Fear still grips Bohol villagers as they return home

CEBU CITY — Life in the village of Napo, Inabanga town, Bohol province has yet to return to normal, three days after the military declared the village safe from the threat of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group.

Most evacuees from the village returned to their homes in the morning to feed their animals and tend their farms.

Some joined the Good Friday procession and other Holy Week activities at the St. Paul de Apostle parish in the village of Poblacion and the St. Isidore Church in Cawayan, another village.

At night, however, some of the residents would return to evacuation centers for fear the Abu Sayyaf would strike again and of getting caught in the crossfire if the group clashed with government soldiers, according to Frank Baylosis, Inabanga information officer.

“The people are still scared,” Baylosis said.

He said that while the last air strike against Abu Sayyaf came early Wednesday, the military continued to conduct clearing operations in search of Abu Sayyaf members who managed to escape.

At least 10 Abu Sayyaf members entered Napo on Monday escorted by a native of the village, Joselito Melloria.

Village leaders alerted police after children reported seeing high-powered firearms and pieces of ammunition “as big as corn ears.”

On Tuesday, the bandits and government soldiers clashed.

Air Force planes conducted 10 aerial bombing runs, sending at least 3,000 Napo residents and those from neighboring villages fleeing to evacuation centers.

When the smoke cleared, five Abu Sayyaf members lay dead, including leader Abu Rami. Also killed were three soldiers and a policeman.

A body was found in a shallow grave early Thursday in the village of Lonoy Cainsican, at least a kilometer from Napo.

Two of the bodies that had been identified by the military as suspected Abu Sayyaf members, however, turned out to be Napo residents caught in the crossfire.

Columbus Estoce, Napo village chief, told radio station dyTR on Thursday, that the two—Constancio Petalco and his wife Crisenta—were residents of Sitio Ylaya and not Abu Sayyaf members.

Estoce said Constancio went back to his house to get his wife who had difficulty walking and had been packing for evacuation.

“They were just trapped,”  Estoce said.

Reached for comment, Capt. Jojo Mascariñas, spokesperson of the 302nd Brigade, said officials are investigating the civilian deaths.

The investigation, however, would include the couple’s possible involvement with Abu Sayyaf, Mascariñas said.

The couple were buried on Good Friday.

Three of the dead Abu Sayyaf members, including Rami, were buried at Lutao Public Cemetery.

Baylosis said relatives of the couple sought help from Mayor Josephine Jumamoy on Friday.

The relatives, according to Baylosis, wanted to delay the burial of the couple to allow their children to say goodbye to their parents.

But Jumamoy, in a phone call with the children who are based outside Bohol, told them their parents needed to be buried as soon as possible because their bodies were already in an advanced state of decomposition.

“The funeral parlor didn’t want to keep the bodies longer because these started to smell,” the mayor said.

Baylosis confirmed that the couple were residents of Napo but that he was unaware if they had any involvement with the Abu Sayyaf.

“We will have to wait for the official report from police,” Baylosis said.