Provincial gov't monitoring armed conflict in Misamis Oriental

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 28): Provincial gov't monitoring armed conflict in Misamis Oriental

The provincial government of Misamis Oriental is closely monitoring the ongoing armed skirmishes in the bordering towns of the province, provincial Governor Yevgeny Vincente Emano said Tuesday.

Government troopers and the communist New People's Army (NPA) have been locked in a running gunbattle in the hinterlands of Sugbongcogon in Misamis Oriental since Monday that already killed a government trooper.

Lt. Janelle Diaz, spokesperson of the Army’s 58th Infantry Battalion (IB) based in Claveria, Misamis Oriental, identified the lone fatality as Private Oshin Rosala of the 58IB.

Backed by artillery fire, Diaz said that additional elements from the 58IB were dispatched Tuesday to the border of Sugbongcogon and Medina, all coastal towns, east of Misamis Oriental, to retrieve the remains of Rosala in the encounter site.

She said that the encounter took place in the outskirt of Kinaulayanan, a hinterland village, about 18 kilometers south of Sugbongcogon.

According to Diaz, the military has overrun the mobile camp of the NPA rebels in the outskirts of Kinaulayan, near the border of Medina, were the running gunbattle took place starting Monday.

“The government troopers recovered medicines, canned goods, boots, water containers and other personal belongings during an assault on the rebel’s makeshift camp," she said.

Diaz said that the Army’s 58IB launched a combat operation in the borders of the Misamis Oriental and the province of Bukidnon in pursuit of the armed NPA rebels who conducted a “road block” in the highway of Medina last week.

She said that as of Tuesday, the military command has not yet received information of any casualty since Tuesday morning.

Town Mayor Mildred Lagbas of Sugbongcogon said the fighting was “very far” from the Kinaulayanan, but the loud explosion of cannons from the artillery and the staccato of gun fires could be heard by the villagers.

“I ordered the suspension of classes in Kinaulayanan in deference to the young school children who might be affected by the traumatic experience,” Lagbas said.

Lagbas said that she has also advised villagers to evacuate promptly once the gunbattle gets near them.

Gov. Emano said that he was worried about the effects of the armed conflict in the borders of the hinterlands of the towns of Sugbongcogon, Medina, and Salay, all in the eastern seaboard of Misamis Oriental, but expressed optimism that the conflict would not escalate.

“I am hoping that the armed conflict would remain manageable in order that mass evacuation and dislocation of the farmers and village residents in the affected areas would not take place,” Emano said.

He said that the provincial government was on top of the situation considering that the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) could be mobilized should a mass evacuation take place.

Emano lamented that unwary residents and villagers always suffer the consequences of an armed conflict between the government troopers and the NPA rebels.

He said that in a “war” between the government and NPA, the losers would be the innocent civilians whose livelihood and peaceful life are affected.

Emano said that he personally supports the resumption of the stalled peace talk between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in order that the country could attain lasting peace.

“Development and progress could only be attained in an atmosphere of peace,” Emano said.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=967986