Davao Sur governor, mayors condemn NPA for landmine attacks

New People’s Army FILE PHOTO

DIGOS CITY, Philippines — Davao del Sur Governor Claude Bautista — aided by several mayors — rallied residents here in condemning the use by the New People’s Army of landmines.

Bautista personally led a condemnation rally that started with a protest march to the city plaza.

The protest against the NPA’s use of landmines was staged here following Sunday’s explosion in Bansalan town, which injured four rescuers from the provincial disaster risk reduction management council.

The rescuers were to fetch soldiers wounded in an earlier landmine attack there when the ambulance they were riding in was also hit by a similar attack.

Bautista had immediately condemned the attack and urged the NPA to spare civilians.

On Wednesday, he called on the NPA to stop using landmines, which, he said, could hurt anybody, be they civilians or soldiers.

Hagonoy town Mayor Franco Calida said the use of landmine has been prohibited by international protocols and has been considered a violation of human rights for years.

Calida, who was among the brains behind the anti-communist group Alsa Masa in the Davao region in the 1980s also warned of a possible revival of the now defunct group.

“If I need to revive vigilantism in this part of the province, I’ll do it just to restore peace and order,” Calida said amid applause by a mixed crowd of government employees and students.

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