SAN LUIS, Agusan del Sur – Another indigenous community made a firm stand as the Banwaon tribe has recently declared the terrorist New People's Army (NPA) and its affiliated organizations as persona non-grata in their own tribal territory.
With the support of the tribal leaders and elders of the Banwaon tribe, the Barangay Council of Balit pushed for the declaration of persona non-grata against the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA (CPP-NPA) and its allied organizations inside their territories.
The declaration was made thru a resolution signed by the barangay council during the Barangay Assembly which, were participated by 258 residents of the barangay.
Datu Antonio “Loay-Loay” Mangkogbahan Otacan, the Indigenous People Mandatory Representative of the Banwaon tribe, together with other tribal leaders and elders, expressed his support to the undertakings of the Council, which according to him is the only path towards the total transformation of the barangay away from its bad image.
“We must support our Barangay Leaders for this action without any second thoughts. Being the first barangay leader of Balit to experience the communists influence in 1986, I was blinded on the wrong doings of my fellow tribe members in cooperating with the communist NPAs,” he said.
Brarangay Balit as a former CNN influenced barangay, its residents used to support the “Taktikang Bakwit” orchestrated by the Communist Terrorist Groups displacing an estimated 1500 IPs from the hinter sitios of the municipality and confined them inside Balit Infirmary Compound for almost three months, in order to hamper the conduct of community outreach program.
In her statement to enlighten the residents of her barangay, Punong Barangay Eliza Gaud explained that this act of the council was an indispensable move in order to end the long history of the barangay being tagged as the center of gravity of CNN in the whole province of Agusan del Sur.
“In as much as I wanted to bring development in our barangay, it is necessary that we must first rebuild our name and stop the misconceptions of other Agusanon about Balit that we were a solid communists mass supporters. We are indeed a truly peace-loving people. And by this declaration, I strongly believe that we are giving a strong message to all that we are no more 'masa' of the terrorists NPAs,” she said.
“We want Barangay Balit to experience the true development themselves, and with the newly constructed CAFGU Detachment in their barangay, we are sure that one step at a time, we can achieve our mission of bringing the government much closer to them. Their declaration of persona non grata against the CNN is a big contribution towards achieving that goals,” Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Jimenea, Commander of 26IB emphasized to the residents.
Colonel Allan Hambala, 401st Brigade Commander, expressed his appreciation to this move of the barangay council stressing that “for almost 33 years of being under the shadow of these terrorist CPP-NPA, this is the right time to do such significant move, and I commend the Barangay Council of Balit together with the Banwaon Tribal leaders in coming up with the resolution of making these terrorists restricted in Balit. With the institutionalized Whole of Nation Approach of our government, every Local Government Unit must also do their part on this campaign.”
“Your effort is the most important part of the plan, and with your active involvement on this mission, we are very sure to end this local communist armed conflict in no time,” Hambala added. (26IB/401st Brigade, PA/ PIA-Agusan del Sur)
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