'Heavy military presence' forces 45 Higaonon families to flee homes in Misamis Oriental

From InterAksyon (Jun 9): 'Heavy military presence' forces 45 Higaonon families to flee homes in Misamis Oriental

 

The Higaonon refugees are temporarily sheltered at the Lagonglong gym (Photo from the Higala sa Lumad)

"Heavy military presence" scared 45 Higaonon families in Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental, forcing them to flee their homes and seek refuge in the town's gymnasium last Sunday (June 5).

In a phone interview on Wednesday (June 8), 1st Lt. Janelle Diaz, spokesperson of the 58th Infantry Battalion, explained that the soldiers were deployed in Lagonglong as part her unit's bayanihan team activity.

There were also soldiers deployed in two other town – Salay and Balingasag – for the same reason.

But according to the Higala sa Lumad, a support network for indigenous people, the evacuation was due to "militarization."

Higala said the evacuees – a total of 217 indigenous people – were from Sitio Camansi in Barangay Banglay.

Here's Higala's account of the flight of the Sitio Camansi residents last Sunday:
That morning, 13 fully armed soliders the 58th Infantry Battalion arrived in Sitio Camansi.

At around lunch-time, they had a community meeting where they announced that they would be going from house to house to ask residents what their problems were. They would then relay their problems to incoming President Rodrigo Duterte.

The residents wanted the consultation right then and there. But the soldiers did not want to conduct the consultation during the meeting.

The residents said they feared being caught in the crossfire should rebels attack the soldiers. The might also be accused of being rebels themselves.

"They have already heard of civilians being accused in nearby communities, detained, and tortured by the military," Higala pointed out. "They also said that the military did not have to conduct a census as the residents there were registered voters and this is done by a different government agency."

The soldiers insisted on making house-to-house visists. They had already gone to at least four houses, when the residents decided to leave.

The residents started walking at around 3:00 p.m. to Sitio Kawali in Barangay Balingasag – because "heard gunfire some distance away from their homes."

They arrived in Sitio Kawali at around 6:00 p.m., "tired and hungry."

At around 11:00 p.m., two dump trucks sent by the provincial government arrived unit arrived at Sitio Kawali. The truck to brought them to the Lagonglong gym.

"They were only able to eat in the wee hours of Monday," Higala said. "The evacuees are determined to stay in their temporary sanctuary until the military has left their community. They would rather be evacuees than face the risks of military presence.

They are angry that their decisions are not respected in their own ancestral lands."

According to Diaz, the 58th ID spokesperson, the evacuees were put under the care of the battalion’s Civil Military Operations team and the Municipal Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

She added that the military should not be blamed for the evacuation.

"Our troops entered there on June 4 for bayanihan activities with residents," she said.

"This is not the first time that the battalion was doing this as we had already done it in the past."

The shots that the residents heard came from the New People's Army, very far away from the location of the nearest government troops.

"The evacuation was triggered by a scenario created by the New People’s Army (NPA) when they fired two shots to make it appear there was an encounter," she said.

But according to Higala, the residents had already been evacuated several times last year because of military operations.

They came to an agreement with Capt. Joe Patrick Martinez, spokesman of the 4th Infantry Division, which has jurisdiction over the areas, that the military should camp 500 to 1,000 meters away from their community and not within their center.

http://interaksyon.com/article/128845/heavy-military-presence-forces-44-higaonon--families-to-flee-homes-in-misamis-oriental