Another YBL bus torched in Sarangani Province

A group of about eight men armed with short firearms torched an air-conditioned unit of Yellow Bus Line (YBL) plying the Gensan-Maitum route at Purok Yakal, Sitio Linek, Brgy. Nalus, Kiamba town in the western seaboard of Sarangani Province -- some 98 kilometers from General Santos City -- about 6:50 in the evening yesterday, January 5, 2017.

No one was reported injured in the burning of YBL Aircon Unit No. A-69 that bore temporary registration plate number 1301370417.

Police investigation showed that a passenger believed to be an accomplice stopped the bus at the area and as he was getting down, some eight unidentified armed men suddenly appeared from nowhere and at least three of them hurriedly boarded and poked their handguns at the driver to prevent him from moving the bus forward.

At gunpoint, the arsonists ordered the 42-year old driver Melvin Frontiras Garzon, the 29-year old conductor Dennis Casangaz de la Cruz and the 19 remaining passengers of the Maitum-bound bus to disembark before they poured kerosene at the rear end of the vehicle and lighted it.

As the flame engulfed the bus the  arsonists fled in darkness towards the mountainous portion of Brgy. Nalus where the CPP-NPA-NDF is known to operate.

The crime scene is not far from the command post of the Third Maneuver Company, Regional Public Safety Battalion 12, PNP.

There are speculations that the burning incident could be a retaliation by the Ansar al Khilafah Philippines (AKP) SOCSKSARGEN over the killing by the PNP of its leader Mohammad Jaafar Maguid and arrest of his live-in partner and two security escorts at Angel Beach Resort n Brgy Kitagas in Kiamba early dawn yesterday.

The Kiamba MPS however is yet to establish the real motive and to identify the perpetrators as it is still probing the second bus-burning incident in the town in less than one and a half months.

Last November 24, at least 11 self-proclaimed members of the CPP-NPA set on fire YBL Aircon Unit No. 71 at Purok 7, Sitio Nama, Brgy. Katubao, also in Kiamba.

The Kiamba Municipal Fire Office, BFP filed last December 16 a destructive arson charge against Johnny Casamurin alias Lipid/Ray-ray and 10 other members of Guerilla Front 73, Far South Mindanao Regional Command, CPP-NPA before the Office of the Provincial Prosecutors in the capital town of Alabel in Sarangani. The criminal complaint was docketed as NPS Document No. XII-07-INV-16L-0445.

Last night's incident was also the 15th arson case in southeastern Mindanao and the fifth against YBL since November 9. (ACW Mindanao)