NPAs torch 4 buses in Negros

BACOLOD CITY – Suspected New People’s Army guerrillas torched four more passenger buses of Ceres Liner in a southernmost Negros town reportedly because of the company’s refusal to pay "revolutionary taxes."

This brought to six the number of Ceres Liner buses owned by Vallacar Transit Inc. burned by the insurgents, police said.

Investigation showed that some 30 rebels, armed with automatic rifles and an M-60 machinegun, entered the garage of Ceres Liner at the poblacion of Hinobaan town, about 199.4 kilometers south of this city, and poured gasoline on the four buses.

The rebels then ransacked the garage of its base radio and disarmed a security guard of his 12-gauge shotgun, before fleeing, police said.

Authorities said the NPA team was led by a certain Ka Hassan, a former platoon leader of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade in southern Negros, who joined the New People’s Army (NPA) after he was placed under disciplinary action for his illegal activities. — Antonieta Lopez