CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The military on Sunday has denied it has a hand in the destruction of a tribal school in a village in San Fernando town, Bukidnon province.
Lt. Col. Silas Trasmontero, commanding officer of the Army’s 89th Infantry Battalion (89IB), said they have no part in the incident involving a group of armed men who witnessed said were responsible for the destruction of an elementary school in Sitio Laburon, Barangay Mapute of the said town.
The school, the group Save Our Schools Network (SOS) said, is owned by the Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation Inc. (MISFI).
According to witnesses, the incident happened at around 7:15 a.m. on August 26, as two teachers who remained in the campus were tending their farm when one of the students alerted them of the situation.
SOS claimed that the teachers saw the group destroying the school buildings and tearing textbooks.
“The teachers were about to take photos of the incident but were threatened by the ‘Bagani’ leader Lito Gambay, who told them to leave as President Duterte will know about this,” SOS said on its Facebook post.
Witnesses pointed to a certain Lito Gambay, a leader of a local “bagani” group, as responsible.
SOS said Gambay was identified by the tribal community as a member of the paramilitary under the command of the 89IB.
Trasmontero said Gambay is not under him and that he did not order the demolition of the school.
Gambay, Trasmontero said, is a former New People’s Army fighter, who surrendered to his battalion last year.
He said Gambay is a member of the “bagani” or tribal warrior tasked to defend his community, but the latter is not under the the command of the 89IB.
“He [Gambay] is not part of our battalion. He has no 89IB identification card or a gun issued by the Army,” Trasmontero said.
Trasmontero said he has no paramilitary in his area of responsibility, only the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit.
He added that 89IB has no hand in the demolition of the MISFI school buildings since it was initiated by the tribal community themselves.
Trasmontero said the 89IB has assisted government agencies in building schools for the indigenous communities in at least seven tribal communities in San Fernando and Kitatao towns in Bukidnon.
MISFI schools operating in the area, he said, have already been vacated when the new DepEd-approved elementary schools were finished and the students have enrolled in these government-sanctioned learning facilities.
These schools are located in Laburon, Matupe; Sitios Lugawon, Balao, and Malungon, Barangay Kalagangan; Sitio Langka, Barangay Cabuling, all in San Fernando.
In Kitaotao town, the newly-opened primary schools are in Sitios Salumayag and Kalinawan, Barangay Digongan.
Trasmontero said as August 30, there are 89 students in Laburon, 52 of whom are from the same place and are former MISFI enrolees, and the rest from the nearby sitios Marawi and Baugan.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1113878
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