PEACE AND RESPECT // Soldiers Pray for Lumads

From DWDD AFP Civil Relations Service Radio Website (Nov 29): PEACE AND RESPECT // Soldiers Pray for Lumads

BUIKIDNON (DWDD) – Soldiers of the 8th Infantry Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, Philippine Army offered their prayers for the Lumad evacuees in the barangays of Cabanglasan and Malaybalay City in Bukidnon today, November 29, 2015 through a Holy Mass at the battalion headquarters in Impasugong, Bukidnon. The mass that was celebrated by Father Pepe C. Namocot, Parish Priest of Sumilao, was conducted  after a series of IDP occurrences in the barangays of Cabanglasan and Malaybalay City that lie along the boundary of the provinces of Agusan del Sur and Bukidnon. It has been reported by the victims that they fear for more NPA attacks against their villages as most of them were tagged by the NPA as anti-communists, hence they evacuated their houses. According to them, the group of Junie Tilocan alias WATIWIT of SPP1/Pulang Bagani Yunit of Section Committee 89, North Central Mindanao Regional Committee of the NPA was behind these attacks.

It can be recalled that tribal leaders in Agusan del Sur, Upper Pulangui of Malaybalay City and the eastern barangays of Cabanglasan, Bukidnon have denounced the NPA for using the term “Bagani” in their armed struggle since this is an act of desecration of the Lumad culture and traditions.

Lilongan Bucalas or commonly known by his tribesmen as Datu Manlomakad of the Talaandig Tribe in Brgy. Kasapa, La Paz, Agusan del Sur, who recently fled to Bukidnon due to NPA attacks and harrassments in their village, recalls how the NPA went mad at him when he refused to support the group because of the violent nature of their armed struggle. “Dili jud ko ganahan sa NPA kay gihimo nila nga armado ang mga Lumad ug gigamit pa gayud ang ngalan nga BAGANI sa ilang grupo nga kining Pulang Bagani Yunit. Supak kana sa amoang balaud sa Lumad. Miingon ko kanila kaniadto nga dili nako gusto nga mag apil-apil mi sa armadong pakigbisog kay gusto lang namo nga magpuyo ug malinawon. Apan nasuko sila ug sukad atong 1992, ila na ming gibalik-balikan ug atake, pagdaug-daug ug pagpanghulga sa amoang komunidad sa Katalawan sa Agusan.” (I despise the NPA because they are arming the Lumads. They even use our term “BAGANI” in their Pulang Baganit Unit. This is against our customary laws. So I told them before that I and our villagers do not wish to join the armed struggle because we want to live peacefully. And they got mad at us and began attacking us and oppressing us repeatedly in our village in Katalawan Mountain Range in La Paz, Agusan del Sur since 1992.)

Meantime, the 8th Infantry Battalion has continued its military operations in the affected areas so as to secure the Lumad communities. It has been four decades that the armed struggle brought senseless deaths and miseries to hundreds of thousands of Filipinos and destroyed the future of many Filipino youth, especially our brother Lumads in Mindanao and in the province of Bukidnon. In order to win the peace, the 8th Infantry Battalion will continue to fulfill its mandate of securing the Filipino community from all forms of threats. CMO 8IB / MCAG

http://dwdd.com.ph/2015/peace-and-respect-soldiers-pray-for-lumads/