NPA offers financial aid to civilians hurt in landmine blast
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Communist guerrillas offered financial compensation to civilians who were injured in a landmine explosion in a Davao del Sur town, and apologized for the injuries that the victims suffered in an attack on government soldiers.
Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesperson of the New People’s Army in Southern Mindanao, said the rebels have decided to give financial assistance to the four rescue workers who were injured in the attack on government soldiers in Barangay (village) Managa in Bansalan, Davao del Sur.
“The NPA regional command has already ordered the delivery of the assistance to the civilian victims for their immediate recovery and so they may return to work,” Sanchez said in a statement.
The NPA announcement came on Wednesday, the same day that Davao del Sur Governor Claude Bautista, with several mayors, rallied residents here in condemning the continued use of land mines by the rebels.
The rally, led by Bautista, came after the attack by rebels on Sunday on government soldiers, which also led to the wounding of four workers of the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council — Genaro Doronio Dumayas, Bonita dela Cruz, Arnel Comandante Veloroso and Alberto Simbajon Cabual.
The four were on a mission to pick up soldiers wounded in a previous landmine attack by the rebels. The ambulance they were riding in was hit by a landmine, too.
Bautista quickly condemned the attack and urged the NPA to spare civilians.
On Wednesday, the governor called on the rebels to stop using landmines, saying the weapons could hit combatants and non-combatants.
Franco Calida, mayor of Hagonoy town, said at the rally that land mines have been banned by international treaties.
Calida, one of the organizers of the anti -group Alsa Masa that became popular in the Davao region in the 1980s, warned of the possible revival of the now defunct group.
“If I need to revive vigilantism in this part of the province I’ll do it just to restore peace and order,” Calida said amid applause by a crowd of government employees and students.
Sanchez said the rebels involved in the attack appeared to have failed to distinguish between the ambulance and the military trucks that were the real targets of the rebels.
“The ambulance was inconspicuous since it did not discharge its siren, nor was it using any headlights,” Sanchez said in an earlier statement sent by e-mail to Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“We express our deep regret and commiserate with the victims from the provincial disaster risk reduction management council,” said the NPA spokesperson.
“We take responsibility for this act, as we stress that medical staff and mobile medical units should not have been made target of any attack,” said Sanchez. He said the protection of non-combatants “is guaranteed under international humanitarian law.”
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