Burning of 2 buses, killing 2 drivers: Murder with arson raps filed vs. 2 arrested NPA "rebels"

PALO, LEYTE , Philippines  — Police authorities of Biliran province have filed at the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor, headed by Edna Honor, double murder with arson charges against two suspected members of the New People's Army through inquest proceedings.

The two – Jessie Oledan, 23, and Teodoro Macalalag, 26, all of Carigara town in Leyte and allegedly members of the NPA operating in the Leyte-were allegedly responsible in the killing of two drivers and setting fire two buses of Silver Star Shuttle Tours parked overnight at Brgy. Talahid of Almeria town in Biliran at 1 a.m. Saturday (March 5).

Biliran Police provincial director Sr. Supt. Alfredo Sabornido, in a phone interview, told The FREEMAN the suspects were apprehended at a checkpoint set up by the military in the area four hours after the incident.

Earlier reports said the buses were parked outside the house of Brgy. Chairman Joaquin Sabetsana who was roused by the commotion, and got the plate numbers of the getaway motorcycles of the fleeing suspects and even saw the face of one of them.

Witnesses said that about seven to ten armed men killed the two drivers-Arnel Montano, 34, a resident of Mondragon in Northern Samar and Edwin Bargula, 47, of Abuyog in Sorsogon City-

who were sleeping inside the bus and then torched the vehicles.

The remains of the victims are now at a funeral parlor in Naval, Biliran, while the police estimated the cost of damage at about P14 million. Investigators also said that the bus lines management failed to pay revolutionary taxes that the NPA had demanded.

Chief Supt. Arnold Revilla, director of Police Regional Office-8, directed his police chiefs to step up security patrols and intensify intelligence-gathering to thwart similar rebel atrocities again. He also ordered full implementation of the Police Integrated Patrol System (PIPS) to heighten police visibility, and close interaction between the police and the community and the military via the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) program for crime preventive measures.

Representative Rogelio Espina (lone district, Biliran), for his part appealed to the people of his province to stay calm because the province has been declared by the military before to be free from insurgency problems. "Biliran remains safe, and what transpired last Saturday was just the NPA's campaign on revolutionary tax collection against big private companies," he said.