“NPA man kaha ilang kalaban, nganong kung tudluan namo asa padulong ang mga NPA, dili man lagi nila gukdon. Kami man noon pasanginlang NPA (The NPAs are their supposed enemies. Yet how come that even when we tell them where the NPAs are, it is us that they chase after? Instead, they accuse the civilians as NPAs,” Stella Imbud, a Manobo lumad said.
By DANILDA L. FUSILERO
Davao Today
MAGPET, Cotabato, Philippines — Military operations have again affected residents here, forcing the evacuation of thirty Manobo families from the remote villages of Doles and Amabel to the village centers.
Aurelio Buhisan, 54 of Sitio Tanay, Doles village recounted to davaotoday.com how he was held and interrogated by soldiers for three hours on suspicion that he was with the guerilla New People’s Army (NPA).
“Gikan ko nagtago sa kahoy ubos sa among balay, kay grabe na ang buto-buto sa dihang nakit-an ko sa mga sundalo. Ila kong gipahubo, gigapos ug grabeng interoga kay Kumander daw ko sa NPA (I was hiding for safety under our house upon hearing the gunfires were getting louder when the military saw me. They told me to take off my clothes, tied me up and put me under interrogation because they said, I’m a commander of the NPA),” Buhisan told davaotoday.com.
Buhisan was only released by the military when their village chief, Honorio Galanido, intervened and vouched for his identity.
According to Galanido, an encounter between the government troops belonging to the 57th Infantry Battalion and the NPA occurred that day in Sitio Tanay, Tuesday, November 27 at around 9 AM.
Lumad residents of Sitio Salingsing in nearby Amabel village including two women and five children were also reportedly ordered by the military at gunpoint to go to the community’s open basketball court where they were held for two hours, under the heat of the sun, Victor Guabong, one of those who were there said.
“Bag-o lang mi nahuman og cutting og saging kay naay buyer naghulat sa sentro, nagluto mi pamahaw sa balay sa dihang gipangdakop mi nila. Mga NPA daw mi. (We just finished harvesting our bananas then because the buyer was waiting for us in the village center. We were still cooking our breakfast when the military apprehended us. They said, we are NPAs),” Guabong told davaotoday.com.
“It was a legitimate operation of the brigade after we received reports that NPAs are in the area,” 57th IB Civil Military Operations Chief Nazrullah Sema told an interview over a local radio station here.
Sema denied such harassments and intimidations by their troops in the area have occurred. “Pag sumbong-sumbong lang, wala ‘yan sa tamang proseso,” Sema said over the radio.
Meanwhile, the village chief of Tanay confirmed evacuation of residents to the village center following the incidents.
The villages of Amabel, Dolis, Basak and Bagumbayan are among the 32 villages in the town located in the north-western part where the military has conducted operations against the NPA lately.
The residents have however questioned why they have to be made victims of such instances.
Another Manobo Lumad, Stella Imbud, 40, was indignant as her house was ransacked and looted by the military. “Nangita daw sila’g mga armas ug granada sa among balay (They said they were looking for firearms and grenades in our houses),” Imbud told davaotoday.com in an interview.
“NPA man kaha ilang kalaban, nganong kung tudluan namo asa padulong ang mga NPA, dili man lagi nila gukdon. Kami man noon pasanginlang NPA (The NPAs are their supposed enemies. Yet how come that even when we tell them where the NPAs are, it is us that they chase after? Instead, they accuse the civilians as NPAs,” she cited.
The peasant organization Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas who have members in said areas of Magpet where the AFP have been conducting operations have condemned the military for what it calls an outright disregard of civilians’ rights.
“Ang kaaway nila ang mga NPA, nganong ang mga residente man ang harason nila (The NPAs are their enemies. Why then are they harassing the residents?),” said Noli Lapaz, KMP Cotabato Chair.
The residents are set to file a complaint on these incidents.
Magpet Mayor Efren Piñol said he will be sending a team to the affected village to investigate the incident and attend to the needs of the evacuees.
Meanwhile, Bai Norma Capuyan, chair of the Apo Sandawa Lumadnong Panaghiusa sa Cotabato and second nominee of the Katribu Party-list believes there is more to the military ‘s declaration of continuing hunt for NPAs as justification for their military operations.
For Capuyan, the continuing military operations in the lumad villages “serve the plan to pave the way for more investments like the cash crop plantations and mining.”
“Time and again, they (military) are being used to drive away our fellow lumads from their ancestral lands in lieu of private investors who wanted to rake profits from the resource-rich territories of the lumads,” Capuyan said. (Danilda L. Fusilero/davaotoday.com)
