Reds burn trucks in Iloilo province allegedly over extortion demand

By Ronron
March 31, 2008

Suspected communist rebels burned on Sunday night two cargo trucks in Iloilo province used in rice and palay delivery allegedly due to the owner's refusal to pay the so-called revolutionary tax, police said Monday.

The incident happened at around 10:30 pm at the warehouse owned by a certain Maximo Tamisen in Barangay Balicua, Tubungan town. Tamisen is said to be a known rice dealer/trader in said town.

Tubungan Police chief Insp. Edencio Gregorio told Manila Shimbun in a phone interview yesterday that the perpetrators, numbering about 15 including an amazon, first held hostage the village captain and two village watchmen who were posted near Tamisen's warehouse.

Gregorio said the suspects, who were armed with long firearms, introduced themselves to the village captain and watchmen as members of the New People's Army (NPA).

"They told the barangay captain and tanods to stay put because they are not their targets. They pointed guns at them and asked them to lie on the ground. The other rebels proceeded inside the warehouse and poured gasoline on the two trucks parked there," Gregorio narrated in Filipino.

He said the suspects used gasoline that they brought along to set fire the Elf and Fighter trucks at the warehouse.

In less than 15 minutes, the trucks were totally burned and the rebels escaped on foot towards the mountain area nearby, said Gregorio.

"There were no casualties because no one was inside the warehouse at that time," he said. There were also no other parts of the warehouse that caught fire because firemen immediately responded after the incident.

Quoting Tamisen, Gregorio said the estimated cost of damages to both trucks is P400,000.00.

Gregorio said the only time that the perpetrators pulled the trigger of their guns was when they were already on their way to escape to the mountains.

He said elements of the Tubungan Municipal Police Station, the 608 Police Mobile Group, and the 31st Recon Company of the Philippine Army conducted pursuit operations against the suspects.

Gregorio disclosed that in 2005, Tamisen received a letter from a local NPA leader, asking for an appointment for a meeting. Tamisen told him it could be that it was to seek for an arrangment on the so-called "revolutionary tax."

Tamisen, however, did pay much attention to it so the meeting never took place, said Gregorio. Thus, the businessman surmises that Sunday night's attack could already be the NPA's retaliation.

The ,5760-strong NPA has just celebrated its 39th anniversary last Saturday, although police it was an uneventful day.

The Arroyo government has vowed to defeat the insurgency problem by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.

Peace talks between the government and the communists bogged down in August 2004 after the latter was tagged as terrorists by the European Union and the United States./DMS