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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/19 August)—New People’s Army rebels disarmed security guards at a quarry site of Minergy Power Corporation in Balingasag town, Misamis Oriental Monday morning.
Lt. Col. Anthony Derilo, commanding officer of 57th Infantry Battalion said the rebels carted away five AK47 rifles a radio and several rounds of ammunition from the guards at Barangay Quezon Heights in Balingasag town.
Derilo said the rebels did not a fire a shot during the raid and fled to the mountains afterward.
Nicholas Marino, spokesperson of the NPA in Misamis Oriental said it only took them five minutes to disarm the security guards of AY 76 Security Agency.
He said they seized four AK 47 rifles (not five as claimed by the military), several radios and 200 rounds of ammunition.
Marino said the NPA in Misamis Oriental decided to raid the outpost of the security guards to teach Minergy Power Corporation “a lesson”.
The company operates a 165-MW coal-fired power plant on the shoreline of Macajalar Bay fronting the province of Misamis Oriental.
“Minergy dumps its highly-toxic wastes in the bay and in a hole in that quarry site,” Marino said.
He said residents have complained to them that they have acquired various diseases including asthma, dizziness and sore eyes after the power plant went full-blast in September 2017.
The Misamis Oriental provincial board conducted an investigation but nothing has come out of it.
The management of Minergy Power Corporation declined to comment on this matter. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)