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Thursday, October 20, 2005
50 families leave site of NPA attack
More than 50 families have reportedly left Barangay Sumon, Tuburan, Cebu in the wake of a guerrilla attack that killed three soldiers last Saturday afternoon.
Sumon Barangay Captain Norma Burlas, in an interview over dyLA, said that a total of 54 families left the barangay last Monday and Tuesday and moved in with their relatives in Barangays Caridad and Poblacions 1, 5, and 8.
Burlas said she has already visited the Department of Social Welfare and Development 7 and talked to Tuburan Mayor Rosemarie Suezo to discuss assistance for her constituents.
But both military and police officials downplayed talks of an evacuation.
Central Command press relations officer Col. Jefferson Omandam yesterday said the case in Barangay Sumon was isolated and will not force the military to send hundreds of troops, making the area a virtual no-man’s-land.
Not true
“If you say no-man’s-land, that involves a wide range of military operations and hundreds of troops. These reports that families have fled from Sumon are not true. Our enemies are making these up,” Omandam said.
Tuburan Police Chief Senior Insp. Crisanto Duque said his office has not received reports of any mass evacuation from Sumon and neighboring Barangay Kagbaro.
“It’s unfair for the military, which has just lost its men, to be accused of harassing civilians,” said Duque. “Those accusations are not true.”
Last Tuesday afternoon, several residents in the barangay reportedly panicked when a team from the nongovernment group Karapatan-Central Visayas arrived in the area to investigate the attack.
Barangay Captain Burlas said the residents mistook the team for members of the New People’s Army (NPA).
“Tungod anang tabi-tabi sa lungsod nga himuong no-man’s-land ang Barangay Sumon, nanganaog ang mga tawo sa akong barangay (All these talks of Barangay Sumon being made into a no-man’s-land has driven people away),” Burlas said.
Burlas clarified, however, that Karapatan earlier notified her about their investigation. She failed to inform her constituents.
Meanwhile, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Eduardo Gador said the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division (RIID) is preparing documents and evidence for filing a multiple murder complaint against the rebels.
The police will press charges against a guerrilla group in the northern part of Cebu, reportedly led by one Roy Erecre.
RIID Chief Augusto Marquez Jr. said a case of robbery may also be filed against the rebel group, for taking the Armalite rifles
and ammunitions, handheld radios and personal belongings of the soldiers.
Monitoring
Information gathered by the Cebu Provincial Police Office revealed that the rebels planned to harass a detachment of the Regional Mobile Group (RMG) in Cebu last Oct. 12 to 14.
The information said that at least three groups were consolidating their forces in Barangay Logo, Malabuyoc to carry out the plan.
Acting Provincial Police Director Vicente Loot, in a press conference yesterday, said that although the RMG’s men can defend themselves, the police force is not taking any chances.
Since last week, the provincial police force has strengthened its monitoring and sent augmentation teams in the areas believed to harbor rebels.
Loot, however, added, “We are analyzing the situation as it could just be a diversionary tactic.”
Bayan Muna Provincial Secretary Arman Perez said that after the attack, some residents have complained of military abuses, such as breaking into their homes in the guise of running after the suspected rebels.
He said the fact-finding team they sent to Sumon also learned of verbal threats from soldiers, allegedly against civilians they suspected of being supportive of the NPA.
“We will present the evacuees to prove our claim. Our reports are not fabricated, and the people are indeed frightened by the ongoing military operations,” Perez said.
The military is looking into possibility that the NPA rebels tapped contacts that are residents of the place so they would know the best time to attack. (JST/With AIV)
(October 20, 2005 issue)
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