Suspected Reds burn Globe facility in Compostela Valley province

By Ronron
March 17, 2008

Another facility of Globe Telecommunications was attacked Monday dawn by suspected elements of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Compostela Valley province, officials said.

The incident happened at around 5:30 am at Purok 1, Barangay Linoan in Montevista town, a police report showed.

The report said the more or less 20 perpetrators first disarmed the guard of his caliber 38 service firearm, and then went on to burn the cabin generator of the facility using gasoline.

The estimated cost of damage is P1.5 million, the police said.

The incident resulted in the cut off of Globe signal in the area, said Col. Benito de Leon, spokesman and chief of staff of the Army’s Infantry Division.

Asked if it is another case of punishment to Globe for not paying the so-called “revolutionary tax” being collected by the communist movement, De Leon said: “It appears to be. What else should be the motive?”

The 5,760-strong NPA has been waging guerilla warfare in the countryside for almost four decades now, although the government aims to defeat them by 2010 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ends her term.

Peace talks with the movement bogged down in August 2004 after it was tagged as terrorist by some foreign governments./DMS