Ten heavy pieces of equipment used in road construction were set on fire by suspected New People’s Army members in Las Navas, Northern Samar, this Thursday.
According to the Las Navas Municipal Police Station, an engineer of a private construction company in charge of the road construction project reported to police that armed men set fire to ten heavy equipment in Barangay San Francisco around 4 p.m.
Among those burned were a bulldozer, two backhoes, a loadery loader, a dump truck, a self-loading prime mover truck, a crane, a grader, a welding generator set, and a road roller.
The engineer told the police that while burning the heavy equipment, a member of the suspected NPA allegedly approached him and asked why they were widening the road even though a motorcycle was passing by. He also allegedly asked if this was the government’s way to make the soldiers’ vehicles pass faster.
According to a military report from the 8th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, this road project that would have connected Northern and Eastern Samar is scheduled to be completed this December.
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Alleged NPAs burn 10 heavy equipment in Northern Samar
The military added that NPA members burned heavy equipment because the owner of the construction company allegedly refused to grant the rebels’ extortion demand.
8th ID Commander Major General Pio Diñoso condemned what the NPAs did.
“This terroristic action has derailed the completion of this vital road project that will connect the Eastern towns of Samar to the rest of the island and make the lives of the people in the area much easier. There could only be one reason for this arson, their demand for money or more money has not been met as contractors have had enough of these terrorists’ extortion. Nonetheless, the contractors will not be cowed and have pledged to not give in to terrorists’ demands,” said Diñoso in his official statement.
It is estimated that P32 million worth of property was damaged by the arson.
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