SET ON FIRE. One of the seven heavy equipment torched at a limestone quarry site in a remote village in Camalig town, Albay province Monday night (May 4, 2020). Police investigators are still looking into the incident to determine whether the burning was insurgency related or perpetrated by a crime syndicate. (Photo courtesy of Maj. Malu Calubaquib/Police Regional Office-5)
LEGAZPI CITY – An unidentified armed group set on fire seven heavy equipment at a limestone quarry site in a remote village in Camalig town, Albay province on Monday night, a police report said.
Maj. Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol police spokesperson, in an interview on Tuesday said the burned heavy equipment were four backhoes, two payloaders and a mining excavator.
Likewise, four nipa huts used as temporary shelters by quarry workers were burned down.
The police report said at around 9:15 p.m., a group of armed men swooped into the quarry site in Barangay Miti, a remote village seven kilometers from the town proper.
"The quarry site where the heavy equipment were parked was owned by the Goodfound Cement Corp. (GCC), a Taiwanese firm that operates the Palanog Cement Plant in Camalig town," Calubaquib said.
The suspects first fired warning shots while another group poured several gallons of gasoline and set the heavy equipment and the nearby nipa huts on fire.
Calubaquib said police investigators are still looking into the incident whether the burning was insurgency related or perpetrated by a crime group.
Engr. Carlito Aparri, a project engineer of the GCC, in an interview said the cement company has not received any extortion demand from any group.
He added that the firm's operation has been suspended since March due to the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.
Police records indicate that the burning incident on Monday brings to around 20 the number of heavy equipment burned in Albay since 2017 allegedly by suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels due to the failure of several construction firms to give in to the communist group's extortion demands.
The burned heavy equipment included dump trucks, backhoes and payloaders, as well as service vehicles owned by construction firms implementing various government infrastructure projects such as road opening and widening, and the ongoing construction of the Bicol International Airport in Daraga town. (PNA)
