the Philippine Army.

But aside from urging the private firms to do their share in thwarting the NPA threat, Teodoro directed military commanders in the field to also “factor in to their preparations” the threat of the NPA against businesses “through adequate intelligence work.”

“The general plan to guard the specific communities is there,” he assured.

The most common targets of the NPA are the Globe Telecommunications facilities, heavy equipment of construction companies, and mining firms./DMS