Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Trips suspended amid Lanao fighting
THE management of the Rural Transit Bus that owns the inter-provincial bus plying the Zamboanga City-Cagayan de Oro City route has temporarily suspended operations between the cities of Pagadian and Ozamis.
The temporary suspension came after heavy fighting broke out Monday morning between the government security forces and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Lanao del Norte province.
The fighting ensued when hundreds of MILF rebels from the 102nd Based Command attacked three Lanao del Norte towns.
All Rural Transit Bus coming from Pagadian City to Ozamis City have to cross through the highway in Lanao del Norte that was closed after the MILF attacked three towns in Lanao.
However, Cagayan de Oro City-based Rural Transit Bus operations manager Pordel Daing said the trips from Zamboanga City to Pagadian City, the capital of Zamboanga del Sur, as well as towards Zamboanga del Norte, continue.
One of the Rural Transit buses was waylaid by the MILF rebels around 4:30 a.m. in the village of Kulasian, Kolambugan town, Lanao del Norte while it was traveling to Cagayan de Oro City.
The bus with body number 1567 left around 8 p.m. Sunday in Zamboanga City.
Antonio Aurilla, the bus driver, said the rebels waylaid them in a checkpoint near a bridge in the village of Kulasian, Kolambugan municipality.
Aurilla said he stopped the bus at the checkpoint knowing that it is manned by policemen, but "they turned out to be rebels."
He said gunfire rang out when he stepped the bus fuel accelerator when he sensed that the gunmen at the checkpoint are rebels.
Aurilla said over the phone Monday afternoon that he and his fare collector as well as three of his 13 passengers (not 17 as earlier reported) jumped out from the bus and fled when the vehicle got stocked at the bridge.
While hiding under a nipa hut nearby, Aurilla said the rebels approached the bus and heard some of them shouting "patayin nyo lahat yan."
Eight of his 13 passengers are missing while two are in the hospital, said Aurilla.
Rural Transit Bus Zamboanga City Terminal Manager Efren Dela Cruz said they will only resume normal and full operations once the Lanao highway will be declared safe to travel. (BPG)
