Mayor turns down aid from militants

COTABATO CITY—The mayor of Kalamansig town in Sultan Kudarat province stopped a militant group from conducting relief operations for families eased out of their community by recent clashes.

Mayor Ronan Garcia said a fact-finding and relief mission organized by the human rights advocate, Karapatan, was no longer necessary since the local government had provided assistance to 163 families displaced by hostilities between government soldiers and New Peoples’ Army (NPA) rebels in the village of Hinalaan.

Garcia also belied claims by militant groups that rebel attacks displaced 1,000 families.

“As a father of this town, it is my responsibility to protect my people. I have all the right to allow or not to allow anyone in my house. Is that difficult to understand?” the mayor said.

Clashes erupt

Fighting in Barangay Hinalaan, a hinterland village inhabited by indigenous peoples and settlers, broke out when members of the Marine Battalion Landing Team were ambushed by rebels on March 21, killing a soldier and wounding eight others.

On May 13, clashes erupted anew in Hinalaan, which borders Sen. Ninoy Aquino town, also in Sultan Kudarat, where NPA rebels were known to operate. Another clash happened in the nearby village of Sangay two days later.

Members of Karapatan and other militant groups were blocked by policemen and soldiers before they reached Kalamansig last week. The groups brought relief goods for villagers displaced by the clashes.

Fact-finding mission

Karapatan said its group was planning to conduct a fact-finding mission on the encampment of soldiers in six mountain communities.

Police asked the group to turn over the goods they were carrying to the local Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) office.

Karapatan, however, refused and left.

Dante Tanohay, a leader of indigenous peoples from Kalamansig, said more than 300 families were getting hungry in Barangay Hinalaan and nearby communities.

But Garcia said only 163 families were displaced by the clashes and the local government had attended to all their needs.

He said a local ordinance required all relief operations to have a mayor’s permit.

“The displaced families are attended to [and] we don’t need other groups to provide assistance,” he said. “If Kalamansig runs out of relief goods, we can go to the province or to the DSWD regional office [for help].”

“Honestly, we don’t need help from outside. We have enough rice; we have enough food,” he said.

In a statement, Karapatan said the mayor was protecting a logging firm by supporting the deployment of soldiers there.

‘Brainwashed’

Garcia denied Karapatan’s claim, saying the lease agreement between the local government and the firm had been terminated before he assumed office.

“It was only Kalamansig, among five towns in Sultan Kudarat, that did not renew the lease contract because people were already in the logged area. They will be displaced if the contract is renewed,” he said.

“Kalamansig was a peaceful town until the NPA encroached on our upland villages. They were [crying] militarization when there was none; they brainwashed indigenous peoples to hate the government and take up arms,” Garcia said. —EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ