Clashes spark mass evacuation in remote Samar town

Sun Star-Tacloban (Jun 23): Clashes spark mass evacuation in remote Samar town

MATUGINAO, Samar -- The frequent encounter between military and communist rebels has sparked mass evacuation of families in two remote farming villages in this town.

As of Saturday, June 20, about 100 families in Mahayag and Libertad villages left their homes and fled to the town center for fear of their lives.

Matuginao, an interior town of Samar, has been tensed in the past three weeks when fighting broke out between members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and soldiers belonging to the 43rd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army.

Farmers expressed fears that the ongoing conflict poses a threat to their security. Men and women tell horrors of war in their villages. They have lost loved ones in massacres, strafing and shooting between armed men.

Teresita Suarino, a village chief of Libertad, recalled that even the slightest strange noise drives her family to bushes, where they took cover for safety.

“We heard gunfire ringing out even at broad day light and the military returned fire,” Suarino said.
She and the rest of the villagers are too frightened to return home.

Perlita Diaz, village chief of Mahayag, said they have no idea where they will be going.

“It was just like an exodus, a sudden and caught up in the conflict in another village,” Diaz said.

She recalled how her family had withstood a number of attacks, but said that this time, it is much different. The attack was made by the NPA against the military stationed within their villages.

“Such situation in our neighboring villages poses a serious danger to the safety of many civilians, including us in Mahayag,” Diaz added.

Conflict in Matuginao had a negative impact on its agricultural trade and residents fear that this may contribute to possible shortfall of food supplies to the town center.

Farmers said they are afraid and helpless. They do not feel motivated to plant long-term crops because they fear that they have to move to other places if the armed conflict is not solved.

Some go back to their villages to collect their crops by day, but then leave the village and hike for hours to the town center before dark.

The army has deployed reinforcement troops along the Matuginao-Gandara border “to prevent any possible spill-over of hostilities into other areas.”

“Security situation has been improving, but people are still scared,” said Lieutenant Colonel Seigfred Tubalado, commander of the Army’s 43rd IB.

Mayor Melissa Dela Cruz said the people took a neutral stand in the conflict in Samar. “We maintain a neutral stance to the conflict between the military and the NPA rebels in Samar and we are appealing for restraint from the parties involved.”

“We recommend a negotiated resolution to the ongoing conflict in Matuginao. We do hope that the conflict will be resolved quickly in the interest of peace and stability not only in our town but of the whole region,” she added.

Meanwhile, the battalion commander of the Civil Military Operations in Eastern Visayas admitted that there have been military abuses in the past, but the military is now very conscious about human rights, said Lieutenant Colonel Rodrigo Ilustrisimo.

They are now into projecting good public image and more eager to win the trust and respect of the public, he added.

At present, the local government unit of Matuginao, the Provincial Government of Samar and the Army provided food, water and medicines in order to mitigate the situation of the displaced families who took shelter in government facilities and in houses of their relatives.

Matuguinao, with a population of more than 6,000 is about 100 kilometers north of Tacloban City. In the past, the town can only be accessed through four hours boat ride from nearby Gandara town. The government has ongoing Gandara-Matuguinao road project that aims to reduce travel time to less than an hour.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/tacloban/local-news/2015/06/23/clashes-spark-mass-evacuation-remote-samar-town-414762