Clashes displace students in MisOr

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY— Renewed clashes between government troops and communist rebels have prompted village officials in three towns of Misamis Oriental province to suspend classes in six upland communities this week to protect students.

Nicole Managbanag, provincial information officer, said the suspension covered the villages of Matampa in Salay town; Guinalaban, Membuahan and Ampianga in Sugbongcogon town; and Kitambis and Veldeconcha in Binuangan town, where clashes between government troops and New People’s Army (NPA) rebels continued. These villages, according to Managbanag, have 662 pupils.

The provincial government had not ordered any evacuation of residents in these communities but had readied relief goods in case the situation worsened, said Gerrymae Pasco, officer in charge of the Misamis Oriental provincial disaster risk reduction management office.

Violence erupted on Monday when soldiers ran into a group of NPA rebels in Barangay Kaulayanan in Sugbongcogon, resulting in a fire fight that killed Private First Class Oshin Rosala of the 58th Infantry Battalion, said Capt. Joe Patrick Martinez, spokesperson of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division.

Martinez said government troops had intensified military operations in Northern Mindanao after rebels attacked a hydropower plant project site in Barangay Lumbayao in Valencia City, Bukidnon province. The rebels tried but failed to bomb the facility that President Duterte visited last month for its groundbreaking ceremony.

Clashes between soldiers and NPA rebels were also reported in Tigbao town in Zamboanga del Sur province, although no casualty had been reported, said Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Command.

In Davao del Sur province, more than 100 residents of Sitio Mahayahay in Barangay Alegre in Bansalan town left their homes following a clash between soldiers and NPA rebels last week.

Military reports said soldiers overran an NPA camp that was estimated to accommodate 80 people.

Lt. Col. Marion Angcao, commander of the Army’s 73rd Infantry Battalion, said the presence of tents and a hut in the rebel camp indicated that the NPA “kept a considerable presence” in the area.

Angcao said at least 25 rebels surrendered to government troops in separate military operations in Davao Occidental and Sarangani provinces recently. —JIGGER JERUSALEM, JULIE ALIPALA AND ELDIE AGUIRRE