Reds torch Pasar bus in Leyte town

TACLOBAN CITY — Communist guerrillas have apparently stepped up its attacks in the region, torching a bus of the Philippine Associated Smelting Corp. (Pasar) in Isabel, Leyte Saturday, six days after they killed two lawmen in a raid on the police station of a Samar town.

This developed as regional police intelligence revealed that the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), is targeting police stations in at least 28 Eastern Visayas towns for attacks in the run-up to the CPP’s founding anniversary on March 29.

"We will not take the information for granted because of past experiences," said Superintendent Carlos Lozano, regional police intelligence chief.

He was referring to last Sunday’s NPA attack in Motiong, Samar where the guerrillas swooped down on the police station, gunning down two policemen and wounding another and carting away several high-powered firearms.

The provincial police director and the Motiong police chief were subsequently relieved from their posts.

Chief Superintendent Nardito Yoro, regional police director, said the Pasar bus was en route to the company’s compound in Isabel, Leyte after bringing employees home when rebels flagged it down.

The rebels, belonging to the NPA’s Amandawin Command, told driver Alberto Moncado and his escort to alight from the bus, and then poured gasoline on the vehicle and set it on fire.

Police said the attack was a retaliatory move for the Pasar management’s refusal to pay "revolutionary taxes" to the NPA.

Consolidated reports from police intelligence agents listed the following towns as targets of NPA attacks: Gamay, Mapanas, Silvino Lobos, Las Navas, Lope de Vega, Palapag, Lavesarez, San Isidro and San Jose, all in Northern Samar;

San Jose de Buan, Matuguinao, Paranas, Hinabangan and Calbiga in Samar; Arteche, Jipapad, Dolores and Oras in Eastern Samar; and Silago, Pintuyan, Tomas Oppus, St. Bernard, Lilo-an, San Francisco, San Ricardo and Hinunangan, in Southern Leyte. — Ricky Bautista