The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in Negros Oriental are digging deeper into the circumstances surrounding the burning of two heavy equipment of a quarrying firm in Barangay Caticugan, Siaton last week.
Chief Insp. Varie Villanobos, the police chief of Siaton, disclosed on Tuesday there is a potential deeper motive for the incident, although they are not just yet rejecting the possibility that the New People’s Army (NPA) is responsible for the torching of the equipment but that is now highly unlikely.
According to Villanobos, as the investigation progressed, it became clearer to police investigators that the mode by which the perpetrators carried out the arson early Sunday was not NPA style.
Lt. Col. Roderick Garcia, 79th IB commander, also pointed out similar observations, even as he assured the people that the Army is constantly monitoring the possible presence of suspected Communist NPA terrorists in the southern parts of Negros Oriental.
Around 1 a.m. Sunday, five men on board three motorcycles arrived at the quarry site at Sitio Pilapil in Barangay Caticugan, Siaton town and set on fire a payloader and a backhoe owned by Medalla Sia of Medalla Construction.
After torching the heavy equipment, the perpetrators fired at the windshields of the backhoe and payloader and shouted “mabuhay ang NPA” before they fled under the cover of darkness.
Joint police and military personnel who responded later retrieved 45 pieces of fired cartridge, three pieces of live ammunition for carbine, nine pieces of fired cartridge of cal. 9mm, two live ammunition of caliber 9mm Luger and one deformed slug of undetermined caliber, and one gallon container full of gasoline.
Based on the report, Lt. Col. Garcia noted that the NPA does not “waste their bullets”, rather save them for encounters with government troops, and that the Communist terrorist group’s weapons do not include carbine rifles and 9mm handguns.
Villanobos also said that while they initially considered the NPA as being the perpetrators, he pointed out that anybody can just shout and claim that they are NPA members.
But going deeper into the investigation, Siaton police chief Villanobos disclosed that there were previous incidents prior to Sunday’s arson incident that are now being investigated as possibly related to the torching of the heavy equipment.
These previous incidents are related to the quarrying activity in Caticugan, he said.
These include the recent death of a young girl at the quarry site, complaints from residents who alleged that the quarrying operations there is illegal, the alleged involvement of some politicians who are either for or against the quarrying operations, and even a similar incident a few months ago where unidentified perpetrators also fired their guns at the quarry site, among others.
Some residents have even earlier sent a petition letter to then Sec. Gina Lopez of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to look into the alleged illegal quarrying at Caticugan.
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Garcia has allayed fears of residents in Siaton and nearby towns over what they believe is a resurgence of the insurgency there.
The Army commander said that he does not believe that the NPA was responsible for the Caticugan burning incident, nevertheless, his troops are continuously conducting patrols and monitoring in the areas following the Guihulngan City ambush where six policemen and a civilian were killed allegedly by Communist terrorists recently. (Judy Flores Partlow)