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KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/17 Feb) – Still unidentified suspects burned on Saturday a heavy equipment belonging to a Japanese-owned banana firm in a plantation in Magpet, North Cotabato.
Workers of Sumifru Philippines saw the torched backhoe in a plantation site at Sitio Tomontong, Barangay Datu Celo.
Reports said the backhoe’s driver told police that he left the equipment at the area Saturday morning. He was just as surprised to see the torched backhoe when he returned to his job the next morning, police said.
Police are looking at two possible angles — inside job and by employees earlier fired by Sumifru.
Sumifro has been dismissing hundreds of their employees in North Cotabato since last December. Among workers affected were those from Magpet, Arakan, and Antipas.
Sumifro is an exporter of quality Cavendish bananas operating in North Cotabato and other parts of Mindanao. (Malu Cadelina Manar / MindaNews)