Relief workers attacked in quake-hit town

A house in the village of Lipata in Surigao City is among those destroyed by the 6.7-magnitude quake that hit Surigao del Norte province. Relief workers from the government and private groups have started seeking out survivors in remote areas in Surigao to bring aid. —CHRIS V. PANGANIBAN

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY— Suspected communist rebels fired at a convoy of soldiers and relief workers returning to Surigao City after distributing aid to earthquake-stricken Malimono town in Surigao del Norte province on Tuesday night, a military official said.

Lt. Col. Rico Amaro, commander of the Army’s 30th Infantry Battalion, said the attack happened two days after communist rebels declared a truce in the provinces of Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Norte to allow relief operations to proceed for victims of Friday’s 6.7-magnitude earthquake.

The New People’s Army (NPA), however, denied the military’s claim. In a statement, “Ka Oto,” spokesperson of the NPA’s Front Committee 16 in  Northeastern Mindanao, said the ambush could have been staged by the military to sabotage the ceasefire.

Ka Oto said the NPA would not initiate moves that would jeopardize relief operations.

“It was not a rebel-initiated offensive. It was staged. The road where the attack happened was secured by roadblocks manned by government soldiers,” Ka Oto said.

Lenie Feguis, Malimono social welfare officer, said she and a companion from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office boarded one of the military trucks because they could not be accommodated in a vehicle of ABS-CBN’s Sagip Kapamilya that was part of the relief convoy.

“We were confident that nothing will happen because the rebels had declared a ceasefire,” Feguis told the Inquirer by telephone. “As we were cruising Barangay Linunggaman, which is halfway between Malimono and San Francisco, [we heard] gunfire. At first, I thought a bolt had been detached from the vehicle but another shot followed.”

In their panic, she and her companion ducked and hid under their vehicle’s seat. Feguis said she could not see on which side of the road the gunmen were positioned because it was dark.

Feguis said soldiers later told them that NPA rebels could have fired at the convoy.

She said she could not say if indeed NPA rebels attacked them. “I really don’t know much about the area because I’m from Surigao City. But based on stories I heard from locals, the NPA operates there,” Feguis said.

She said the incident would not deter the DSWD from bringing more aid to Malimono residents, who refused to go back to their farms or to resume fishing out of fear of another strong earthquake. She said more relief workers were headed to another village on Wednesday afternoon.

Amaro said the rebels fired at the convoy five times, forcing the soldiers to fire back.

“We condemn in the strongest terms possible the recent harassment of the NPA. There is no way we can really trust these terrorists,” said Maj. Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr., 4th Infantry Division commander.

He called the NPA’s recent ceasefire declaration as “nothing but lie and deception.” —JIGGER JERUSALEM, FRANKLIN CALIGUID AND CYNTHIA D. BALANA