NPA ruins vehicles of Casecnan contractor

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya - Communist rebels demanding "revolutionary taxes" swooped down on the motor-pool of the foreign contractor of the Casecnan multipurpose irrigation and power project in a remote area in Alfonso Cas-tañeda town last week, burning a truck and destroying other vehicles, a belated report said.

In a report, Superintendent Manolito Labrador, head of the 308th Provincial Mobile Group based in San Jose City, said the rebels stayed at the compound of California Energy Co. for two hours, disarmed the security guards and threatened to destroy more vehicles if the firm continues to ignore their demand for "taxes."

Labrador said 12 heavily armed New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas raided the motorpool as 30 other rebels served as lookouts around the compound. They later fled towards Aurora.

Last week, Maj. Danilo Pabbunan, commanding officer of the 54th Infantry Battalion based in Dupax del Sur town that is tasked to provide security to the Casecnan project site, was relieved.

There was no confirmation though whether the relief of Pabbunan, who was replaced by Maj. Samuel Miguel, was related to the NPA attack.

The task of securing the $10.5-billion Casecnan project site was transferred in 1998 from the police to the military because of increased NPA presence in the area.

The Casecnan project is expected to be operational next year. It is programmed to irrigate thousands of hectares of rice and corn lands in Central Luzon and eastern Pangasinan through a 36-kilometer diversion weir siphoning water from the Casecnan River in this province.