Philippine Communist Rebels Damage Plantation Plane

Philippine troops were in pursuit of communist rebels Sunday after they bombed the aircraft hangar of a banana plantation, damaging a multinational corporation's plane in southeast Compostela Valley province.



First Lt. Vergel Lacambra, 10th Infantry Division spokesman, told the state-run Philippine News Agency that New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas detonated two improvised explosive devices around 11 p.m. (1600GMT) Saturday near a hangar of Dole-Philippines.



No one was reported injured in the attack, which damaged the plane used to spray the banana plants with insecticides.



"Troops immediately proceeded to the blast site and secured the area," Lacambra said. "The Army's 25th Infantry Battalion has already launched pursuit operations against the perpetrators believed to be from the NPA's Front 27."



Extortion is believed to be the motive behind the attack, which came after officials from the company refused to comply with NPA demands.



Major Gen. Eduardo M. Ano, 10th Infantry Division commander, has condemned the attack and ordered ground troops to intensify close coordination with local officials and security officers.



"These CPP-NPA's banditry attacks against civilian entities which are non-military targets will not go unpunished," the agency "ed him as saying.



Lt. Gen. Aurelio B. Baladad, Eastern Mindanao Command commander, had earlier ordered military leaders in the area to be vigilant in protecting civilians from NPA activities.



He also urged guerillas to surface for medical treatment and to return to the folds of the law, saying soldiers were "ready to help you to safely reach the hospital for your medical treatment".



Late last month, the military predicted a leadership crisis in the insurgency following the death of a top commander -- Leoncio Pitao, alias Kumander Parago Sandoval -- operating in the restive south.



Earlier in June, the military had arrested another suspected high-ranking insurgent -- Adelberto Silva, allegedly the secretary general of the NPA-Communist Party of the Philippines -- on murder, frustrated murder and attempted murder charges in Cavite province. 



The NPA, the Communist Party's armed wing, has been waging an insurgency since 1969 that has left tens of thousands of people dead.



It reportedly has around 4,000 members in 69 of the country's 81 provinces.



Philippine authorities have tagged the rebels as notorious extortionists and blamed them for harassing banana, pineapple and rubber plantations, as well as poultry farms and mining outfits.



Peace talks between the NPA and the government collapsed in early 2013 due to rebel demands that detained comrades be freed. The government of President Benigno Aquino III, however, has expressed interest in resuming negotiations with the insurgency. - Zamboanga