Tribal leader slain in Bukidnon clash

DAVAO CITY — A Lumad leader and one of the council members of Salugpongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon (Unity to Defend the Land) was killed in an alleged encounter between government troops and communist rebels on April 7 in the hinterland of Sitio Ngaran, Barangay Kipilas, Kitaotao, Bukidnon.

Datu Kaylo Bontulan perished in the gunbattle that raged in the area when he visited the tribal community to check on the situation of Manobo evacuees in Kitaotao, Bukidnon, according to Datu Tungig Mansumuy-at, another lumad leader from the same group.

“Kami, mga lider sa Talaingod ilalom sa grupong Salugpongan, nagpadayag sa among kasubo ug pagkondena sa pagpatay kang Datu Kaylo Bontulan (We the leaders of Talaingod under Salugpongan are saddened by and condemn the killing of Datu Kaylo Bontulan),” Mansumuy-at said in a statement Thursday.

Mansumuy-at said Bontulan was a “casualty” of the military operation in the area.

He said Bontulan went to Sitio Ngaran, Barangay Kipilas of Kitaotao to visit fellow Manobo, who were displaced from the hinterlands of Talaingod, Davao del Norte due to aerial bombardments of tribal enclaves in the area as the military intensified its operations to flush out communist rebels in the communities.

Bontulan was also the deputy secretary general of the militant lumad group Pasaka in Southern Mindanao.

Bontulan’s body was turned over to Kitaotao town officials, who assisted the 1003rd Brigade in bringing the body to his family in Sitio Nasilaban, Barangay Palma Gil in Talaingod.

The military, in a report released today, April 11, said a brief encounter between the Army’s 3rd Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Oscar Partuza and an undetermined number of communist rebels transpired early in the morning of April 7 in the hinterland of Sitio Ngaran, Barangay Kipilas, Kitaotao.

Lt. Col. Ezra Balagtey, Eastern Mindanao Command spokesperson, said the two-hour clash started at 9:50 a.m. and left one communist rebel dead.

Government troops retrieved one AK47 rifle; one M653 rifle; one M16 rifle; 3 .45-cal.  pistols; one improvised explosive; one combat pack; personal belongings and antigovernment documents.

He said government forces were still conducting pursuit operations against the rebels./lzb