Government-contracted project in Negros Oriental

The Philippine Army is looking at all possible angles and motives in Friday's sabotage of heavy equipment at a government-contracted project in northern Negros Oriental.

Col. Francisco Patrimonio, commander of the Philippine Army's 302nd Infantry Brigade and the mother unit of all Army battalions in Negros Oriental, Col. Francisco Patrimonio, commander of the Philippine Army's 302nd Infantry Brigade and the mother unit of all Army battalions in Negros Oriental, airred this as police and military authorities initially suspect that the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA) were behind the attempts to burn down dump trucks and blow up a bulldozer, a crane and a backhoe owned by LL Construction Company shortly after midnight Thursday at the Himampangon Road in the boundary of Manjuyod and Bindoy.

Patrimonio admitted that while witnesses claimed to have heard the perpetrators shout "Mabuhay ang NPA" (long live the NPA) before withdrawing from the crime scene, there are certain indications lacking to prove that it was, indeed, the rebel group that carried out the attack.

For one, the NPA has not come out yet with a statement claiming responsibility for the incident, something unusual compared to the recent attacks perpetrated by the NPA, such as that of a mining site in Surigao, Patrimonio said.

According to Patrimonio, nobody at press time informed him yet of any statement issued by the NPA.

Furthermore, the way by which the plan was carried out by the perpetrators to sabotage the multi-million peso project in Himampangon lacked the usual trademarks of the NPA when conducting similar tactical offensives, Patrimonio said.

Although he declined to elaborate, Patrimonio said the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police were closely coordinating to dig deeper into the incident.

The Army commander said that there could be other motives for the assault, considering that the contractor, LL Construction Company, is owned by a politician, Mayor Lawrence Limkaichong of La Libertad town, and whose wife is Rep. Jocelyn Sy Limkaichong of the 1st district of Negros Oriental.