Bohol marks 1st anniversary of foiled Abu Sayyaf incursion

INABANGA, Bohol — Officials of the Bohol provincial government chose on Wednesday to commemorate, instead of forget, the attempt of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) last year to establish a base in Inabanga town.

Bohol Gov. Edgar Chatto explained they were celebrating, not the entry of the Abu Sayyaf, but the heroism shown by the government troops who relentlessly hunted down 11 bandits, killing all of them.

The officials also praised the community, whose members alerted authorities to the entry of the bandits.

In the process of hunting down the bandits, three Army soldiers, a police officer, and two civilians were killed. Hundreds of families were also displaced in the skirmished that lasted for month and covered three towns.

“We are celebrating the positive value of heroism that was showcased because of that challenge,” Chatto told the Inquirer on Wednesday. “It is something worth remembering. It is something worth celebrating.”

Chatto led the ceremony that commemorated the first anniversary of the encounter with the ASG bandits.

Members of the Inabanga Theatre Group held a dance drama that reenacted the events of April 11, 2017, when 11 men on board three kumpits – two-engine motorboats – arrived in Barangay Napo, Inabanga.

The children saw the bandits, who were led by a Napo native, Joselito Melloria. They were carrying high-powered firearms with “bullets as big as corn ears.”

The children told their parents who then passed on the information to the village officials who then told the police.

Combined forces of the police and Army arrived and a firefight ensued – something that had not been seen in Bohol despite the presence of communist insurgents in some towns.

Residents of Napo and nearby villages fled as the Philippine Air Force dropped bombs to flush the bandits out of their hiding places.

Four ASG members – including bomb expert Abu Rami – were killed in the initial assault.

The seven others fled to nearby Clarin town, where Melloria was later killed.

At the height of clash in Clarin, law enforcers arrested Supt. Ma. Cristina Nobleza and her husband, Abu Sayyaf bomber Reenor Lou Dungon; Judith Dungon; and a minor who allegedly tried to rescue the remaining Abu Sayyaf members.

Hunger prompted one Abu Sayyaf bandit to surrender in Tubigon town. But police later killed him as he was trying to escape from from prison.

The last two ASG members were killed in a firefight in Calape town on May 15, 2017, which ended the month-long operation.

The three kumpits used by the bandits and the military tanks and weapons used by the government troops were on display in a one-day exhibit outside the municipal gymnasium in Inabanga on Wednesday.

Also launched on Wednesday was SAFE Bohol – Security Always for Everyone: Boholano Bayanihan – a movement inspired by the community involvement that led to the discovery of the Abu Sayyaf presence in Inabanga.

Undersecretary Eduardo Año, officer in charge of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, was the guest of honor in the commemoration.

He said the vigilance of Boholano community and the military’s tough and focused stance were the reasons why the Abu Sayyaf didn’t succeed.

“Dito sa Inabanga is one ideal example on how the government, the NGOs [nongovernment organizations], the local government enforcement agencies, law enforcement agencies and local populace worked together and defeated the Abu Sayyaf threat,” Año said.

Part of the activities on Wednesday was the launching of the road project that would link Barangays Datag to Napo, Inabanga town and Libertad to Tan-wan in Tubigon town.

Barangay Napo in Inabanga has long been isolated due to the absence of access road that connected it to any existing road. It can only be reached by boat through the Inabanga River or on foot passing through mountainous trails.

Chatto said that, with the assistance of Año, they hoped that this project would be completed quickly. /atm