The Army has implemented five days of ceasefire apparently to meet the demand of the National Democratic Front to pave the way for the release of four police personnel captured by the guerrillas early this month.
The human rights group Karapatan here has blamed the deployment of several Philippine Army battalions in the Davao Region for evacuation and complaints of alleged harassment of villagers in the hinterlands.
Datu Doloman Dawsay, spokesperson of the Manobo organization Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanugon (Unite to defend the land) said that military operations of 68th Infantry Battalion, 60th IB and 4th Special Forces displaced 1,353 individuals comprising 309 families from the sitios of Pongpong, Nalubas, Bagang, Bayabas, Saso, Lasakan, Sambolongan and Bugni of Barangay Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao del Norte.
A Manobo tribal leader in Davao Del Norte claimed that new troops sent near their village threatened both men and women and scared schoolchildren as they accused the village of harboring New People’s Army guerrillas.
Simultaneous attacks by New People’s Army guerrillas on a police station and reinforcement troops resulted to the death of three police personnel and seven soldiers including a lieutenant.
“Since 28 January up to this moment, this exact moment, I can attest that there are still military forces camping in our community, 7 houses are occupied including mine” Christina Lantao said.
“He is a leader of the tribal council, an active member of the community church, active in the community, that could prove his innocence,” he told Davao Today on Wednesday.
The bishop said “instead of political negotiation which is closer to the ‘straight path’, the Aquino government intentionally took the ‘warpath’ in the Zamboanga crisis. Aquino’s war has clearly led to a bigger problem than its intended outcome.”
Matigsalug leader Cristina Lantao said troops from the Army’s 25th Infantry Battalion arrived in their community in Sitio Bermuda, Purok 4 on Wednesday and told them they would occupy their village while conducting a three-week operation against the New People’s Army.
The NDF spokesperson also said the Moro struggle would not end with the recent armed conflict, pointing out that the “(t)he reactionary regime’s divide-and-rule tactic would merely delay the fruition of the true aspirations of the Moro people.” “We are most certain that, should the GPH succeed to encumber one group, others would rise in its place to continue the struggle to resolve the fundamental problems of the Moro people,” Ka Oris aid.
