NPA, two ex-workers tagged in Victory bus torching

Two former employees of Victory Liner and the communist New People’s Army (NPA) are at the center of a police investigation of a recent attack on the bus firm’s garage in Quezon City.

Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District, said the two dismissed employees filed their cases only last February and March and could have the motive for last Wednesday’s attack.

However, a senior police officer involved in the investigation said they are looking into the possibility that communist rebels infiltrated the bus firm’s labor union and could have supported the attack.

He said dismissed employees are holding pickets at the Victory Liner terminal in Tarlac, a reported stronghold of NPA guerrillas.

He said it is a given that most, if not all, left-leaning labor groups give money to the NPA in exchange for protecting their members.

The senior police officer said that even if dismissed workers are linked to the attack, they could not have done it by themselves. He noted that 10 armed men, in two vehicles, barged into the Victory Liner garage before midnight Wednesday and disarmed the lone security guard on duty.

Four of the suspects ordered the guard and several bus personnel to remove their personal possessions from the buses, and the rest of the armed men set the vehicles on fire using two pails of paint thinner.

According to Mabanag, the labor cases filed by the two former workers earlier this year are preceded only by a case that was filed way back in 2006.

"So we’re now asking the NLRC (National Labor Relations Commission) to provide us a copy of the said case for us to know the complaints of these two (former) employees," Mabanag told The STAR in an interview.

These two cases are among the eight pending labor cases filed against the management, which Mabanag earlier said was the "closest link" to the attack. He does not believe the assault could be the handiwork of communist rebels.

While refusing to divulge the identities of the two former employees, Mabanag said they are residents of Malabon and are natives of Iba and Botolan towns in Zambales.

Coincidentally, a similar attack was recorded in Zambales in early 2000 involving another Victory Liner bus.

Citing information from Zambales provincial police director Senior Superintendent Roland Felix, a bus bound for Botolan was blocked by armed men, who ordered the passengers to get off the bus before setting the vehicle on fire.

"So we’re looking into these previous cases, because if these former employees really have grievances against the company, the percentage (of them getting back at the management) is high... They’re angry and that is manifested in these actions," Mabanag noted.

"But the company doesn’t seem to be bothered by it because they always say the affected buses are covered by insurance claims," he added.

Mabanag also dismissed insinuations that Wednesday night’s attack could only be aimed at collecting insurance claims for the firm’s old buses.

He said if that were the case, the attackers should have focused only on old buses and not tried to damage the other buses parked in the garage.

Mabanag noted that during the attack last Wednesday, the attackers poured paint thinner leading to the newer buses, thinking these would also be totally burned after an old bus was set on fire.

Authorities, however, soon arrived and put out the fire a few minutes later. By JAIME LAUDE and REINIR PADUA - The Philippine Star

Insurance angle eyed in Victory bus burning

Quezon City police are looking into the possibility of insurance fraud in the burning Wednesday night of a Victory Liner bus.

In a press conference in Camp Crame Friday, Quezon City Police District chief Senior Supt. Magtanggol Gatdula stressed they were exploring all angles in the investigation of the case.

He said the police also had not completely dismissed the possibility that the crime was committed by a group trying to extort money from the company, or that some disgruntled employees were involved.

But the QCPD ruled out the involvement of communist rebels.

Gatdula said they were puzzled by the “non-cooperation” of the bus company management.

‘Secretive by nature’

“We were told management was secretive by nature, so we are having a hard time investigating the case. Every time we see a development in the case, company officials just shrug their shoulders and say: ‘Insurance will take care of that,’” Gatdula said.

He said the police were also puzzled why buses parked at the back of the company garage in Cubao were targeted instead of the newer vehicles in front.

Gatdula said old buses of the company had also been burned at an average of three in areas outside Metro Manila, like Region 3.

He added, however, that they had not received any report of an extortion attempt.

The police official cited the lack of security in the garage, adding that security agencies, as well as the companies themselves, should be held responsible for negligence if crimes occur in their premises.

Gatdula said the Victory Liner garage was improperly guarded and poorly lit.

In eliminating the NPA angle, Gatdula said that if the group was responsible, “they should have made an announcement on their website.”

Supt. Franklin Moises Mabanag of the QCPD Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said the company did not receive any extortion or demand letters from communist guerillas.

Still, “we’re not completely abandoning that very minute possibility,” he told the Inquirer.

At least 10 unidentified armed men barged into the Victory Liner parking lot in Barangay Pinagkaisahan around 11:15 p.m. and set on fire one of the parked buses.

5 other buses

Five other buses were partly damaged in the attack. The men disarmed the lone watchman before fleeing on a van without a license plate.

Mabanag said they were closely reviewing at least eight labor-related cases against the company in Zambales and Metro Manila.

He said they requested a list of recently dismissed employees from the firm. Some drivers and conductors were reported to be also disgruntled because of strict company regulations, he added.

Mabanag said they would look into the possibility that Wednesday’s attack was related to past incidents where Victory Liner buses were torched.

Gatdula said that so far, none of the top officials of the company had given a statement to investigators. By Alcuin Papa, Marlon Ramos - Philippine Daily Inquirer

Court stops San Fernando re-routing

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- A regional trial court (RTC) has granted the request of a bus firm for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against a new traffic rule that prohibits public utility buses from loading or unloading passengers in other areas here except for the newly-opened City Central Transport Terminal (CCTT).

In an order penned by RTC Branch 47 Judge Edgar Chua, buses of the Victory Liner, Inc. that ferry passengers in this city found reprieve from being penalized each time they pick-up or drop passengers at their own bus terminal.

Post here your Valentine's Day greetings

Since the opening of the CCTT-albeit on a dry-run last month, PUBs can no longer load and unload passengers along the San Fernando stretch of Jose Abad Santos Avenue (Jasa), formerly GSO Road, except at the CCTT.

The CCTT is a joint undertaking of the City Government here and private real estate firm, Saint Catherine Realty Corporation. It houses all bus and jeepney terminals that are formerly located in various locations along Jasa.

Hoping that all passenger vehicles would pass through the terminal, purportedly for the safety and convenience of the riding public, a traffic re-routing scheme was implemented and traffic enforcers were mandated to flag down violators.

Victory Liner, one of the big bus liners plying the San Fernando route between Manila and Zambales, complained before the court that the City Government has prohibited it from using its "terminal" near the Dolores Flyover.

The case was docketed under Civil Case No. 13494, which prays for the issuance of the TRO or Writ of Preliminary Injunction against the City Government and its enforcers; and the St. Catherine Realty Corp.

In the order, Chua even prohibited the respondents, which include Mayor Oscar Rodriguez and the City Council from preventing the passenger buses of Victory Liner from loading and unloading its passengers at the "Victory Liner Bus Stop Terminal" and ordered the respondents not to issue traffic citation tickets against the bus firm's drivers that "utilized its bus stop terminal."
By Albert B. Lacanlale - Sun Star
City Administrator Ferdinand Caylao, however, was quizzical why the court kept on mentioning about the "Victory Liner bus terminal" when as per their records, the bus company does not have a terminal, where it could unload and load passengers, at its facility near the Dolores Flyover.

According to Caylao, zoning and barangay permits issued to Victory Liner were for the construction of a covered shed and not for a terminal.

In fact, in the affidavit of explanation to qualify for the compliance of zoning ordinance, Johnny Hernandez, president and general manager of Victory Liner, said for the installation of covered shed, the same "shall not be used for loading and/or unloading of passengers or any goods for loading in strict compliance with the zoning ordinance."

Hernandez's statement was explicitly written in paragraph 3 of the sworn affidavit signed on April 18, 2007.

A barangay clearance from Dolores secured by Hernandez on March 2, 2007 also mentioned only of a covered shed and not a terminal.

"We will file a motion for reconsideration over this matter and hope that it would be granted even before the TRO lapses in 20 days," Caylao said.