The Army's 3rd Infantry Division has dispatched its company-sized elite Scout Rangers to join the manhunt against about 30 New People's Army guerillas who attacked and blew up facilities of the airport in Silay City, Negros Occidental, military spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said yesterday.

Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, provincial police director of Negros Occidental, however, said the Korean and Japanese builders of the multi-billion peso airport are "uncooperative" in their investigations.

The police cited refusal of the airport builders to show them footages of the rebel raiders taken by a built-in video camera at the batching plant, which was blown up by the rebel attackers.

After the attack, ground commanders in Negros have directed a realignment of forces.The 3rd Scout Ranger Company has been dispatched to track down the perpetrators, Bacarro said.

Col. Gregorio Fajardo, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, yesterday said a special unit of the New People's Army under the direct supervision of Frank Fernandez, secretary of the Komiteng Rehiyonal Negros, was behind the airport the attack.

The military placed the damage caused by the attack between P40 millon to P50 million.

Maj. Lyndon Sollesta, commander of the Army's 3rd Civil Military Operations Unit, said "This strategic act of terror is intended to collect extortion money in the guise of revolutionary tax".

"The dastardly act perpetrated by the NPA once again blatantly displayed their love of terror," Sollesta added.

Supt. Celestino Guara, Silay police chief, yesterday said probers of the Criminal Investigation and Detection are now consolidating sworn statements of witnesses, in preparation for filing of cases such as arson, economic sabotage and robbery, among others, against the rebel suspects.

Chief Supt. Geary Barias, regional police director of Western Visayas, said that while he noted intelligence lapses on the part the 6th Regional Mobile Group troopers stationed in the airport site, we cannot blame them as they are also preparing for possible attack of their detachment.*GPB

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