Embattled Weena Bus firm up for sale

Enough is enough. Extortion attempts, bombings, and the deaths of his customers have pushed Weena Bus Company owner Bernardo Digoy Baldevieso to offer his multi-million peso transportation firm in Mindanao to prospective buyers. "If someone is willing to buy Weena, I will really divert [my business interests] because I am confused on what to do," Baldevieso told GMA News in Filipino. He said the attacks against his buses and terminals have proven to be burdensome to his financial standing. An air-conditioned Weena bus costs P5 million while its regular bus is valued at P3 million. Baldevieso also admitted to giving in to extortion demands of alleged Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) units and the New People's Army (NPA), paying each group about P50,000 every month just to ensure the continuation of his company's operations. Recently, however, Baldevieso said a new group has been trying to extort money from him, demanding P2.5 million monthly. The amount, he said, was beyond his financial means. "Hindi nanghihingi ang MI(LF), extortion lang. Ang NPA nanghihingi siyempre. Kapag nabigyan mo na sila, okay naman (The MILF doesn't ask for money. It just extorts. Of course the NPA asks for money. When I pay them, they're OK with that)," he added. In the same report, Chief Insp. Querubin Manalang, information officer of the Davao Region police, admitted cops were having a difficult time securing the area saying, "I believe that there's no perfect security plan." Eight people died while more than 15 were wounded in two consecutive blasts which rocked Weena buses in Cotabato City and Bansalan town in Davao del Sur on June 15. A month earlier, another bomb explosion claimed a boy's life and injured over 30 people after a bomb went off near a Weena terminal in Cotabato City. In another attack, 10 people were wounded last June 8 after a blast rocked a North Cotabato terminal of People's Transit Corp., an affiliate of Weena Bus Lines. Davao del Sur Gov. Benjamin Bautista has already raised a high alert warning in the province. He has also directed the provincial police to probe the incident and called for the activation of a crisis team. - GMANews.TV