NPAs torch bus in North Cotabato

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Communist rebels torched a passenger bus in Makilala, North Cotabato Friday after its owner refused to shell out "protection money."

Police said three New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas, armed with handguns kept in small bags, boarded the Davao City-bound Weena bus in Kidapawan City and forced its driver, a certain Totoy Torres, to proceed to a forested area some 100 meters away from the highway where their companions were waiting.

The rebels first herded the passengers to a nearby orchard and then poured gasoline on the bus and set it ablaze.

The passengers quoted the rebels as saying that they wanted to teach the owner of the Weena bus company a lesson for ignoring their repeated demands for protection money.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol said he has ordered the police to file appropriate charges against the rebels responsible for the burning of the Weena bus. — John Unson