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Thursday, April 13, 2006
Communist rebels torch second bus
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Yet another Bagong Lipunan bus had been burned down by communist New People's Army (NPA) rebels at Salay town in Misamis Oriental at around 4 a.m. Wednesday, a military report said.
Colonel Andrelino Colina, commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Battalion, said the bus came from Gingoog City and was en route to Cagayan de Oro when it was blocked by heavily armed men at Barangay Riverside 2 in Salay town, Misamis Oriental.
"It was a first trip bus from Gingoog," Colina revealed in a radio interview.
He said the armed men flagged down the bus and ordered the driver and passengers out before setting the vehicle on fire.
SPO3 Wilfred Oracoy of the Provincial Police Office said they have not yet received any report about the incident from the Salay police precinct.
The number of armed men who were responsible for the torching is yet to be determined.
The incident occurred amid an NPA assault on an army detachment in Sapang Dalaga town, Misamis Occidental on Tuesday, in which a soldier and two members of the paramilitary group Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) were killed.
"The bus driver, conductor, and the passengers have yet to be located but the bus was totally damaged," Oracoy said.
This was the second time that a Bagong Lipunan bus was torched this month. The first occurred in April 1 when rebels torched the bus due to the firm's refusal to pay "revolutionary taxes."
Peace initiative
Colina said he talked to bus owner Bonifacio T. Moreno, but that the bus management didn't cooperate with authorities.
"I talked to the owner personally but unfortunately they didn't take their own steps)," Colina said.
He said it was the NPA who were responsible for the torching because no other had been known to do such a thing.
The last time a Bagong Lipunan bus got torched prior to the twin burnings was in 2003. Members of NPA's Eking Balacuit command owned up responsibility for torching the vehicle.
In a radio interview, the NPA command accused the owner of failing to pay the cost of crops owned by some poor farmers that were destroyed when the folks were displaced in a land dispute.
Mayor Vicente Emano criticized the bus burning, adding that very little could be done to totally prevent this other than to appeal to the rebels not to sow violence during the Holy Week break.
He also took the opportunity to remind about the effectiveness of local peace initiatives, which address the rebels directly, in lieu of the peace talks.
Emano said a local peace initiative was done in 2003 but was stopped due to politicking.
"Any agreement entered into by the local officials and the rebels may not be honored at the national level and vice versa but this is effective as far as coverage for the local level is concerned," Emano said. (Stephen Capillas/With a report from Sun.Star SuperBalita)
(April 13, 2006 issue)
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