In other developments:
• Army troopers discovered a training camp of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Barangay Sta. Ines in Rodriguez, Rizal last Sunday, the military said.
• In Leyte, the NPA’s Amindawin Command claimed responsibility for burning the shuttle bus of the Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. (Pasar) in Isabel town last March 2.
Chief Inspector Ferdinand de Castro, Naujan police chief, identified the victims as Tomas Mercado, 70, his wife Constancia, 68, and nephew Democrito Joel, 31.
Police said three men went to the Mercados’ home, reportedly demanding some "financial support." The couple, who owned a piggery farm, gave them P1,000.
Investigation showed that the suspected rebels ransacked the victims’ house of cash, jewelry and firearms.
Meanwhile, reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo said the NPA training camp, discovered by elements of the 11th Infantry Battalion, had an obstacle course and barracks that could house 50 rebels.
The soldiers found two computer printers, an electric typewriter, computer diskettes and compact discs, subversive documents, 40 liters of gasoline and 20 wooden rifles.
The training camp, the military said, appeared to have been hastily abandoned.
The NPA’s Amindawin Command owned up to the Pasar bus burning in a letter written in Cebuano which it sent to Bombo Radyo. The letter was signed by a certain Ka Dodong Malaya.
The rebel unit said the arson was a warning to Pasar which it accused of destroying the environment, abusing its workers, displacing villagers because of its operations, and failing to pay its dues to the Isabel municipal government and "revolutionary taxes" to the communist movement. — Arnell Ozaeta, Paolo Romero, Jaime Laude and Miriam Garcia Desacada