‘Workers could lose jobs due to NPA attacks’

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Workers of a mining company in Negros Oriental may lose their jobs after suspected New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas torched P20 million worth of heavy equipment in Ayungon town, the military said yesterday.

Brig. Gen. Ignacio Madriaga, commander of the Army’s 30th Infantry Brigade, said the attack was proof that the NPA is a terror organization.

Madriaga said the burning of the heavy equipment indicated the rebels are preventing the poor from providing for their families, contrary to the group’s claims that they are fighting for the rights of the marginal sector. 

The NPA’s Mt. Cansermon Command owned up to the attack as it accused the mining company of destroying the environment and the farmers’ properties.

At least 30 guerrillas barged into the compound of the Pilipinas Eco-friendly Mining Corp. located in Barangay Jandalamanon on Jan. 2.