2 Lumads in Bukidnon killed after refusing to join NPA rebels

TWO lumads were killed by New People’s Army in Bukidnon for refusing to be recruited, the military said on Monday.

The killings were led by a certain Alexander Llesis alias Neo/Bagwis of the Guerilla Front 68 of the North Central Mindanao Regional Committee near sitio Nasilic, Barangay Lilingayon in Valencia City at around 8 a.m. on Sunday, Army’s 4th Infantry Division spokesperson Captain Joe Patrick Martinez.

A police report said the bodies were found at around 5 p.m. on the same day after their relatives searched for them when they heard the gunshots.

The victims were brothers Reymund Dayo Licanay, 21 years old, and Roy Dayo Licanay, 18 years old. Both belonged to the Talaandig tribe of the indigenous peoples in Bukidnon.

The two were said to be hunting wild animals for food.

Quoting Datu Uba Lucbay Bayawon, a resident of Sitio Tandakol and a tribal elder in the area, the NPA rebels under alias Neo have been trying to recruit the victims, who also were the former’s nephews, but they have repeatedly refused.

“The NPA have been recruiting us, specially these victims, for quite a while now. But we refused because we do not want to take up arms and fight the government,” the datu was quoted as saying.

Soldiers have been sent by Lt. Col. Nasser Lidasan commanding officer of the Army’s 1st Special Forces Battalion to conduct law enforcement operations.