Blast highlights town woes

SOLDIERS carry a comrade wounded during the land mine blast. CHRIS V. PANGANIBAN

LORETO, Agusan del Sur—On Thursday, five Army soldiers were seriously wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in the village of Kauswagan.

Col. Jose Leonard Gille, commander of the 26th Infantry Battalion, said the land mine was planted by communist rebels and was intended to drive away a government team led by Mayor Dario Otaza, who proceeded to the area despite receiving reports of the 7 a.m. blast.

The injured soldiers were part of the two squads that were on foot patrol to secure the area when the rebels detonated the land mine just about 300 meters from the barangay hall where the dialogue was held.

At least 10 journalists, including the Inquirer, joined the government team.

While waiting for the military helicopter that would airlift them, the wounded soldiers were given initial medical attention in a makeshift tent just outside the barangay hall.

“It was really scary when we saw how the soldiers sustained deep wounds from the shrapnel of the blast, but everybody was still committed to continue proceeding to Kauswagan,” said a representative of a government agency who asked not to be named for fear of repercussion.

Some 300 residents, who chose to stay in their villages, attended the consultation and said they were willing to let the soldiers stay in their villages to secure them from the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.

Joining the government team, led by Josefina Bajade, chair of the provincial peace process committee, were representatives of the provincial agriculture office, Commission on Human Rights, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the provincial social welfare and development office.

Before the consultation was held, the government team formally turned over to the village officials the four women and their little children who were treated at D.O. Plaza Memorial Hospital but were left behind by the protesting villagers who earlier camped out at the provincial capitol, calling for a military pullout in Kauswagan and three other villages.

Instead of agreeing to return to their villages on Monday night, the protesting residents, accompanied by Catholic nuns and human rights group Karapatan, proceeded to Davao City where they sought refuge at the barangay multipurpose gym in Bankerohan.