Surigao ‘lumad’ kids displaced as tension between soldiers, NPA rises

EVACUATION Manobo residents leave their communities in Sitio Simowao and Emerald in Lianga, Surigao del Sur, to avoid getting caught in the crossfire between soldiers and rebels. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur, Philippines — Classes in a “lumad” (indigenous peoples) school in the hinterland areas of Lianga town in Surigao del Sur province have been disrupted after residents fled their homes, fearing the escalation of hostilities between government troops and communist rebels in the area.

Residents of the subvillages (sitio) of Simowao and Emerald in Barangay Diatagon took refuge in sitios of Kilometer 16, Han-ayan and Kabulohan, about 7 km away, after a grenade was thrown in one of the houses at Sitio Emerald, wounding a 5-year-old girl and two others.

Ensuring safety

Among the evacuees were four teachers and 62 students of Simowao Community Learning Center, a lumad school operated by Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS) in Lianga.

The teachers said they were forced to leave the school for the safety of the children.

But Maricres Pagaran, coordinator of the lumad group, Mapasu, said the 62 displaced pupils from Simowao would be allowed to hold classes at the function halls of TRIFPSS schools in Sitio Han-ayan and Kabulohan, where they were temporarily staying.

Fr. Raymond Ambray, chair of Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development (Alcadev), which runs a network of lumad secondary schools in Surigao del Sur, assured that classes would continue until the end of the school year.

Some 67 families from Barangay Diatagon were forced to leave their communities because of the increasing tension between soldiers and New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in their area.

Blast

Reports said no one owned up to the Feb. 21 grenade blast in Sitio Emerald. Government soldiers, however, blamed the NPA for the attack.

Earlier, some lumad leaders in San Miguel town had demanded the closure of Alcadev and TRIFPSS, claiming these schools had become “breeding grounds” for NPA rebels.

But members of the provincial board of Surigao del Sur, in a session on Feb. 18, said it was not within their power to shut down a school, noting that the Department of Education in Caraga region was responsible in overseeing the operations of these learning centers.