Townsfolk flee as fighting rages between soldiers, NPA rebels

More than 200 people, most of them children, have fled their homes as government forces, supported by helicopter gunships, bombed areas where communist rebels were suspected to be hiding in Kitcharao town in Agusan del Norte on Sunday.

Dr. Natty Castro, spokesperson of the human rights group Karapatan-Caraga, said 276 people, including 189 children, have been displaced since clashes broke out in the village of Bangayan.

Castro said the residents were forced to abandon their homes for fear of being caught in the crossfire as fighting rages between New People’s Army rebels and government troops.

The evacuees are housed in makeshift tents in the town center of Kitcharao, she said.

She blamed the evacuations to what she called as rampant militarization in several resource-rich areas in the region, particularly in Zapanta Valley in Agusan del Norte and the Andap Valley complex in Surigao del Norte.

Castro said the troop deployment in Kitcharao was part of “clearing operations” that would pave the way for the entry of foreign mining firms. This, she said, was similar to what happened last week in San Agustin and Lianga towns in Surigao del Sur, where 1,085 people had been displaced.

The Surigao evacuees returned home on Friday after the military agreed to pull out their troops from their villages.

“The military was deployed to suppress protest among lumad communities,” Castro said.

Major Eugene Osias, spokesperson of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division based in Cagayan de Oro City, acknowledged the renewed displacement of civilians but said this was only temporary.

“It is true there was evacuation, but it’s only temporary. The number of evacuees is lower than [what is] provided by Karapatan, it’s only 25 families,” Osias told the Inquirer by telephone.

He, however, dismissed Castro’s claims, saying the entry of mining investments in the region was their concern.

“The entry of mining firms is none of the Army’s business; it’s [the concern] of other government agencies. There’s no such thing as clearing operation for mining firms,” he said.

He said troops were pursuing a group of rebels that attacked three mining sites in Taganito, Surigao del Norte, last month when they clashed with rebels in the area.

A soldier was killed and four others, including a Scout Ranger officer, were wounded in Sunday’s clashes, Osias said.

He said helicopter gunships had to be sent to support ground troops as the rebels, holed up in their mountain lairs, put up fierce resistance.

Osias said Jorge Madlos, spokesperson of the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines for Mindanao, was in the encounter site, citing the level of resistance put up by the rebels.

“We believe Madlos was in the area that’s why his followers are hell-bent in protecting him by fiercely resisting our troops,” Osias said. Franklin A. Caliguid, Inquirer Mindanao