01 July 2006
By Ephraim Aguilar
PDI Southern Luzon Bureau
BULA, CAMARINES SUR—SEVEN land mines were found Thursday on the stretch of the busy Maharlika Highway that passes through Barangay Pawili in this town. Three of the mines were recovered and detonated by the Explosive Ordnance Division of the local police, but not before disrupting traffic on the highway.
Military officials said the land mines were planted by members of the communist New Peoples’ Army.
According to Lt. Col. Florante Isles, spokesperson of the 9th Infantry Brigade, the recovery of the land mines started at 6 a.m. Thursday after a civilian, whom he refused to name for security reasons, discovered and reported on the presence of the explosives which were hidden under the grass on the roadside.
The highway is a national road taken by vehicles coming from other parts of Southern Luzon and headed for Albay.
Isles added that the seven improvised, remote-controlled land mines, each with explosive power greater than that of a grenade, could be related to the land mine explosion that occurred in the same area last Monday.
During the Monday explosion, a military service vehicle heading for Naga City was damaged while a member of the 65th Infantry Brigade identified as Pfc Soliman Puddin was seriously injured.
“Fortunately, the service vehicle was running fast. If not, there could have been casualties in that ambush, which was obviously perpetrated by the NPA,” Isles said.
Maj. Ramon Rosario, chief of the AFP Civil Relations Unit in Bicol, said the “planting of land mines along the highway can cause potential harm to civilians not only to the military.”
Rosario, however, assured the public that government forces will intensify its conduct of patrols and visits to assess the real situation and immediately respond to the people’s security needs.
Rosario added that the explosives found on the highway cannot yet be linked to the recent series of bombings in Metro Manila, as police investigations are still ongoing.
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