DRIVEN FROM HOME: Military operations and
bombings in Calatrava hinterlands forced these folks to evacuate to safer
grounds.
PHOTOS BY KARL OMBION
BACOLOD CITY – “We
are back to the martial law period, where military and police ‘hunt for
NPA (New People’s Army) rebels’ but often (end up) making life more
miserable for the innocent civilians and poor communities.”
Thus said Karapatan
(Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) national council member
Fred Cana, in reaction to recent massive military operations in the
hinterlands of Calatrava town, around 150 kms. far north of this city.
Col. Gregorio Fajardo,
commanding officer of the Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry
Brigade based in Negros, said that the suspected guerrillas they
encountered in Calatrava may be the same unit that raided last Sunday the
on-going Bacolod international airport project in Barangay Bagtic, Silay
City.
The suspected NPA
guerrillas blew up two batching plants owned by Korean construction
company, Hanjin International, and the airport’s powerhouse owned by the
project main contractor, Japanese Takinaka. The damages were placed at an
estimated P30 million. The NPA guerrillas also seized 18 small firearms,
three shotguns, several hand-held radios and ammos.
Karapatan, which
conducted a three-day fact finding mission in the affected villages,
reported that troops of the Philippine Army’s 11th Infantry
Battalion, Scout Rangers, and suspected members of the Revolutionary
Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) bombed, scoured, and
emptied the five hinterland villages of Calatrava in the “hunt for NPA
rebels” from Oct. 11 to 13.
Citing local
testimonies, Karapatan said that an oversized platoon of army troopers
arrived in Barangay (village) Telim, Calatrava at dawn on Oct. 11.
Disguised as NPA guerrillas, they asked local folks where their NPA
comrades were. Made to believe that they were NPA guerrillas, some local
folks pointed to a nearby hill. After a while, the local folks overheard
successive bursts of gunfire.
At around 8-11 a.m.,
two Huey helicopters hovered over the place and started strafing suspected
rebel lairs. This was followed by a Tora-Tora fighter plane which bombed
the place.
From Oct. 11 to 13,
the army troopers scoured the villages of Telim, Cruz, Malanog, Mansaka
and Malatas, and forced village folks to leave their houses and farms and
evacuate to village centers to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
‘No
man’s land’
Army troopers
practically turned the five villages into a “no man’s land,” said Cana.
Gaspar Villamor, a
55-year-old farmer of Sitio (sub-village) Pagtaguan, Telim who stayed in
his house and farm said that “my house and that of my brother-in-law
Alfredo Ilegar were turned by the military (into) their post while
operating against alleged NPA rebels in surrounding areas.”
Villamor said a
platoon army troopers and RPA elements occupied their houses during the
operations, and prevented them from going around and attending to their
farms.
He further alleged
that 15 fighting cocks he’s been breeding for sale, a kaldero
(cooking pot) and shoes worth P500 sent by his daughter working in Bacolod
were also stolen by the troopers.
Cana also denounced
the military operations, which he said have resulted in mass dislocations
and evacuations of innocent civilians, and disrupted the farming and other
economic activities in the villages of Telim, Malanog, Cruz, Mansaka and
Malatas, all in Calatrava.
According to Lt. Col.
Felicisimo Budiongan, commander of the Philippine Army’s Task Group North,
their troops were able to capture three “NPA minors,” and two others while
pursuing rebels in the village.
Cana belied the
army’s claim saying that the three minors – Dionelo Esconde, 15, Bonifacio
Sembrano, 15, both residents of Malanog village; Jonil Tipdas, 17, - as
well as Nathaniel Alesgar, 18 of Telim, are bona fide students of
Malanog Elementary School.
Local folks including
a teacher of Malanog Elementary School, and Telim Barangay Captain Rodolfo
Lumanog, could testify that they are students and not NPA fighters as
alleged by the military, Cana said.
“The three minors and
Alesgar are not NPAs but are students and at the same help in the small
farms of their parents; at the time the military entered their villages on
Wednesday early morning, the teeners were around doing their usual farm
work before attending school,” said Cana whose mission team were able to
interview them and several other folks in their villages.
‘Stories of lies’
He scored the
military for “concocting stories of lies because they are bent in
producing accomplishments for their vested interests, and usually bent
their ire on civilians if they could not make a good score against the NPA
rebels.”
Alegar and Tapio are
presently detained at the Calatrava police office, while the three minors
were turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
In a press conference
in Bacolod over the week-end, the Karapatan fact-finding mission team
demanded that the army troopers pull out of the affected villages in order
not to prolong the miseries of the people.
The team also
demanded that the military respect the basic protocols and rights
convention during their military operations.
At press time, a
reported company-size of army troopers are hot on the trails of suspected
fleeing NPA rebels in Calatrava and the neighboring towns of Salvador
Benedicto and San Carlos City, while some government agencies and local
government units led by the provincial government, the DSWD, and the
Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) have already undertaken relief
operations in the affected villages. Bulatlat
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