Protesting drivers blow up 5 buses in Batangas

BATANGAS CITY—Five buses of the DLTB Bus Co. were burned after protesting drivers blew up the vehicles inside the company’s terminal in Lemery town in Batangas province on Thursday night.

The explosion happened at 7 p.m. Thursday in Barangay Malinis where some of the company’s buses were parked after its drivers and employees went on strike starting Dec. 26.

James Olaybar, the company’s operating manager, on Friday said an improvised explosive device triggered by a mobile phone was planted in one of the buses.

“Three [buses] were razed, while the fourth and the fifth ones were partially burned,” he said in a telephone interview.

The fire caused by the explosion was put out before 8 p.m. Thursday. No one was hurt in the incident.

In a police report, Senior Supt. Leopoldo Cabanag, Batangas police director, said the police arrested six bus drivers allegedly responsible for the explosion.

They were identified as Albert San Presentacion Gabriel, Lloyd Nicolas Ocares, Wilmar Biaca Caro, Arvin Arrellano Soliven, Joselito Santiago Guevarra and Ernesto Villanueva Jr.

Olaybar said they were among the leaders of the strike. He said the police are looking for another suspect.

Police said the damage reached about P30 million.

The DLTB Labor Union-Alliance of Genuine Labor Organization (Aglo), with more than 700 members, went on strike on Monday night to demand higher salaries and 13th month pay from the company.

Olaybar said the Department of Labor and Employment on Wednesday issued an order saying the strike was illegal, “but Aglo refused to accept that order.”

The Inquirer tried to seek comments from Aglo representative Eduardo Laurencio but he could not be reached through his mobile phone on Friday.

DLTB, with over 600 buses, services passengers in the provinces of Laguna and Quezon, the Bicol region and parts of the Visayas.

“There are still trips available only that these are seldom because the other drivers were scared [of protesters] who might block them on the road,” Olaybar said.

He said about 40 percent of the bus company’s operation had been paralyzed by the strike.