Police on Thursday said the torching of five Victory Liner buses in Cubao, Quezon City last Wednesday is labor-related as investigators blamed disgruntled employees for the arson.
Supt. Astrinio Cabula, commander of the Quezon City Police Station 10, said Victory Liner has eight labor cases pending in court.
Artist sketches are being made to identify the suspects who introduced themselves members of Communists armed group, New Peoples Army.
Cabula's statement has virtually ruled out NPA's involvement in the bus torching.
The Armed forces of the Philippines (AFP), however, believed otherwise.
AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres Jr. said the attackers identified themselves as "taong labas" who tried to extort money from the bus company.
Torres said the term "taong labas" refers to NPA guerillas, and they may have been trying to ask for revolutionary taxes.
Ten armed men barged into Victory Liner’s terminal in Cubao and torched five passenger buses late Wednesday night.
Alexander Ranola, a security guard at the Victory Liner terminal in Barangay Pinagkaisahan, said the men said they were "taong labas". Ranola quoted some of the men as saying that the bus company's owner failed to pay them "revolutionary taxes."
The intruders took Ranola's service firearm and proceeded to pour gasoline on five buses before setting them on fire. A bus was gutted by flames while four others were slightly damaged.
Aside from Ranola, the intruders also took the firearms of other security guards in the terminal.
While the others were setting the buses on fire, some of the attackers threatened the bus terminal's employees.
Responding policemen and bomb experts inspected the bus terminal's premises to locate explosives that may have been planted by the attackers. The search turned out negative.
Deputy Director General Geary Barias, Metro Manila police chief, said he will meet with the bus company's management to find out if officials have indeed promised to pay extortion money as the attackers claimed.
Quezon City police chief Magtanggol Gatdula, meanwhile, promised additional security at the bus terminal. He, however, said that company officials should also deploy additional security guards to beef up police presence.
The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has been known to demand revolutionary taxes from companies and individuals in the provinces in exchange for safe passage and non-interference in their businesses.
Many cases of bus torchings and bomb attacks at relay stations of mobile phone companies have been attributed to the guerilla movement. - Gus Abelgas, ABS-CBN News