Reds raid rubber company in Agusan Sur - AFP

MANILA, Philippines - Suspected communist rebels swooped down on a rubber company in the southern Philippine province of Agusan del Sur, seizing the high-powered firearms owned by the firm, a regional military spokesman said Wednesday. About 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, 20 New People's Army rebels raided the Jose C. Aquino rubber company in Sta. Teresita village in Bayugan City, said Major Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command. Cabangbang said the rebels took the firm's six M16 rifles, a caliber 38 revolver and a laptop computer. No casualties were reported in the incident, Cabangbang said. Another group of rebels, meanwhile, conducted a checkpoint in San Jose village in Prosperidad town that resulted to the disarming of a government soldier on board a passenger bus bound for Talacogon town. Cabangbang said the rebels manning the checkpoint took Sgt. Pio Macerin's M16 rifle. The government soldier, however, was not taken hostage. As of posting time, Cabangbang said troops are on hot pursuit operations against the rebels. - GMANews.TV