Bae Linganay, chairman of the Indigenous Women group of the Manobo tribe of Sitio Patagon, organizes fellow evacuees at their evacuation site in the Sitio Tagkiling Tribal Elementary School in Barangay Anticala, Butuan City. ERWIN MASCARINAS/InterAksyon.com
BUTUAN CITY - A total of 126 families from three different sitios here evacuated their homes with the continuing clash between soldiers and the New People’s Army (NPA) starting March 6.
Residents from Sitio Patagon, Dugyaman, Cadhaan evacuated to Tagkiling Tribal Elementary School in Barangay Anticala for fear of their lives after explosions echoed throughout their communities as government troops from the 3rd Special Forces (SF) Battalion of the Philippine Army stormed the area after a large movement of NPA rebels was sighted nearby.
Arselito Mandag Jr., known as Datu Tomotowas II, one of the Manobo tribal leaders in Sitio Patagon and Dugyaman, said: “We heard the first explosions and the sound of successive gunfire at around 3:00 in the afternoon and it lasted for 15 minutes. We all got very worried and frightened especially the children and the old people in our community. Some immediately packed their things and left.”
Datu Tomotowas pointed out that the next round of gunfire pushed everyone to leave for fear of escalation.
“At around 5:00 in the afternoon another round of firefight erupted but this was more explosive than the earlier encounter between the soldiers and the leftist group. It lasted almost an hour, we all left our homes and relocated here in Tagkiling,” he said.
Jersen Masabu, purok president of Sitio Dugyaman and Patagon revealed that he was able to prepare some of the people of the danger that was about to happen.
“A day before it happened we noticed armed men had been passing by some of the villages, we estimated them to be around 200 people and we believed they were members of the NPA. Then soldiers appeared, so I alerted several families that something might happen,” said Masabu.
Masabu stressed that the explosions and exchange of gunfire so frightened the villagers that they had flee the area.
“It was a very frightening experience, we were afraid for the children who were still in school and about to return home. We all headed for the school for fear that we might get hit by the crossfire,” said Masabu.
Maliza Salahay, 13, was on her way home from school when the firefight erupted.
“While walking with some of the children from our school, we suddenly heard gunfire and explosions. Someone told us not to proceed and go back to school; we were very frightened from the sound we heard. We immediately went back to school and waited for our parents to arrive,” she said.
Lt. Col. Potenciano Gamba Commanding officer of the 3rd SF Battalion explained that the combat operation was needed after they received reports of armed NPA members sighted in the area.
“We received reports from the villagers that there was presence of NPA in the area. So we sent our troops and after the ensuing gunbattle we discovered a big camp in the forested area in Sitio Patagon which can accommodate more or less 100 people,” said Gamba.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/56810/army-npa-clash-displaces-126-families-in-butuan-city
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