CAMP Guillermo Nakar, Lucena City -- Suspected New People’s Army rebels commandeered and torched a Manila-bound passenger bus in Bgy. Cagbacong, Legazpi City in Albay Thursday night.

Col. Generoso Bolina, spokesman of Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) based here, said the Silver Star bus was traversing the national highway from Bulan, Sorsogon when stopped by a group of rebels who pretended to be passengers at around 7:30 p.m.

Bolina said the rebels, while pointing their pistols at the bus driver and passengers, introduced themselves as communist guerillas. They then commandeered the bus to a forested portion of the village where three other rebels armed with rifles were waiting. They ordered all its passengers to alight without harming them.

Bolina said one of the rebels poured gasoline on the bus and lighted it using a lighter, before they fled on foot.

He said the rebels were already gone when responding authorities arrived.

No one among the passengers was reported hurt in the incident.

Quoting Col. Felix Castro, the commander of Army’s 903rd Infantry Brigade based in Sorsogon, Bolina said, “Extortion was the primary motive for the burning.”   With Zaida delos Reyes-Palanca