DAVAO CITY — As many as 444 barangays (villages) in the Southern Mindanao region have been classified as among so-called “areas of immediate concern” this election season.
The police in the region reported 38 percent of the villages in Southern Mindanao, including those in three cities and 44 municipalities, are affected by armed and election-related threats.
1st Pulang Bagani Company
Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command
New People’s Army
Press Statement
11 April 2007
NPA denies killing of family of four in Calinan
The 1st Pulang Bagani Company of the New People’s Army in Southern Mindanao categorically denies any hand in the brutal massacre of the Gonzaga family in sitio Bulan-Bulan, Barangay Dalagdag Calinan last Monday, April 9.
Clarita Alia, a vegetable vendor in Bankerohan, Davao City, frantically called members of the Davao media this morning to report that her son, Fernando, 15, was stabbed dead at around 3 in the morning today, Friday. Before this, she already lost three other sons to the so-called Davao Death Squad. Fernando was her last remaining son.
Check out these previous Davao Today stories on Clarita Alia and her family:
Last Son Alive | A Mother?s Plea, a City?s Madness | Rody’s War | Teenagers Perish in Davao’s Killing Fields
A lone gunman was responsible for the shooting rampage at an Army patrol base in Sulu province that killed nine soldiers and a civilian, the Chief of Staff, General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said.
Quoting initial findings of a military investigation, Esperon also said “no drinking spree and no mauling” preceded the carnage, contrary to some news reports.