Sunday, April 22, 2007

Rebels Admit Attack In South RP

COMPOSTELA VALLEY – Communist rebels on Sunday claimed responsibility for the attack on a palm oil plantation owned by a southern Philippine town mayor.

Aris Francisco, a spokesman for the New People’s Army (NPA), said the attack on the plantation in the village of San Isidro in Monkayo town on April 15 was a “punitive action” against Mayor Manuel Brillantes.

“The tree palm oil plantation in San Isidro, Monkayo destroyed by the New People's Army is a sabotage operation meant as a punitive action against Monkayo Mayor Manuel Brillantes…for aggressively pushing his palm oil plantation interests in the area amid fierce resistance and growing complaints from local residents and leaders,” Francisco said in a statement sent to the independent regional Mindanao Examiner newspaper.

Francisco said many villagers were evicted from their homes by soldiers. One villager, Margarito Bartulabak, of San Isidro, was also killed late in March and that another, Emoy Hagonus, was kidnapped April 7.

“The NPA will not hesitate to punish despotic bureaucrats who victimize civilians and exploit their livelihood,” Francisco said.

The Philippine military denied all accusations. Brillantes could not be reached to comment on the allegations.

The NPA, is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been fighting the past three decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country. (Mindanao Examiner)

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