After declaring truce, NPAs torch Cebu bus

Suspected communist rebels burned a passenger bus in Cebu province two days after their political arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF), declared a month-long Christmas ceasefire that takes effect Saturday.

Nobody was reported hurt.

Central Visayas police director Chief Superintendent Avelino Razon Jr. said three New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas on the air-conditioned Philtranco bus whipped out pistols at around 10:45 a.m. and ordered the driver to stop the vehicle on the national highway in Barangay Binung-kalan, Catmon town.

After the three ordered the 15 passengers, the conductor and driver to get off, more guerrillas emerged from the trees by the roadside. They poured gasoline on the bus and set it on fire, Razon said.

A passenger told police one of the guerrillas — an amazon — told them that the action was meant to punish the Philtranco Bus Co. for management’s failure to pay "revolutionary taxes."

In a related development, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jose Mabanta said NPA rebels manning a checkpoint on the same highway stopped a car carrying agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and divested them of their caliber .45 service pistols.

The guerrillas later released the NBI agents after dismantling the checkpoint, then fled to nearby Barangay Basak, Mabanta said.

Army troops and policemen are pursuing the rebels who have reportedly escaped toward the mountains.

Mabanta accused exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison of insincerity and "double talk," saying that he orders his men to attack civilian targets while engaged in peace talks with the government.

"This is an act of terrorism which we condemn," he said. "The torching of the bus puts into question the NDF’s sincerity in negotiating with the government."

Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan, Armed Forces spokesman, said the burning of the bus and the disarming of NBI agents must be investigated as they occurred four days before a ceasefire between government troops and the NPA takes effect.

"The burning of the Manila-bound bus by these terrorists should be investigated because the government already declared a ceasefire as a goodwill gesture," he said. "The military has always been wary of the rebels’ (declaration of a) ceasefire as the latter use the hiatus to consolidate their forces and intensify their extortion activities."

Last Monday, President Arroyo declared a four-week unilateral truce effective until Jan. 6.