Passenger van torched down in Zamboanga del Sur town

Torched passenger van along the highway of Barangay Tiniguangan, Dimataling town , about 50 kilometers away from Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

PAGADIAN CITY, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR — A passenger van plying Pitogo town of Zamboanga del Sur and Pagadian City was torched by two armed men on Sunday along the highway of Barangay Tiniguangan, Dimataling town, about 50 kilometers from here.

Witnesses said the armed men seen waiting along the road stopped the van at 10 a.m. and ordered van driver Eulito Macas Requizo and the four passengers to disembark, Dimataling police chief Captain Jaycel Cabarrubias said.

He said the armed men broke the vehicle’s glass windows, torched the van, and left the area immediately after the incident.

Torched passenger van along the highway of Barangay Tiniguangan, Dimataling town , about 50 kilometers away from Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

The police chief said the driver was able to identify the man holding the short firearm.

Cabarrubias said the attack stemmed from an existing business conflict between two van operators at the Pitogo terminal.

The driver said the armed men told him at gunpoint that (he and the other drivers) should stop driving the passenger vans owned by a certain Garban, Cabarrubias said. The driver was driving the vehicle owned by a certain Tata Garban who owned quite a number of passenger vans plying the Pitogo town to Pagadian City route.

Cabarrubias said the bus torching was the latest violence wrought by the conflict between two bus operators at the Pitogo town terminal after a retired police officer was gunned down on January 7.

Police said they were preparing the case against the suspects.

So far, there was no casualty reported in the incident.

Torched passenger van along the highway of Barangay Tiniguangan, Dimataling town , about 50 kilometers away from Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO