Palace condemns arson attack on bus company

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday condemned the burning of 12 passenger buses by suspected communist rebels in Capas, Tarlac last Sunday and vowed to punish those behind the incident.

“We condemn this act of criminality. While there is a peace process ongoing, we will not stop efforts to apprehend the perpetrators. This is a peace and order situation and we are duty-bound to run after those behind the incident,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing.

Lacierda said the peace talks with the communist rebels would continue even if they were being suspected of staging the attack.  

“The peace process is continuing. We would like to believe the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front) would still like the peace process to continue and like to pursue a peaceful resolution to the long-standing conflict between the government and them,” he said.

Lacierda, nevertheless, believes that the rebels are not making a mockery of the peace negotiations.

“It’s just a question of whether there is consistent communication with their ground troops,” he said.

The government and the NDF, which represents the communists in the talks, are expected to resume formal negotiations next month.

Lacierda said the government would not tolerate the collection of so-called revolutionary taxes by the insurgents.  

“We don’t countenance that (revolutionary tax). We want to protect the citizenry. If they commit an act of violence, it’s a basic rule that we protect our citizens,” he said.  

On Sunday, suspected NPA guerrillas torched 12 buses and a truck inside a Victory Liner motor pool compound in Barangay Estrada, Capas, Tarlac.  

Police reports said seven armed men wearing camouflage uniforms staged the attack at around 8 p.m. Sunday.

The armed men also took three caliber .9 mm pistols and a mobile phone from the two security guards detailed in the compound. The suspects also shot a security guard who was trying to resist them.

Maj. Gen. Jessie Dellosa, Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command chief, believes the bus owner refused to pay revolutionary tax to the rebels.

“This is another NPA extortion demand that went wrong. For not yielding to their demands, these rebels have no qualms in hurting people and destroying their livelihood, even our economy. What they did is plain and simple economic sabotage,” Dellosa said in a statement.  

Lacierda said the collection of revolutionary taxes would be detrimental to the NPA.   

“If they do that (extortion), they will not gain sympathy… It’s not something we would countenance. We will continue to run after them,” he said.  

Latest military data show that the communists extorted more than P95 million in 2010 and P1.5 billion since 1998 from investors and politicians.

Military officials said the NPA raised about P136 million in 2009 through the collection of these revolutionary taxes. Mining firms, logging companies and plantations are said to be the usual targets of the extortion activities.