BY CYRUS M. GARDE
BACOLOD City – The destruction on the Lopez Sugar Central’s transloading station in Escalante City caused by the New People’s Army (NPA) reached P10 million, according to the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO).
But Senior Supt. Milko Lirazan, acting police provincial director, said the sugar central management was making its own inventory.
The damage may be more than the NOPPO estimate, he stressed.
The transloading station was located in Sitio Sta. Ana, Brgy. Mabini and owned by the Ballesteros family.
Police said Sunday’s bombing was vintage “NPA harassment.”
The rebels tried to extortion money from the sugar central but the Ballesteros family rejected demands that it pay so-called revolutionary taxes, policemen said.
Two years ago, the rebels also attacked the same transloading station.
The rebels entered the premises around 9:45 p.m. on Sunday.
A huge explosion rocked the station, caused by an improvised explosive device.
The company’s crane was among those damaged, said Supt. Alex Batiles, Escalante City police chief.
The weighing scale platform and the core laboratory were also ruined, while a Fuso hauler truck was damaged.
At least 25 members of the NPA’s Northern Negros Front were allegedly involved.
They also disarmed the milling company’s security guards, Alexis Batayin and Nelson Jardinero, and took from them a 12-gauge shotgun with 20 rounds of ammunition and two handheld radios.
Sources said the attacking rebels, composed mostly of women armed with M16 and AK-47 rifles, were led by “alias Calay.” /PN
