Cordillera cops on their toes after blast downs cell site in Kalinga

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Cordillera policemen were ordered on Wednesday to be on their toes after communist rebels blasted a cellular site of Globe Telecoms in Pinukpuk town in Kalinga province on Sunday. Chief Supt. Eugene Martin, the regional police director, said security measures on vital government and private installations all over the region were being enhanced to avoid a repeat of the bombing that has disrupted cell phone services for Pinukpuk’s remote communities. A report by the Kalinga provincial office to Martin said at least 30 rebels were involved in the attack on the Globe cell site located on a mountain ridge along the boundary of barangays Taga and Pakawit by communist rebels. The report said the rebels forcibly entered the Globe compound at around 9:30 p.m. Sunday, and hogtied watchman Manuel Labbutan Jr and his wife, who happened to be at the cell site to deliver supper for his husband, before blasting the facility with dynamites. Investigators reported that the victims’ brother, Amboy Labbutan, alias Tiway, went to the cell site after the blast and was hit on the head by one of the rebels. Tiway reportedly avenged himself by hacking to death one of the rebels, who is said to be a native of barangay Balantoy in nearby Balbalan town. As if the destruction of the cell site was not enough, the rebels forced residents of a village to carry the cadaver of their slain comrade in barangay Apatan, also in Pinukpuk, police said. Police estimated the damage at P960,000. Martin said a case of damage to property was being readied against identified rebels. The NPA’s Lejo Cawilan Command operating in Kalinga has yet to bring out any statement explaining why they blasted the facility, which is said to harm remote communities benefited by the communication system more than the telecom company or the government. Villagers in remote barangays of Pinukpuk, Balbalan and Pasil towns still remember when NPA rebels in the late 80s destroyed telephone lines, which were their only communication link to the provincial center, Tabuk. Some villagers said the particular action plunged them into further backwardness. - GMANews.TV