Nolcom acts on attacks vs buses

CAMP AQUINO, Tarlac — The Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) has assured bus companies, and commuters as well, that combined police and military units have been fanned out to thwart future attempts by communist rebels to "terrorize" key routes north of Metro Manila.

At the same time, Lt. Col. Preme Monta, Nolcom spokesman, said members of the Army’s 71st Infantry Battalion and 7th Infantry Division’s "special forces battalion" are still hot on the trail of New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas who torched a Manila-bound Baliwag Transit bus in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija last June 3.

Monta said Maj. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, Nolcom commanding officer, has directed their units in Central and Northern Luzon to work closely with provincial police mobile groups to safeguard public utility vehicles ferrying commuters between Metro Manila and the North.

Prior to the Carranglan incident, some 30 NPA rebels also set on fire a Dagupan City-bound Santrans bus in Barangay Caturay in Gerona, Tarlac.

The NPA’s Josepino Corpuz Command owned up to the arson attack as "punishment" for Santrans’ refusal to pay "revolutionary taxes."

Last April, the rebels also attacked a Philippine Rabbit bus en route to Tarlac in Barangay Dolores, Capas town.

Dominguez has condemned the communist rebels for "terrorizing and victimizing helpless businessmen" in raising funds, and for inflicting punitive actions against those who refused to give in to their demands.

The Philippine and US governments have tagged the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA as a terrorist organization.