About 86 members of the indigenous peoples have evacuated
after a tribal leader was reportedly killed by communist rebels of the New
People’s Army (NPA), the military reported Monday.
A military report reaching here Monday said that about 200
NPA rebels attacked members of a small Talaandig village on the border of
Agusan Del Sur and Bukidnon last week, which prompted the mass evacuation of
the IPs to Cabanglasan in Bukidnon.
Capt. Norman M. Tagros, the spokesperson of the army’s
Bukidnon based 8th Infantry Battalion, said that the IPs reported of the brutal
murder of Rene Bucalas or “Datu Manhadukan Sandigan,’ by the NPA rebels.
He said that the NPA killed “Datu Manhadukan Sandigan” in
the presence of his fellow tribesmen in the village
of Sitio Katalawan of La Paz
This incident led the remaining Talaandigs to flee their
ancestral land towards the municipality
of Cabanglasan
He said that the horrified tribesmen, carrying the old and
the young children, braved through rains and dangerous mountain trails for days
– avoiding traditional routes and without food – until they reached their
relatives in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon.
Lilongan Bucalas, a.k.a. as “Datu Manlomakad” who acts as
the tribal chieftain of the group, disclosed that the NPA rebels have murdered
members of their tribe as early as in 1992.
Tagros said that Bucalas told the military that about 10 of
his fellow tribesmen were killed by NPA rebels in their community for refusing
to support and join the communist movement.
He said that Lt. Col. Lennon G. Babilonia, commanding
officer of the army’s 8IB, has condemned that terroristic acts of the NPA
rebels against the tribal communities in Northern Mindanao .
“It is deplorable that this thing has to happen,” Babilonia
said as he ordered the deployment of army troops in tribal communities to
protect the Lumads from the atrocities of the communist NPA rebels.
Tagros said that the military is now coordinating with the
local government unit of Cabanglasan so as to give necessary assistance to the
tribal evacuees such as security, food clothing and shelter.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=816917
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