Sagada folk order Army out of villages

From InterAksyon (Apr 13): Sagada folk order Army out of villages

Residents of two villages in the northern part of noted travel destination Sagada town, Mountain Province drove out troops of the Army’s 50th Infantry Brigade who attempted to establish detachments in their communities.

The soldiers, commanded by Lieutenant Brian Arcincilla, arrived in Barangay Pidlisan on April 10 and bared their plans to set up camp at the “dap-ay,” a term commonly used to refer to an open meeting place although it properly means an indigenous socio-political institution usually composed of elders, and at the village primary school, both located in the center of the community.

The soldiers said they were there to secure the community following a clash with the New People’s Army at Bandong Hill, which lies on the border of Sagada and Bontoc town, major parts of which are located within Pidlisan and Barangay Aguid.

But the Pidlisan residents, led by their barangay captain, Jojo Briones, told the troops to set up their detachment outside the community, reminding them that Sagada and its villages have been declared a zone of peace within which no armed military or rebel presence is allowed.

Arcinilla tried to stand his ground but the troops left Pidlisan after a Sagada official raised the issue with 50th IB commander Lieutenant Colonel Richard Sibayan.

The soldiers went to Aguid and stayed at the gymnasium there but eventually left Saturday.

Sibayan, in a phone interview, said he agreed to pull out his men, who had come from Abra province, when Sagada Mayor Eduardo Latawan Jr. informed him of the villagers’ opposition.

Nevertheless, he said, “I requested the mayor to have a dialogue with the officials of the barangays of northern Sagada.”

At the same time, he questioned why Sagada officials invoked the zone of peace declaration only when it involved the military but not the NPA.

But Latawan’s secretary, Robert Pangod, pointed out that when the March 29 clash broke out in Barangay Dalican, Sagada officials helped evacuate government casualties. Two policemen were killed and two others were wounded in the incident.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/84707/sagada-folk-order-army-out-of-villages