Saturday, July 26, 2008 Army twits City Council for peace zone spiel By Ben O. Tesiorna
THE Philippine Army's 10th Infantry Division showed various documents from barangay leaders in Toril District showing that its soldiers did not occupy some schoolrooms in the area.
Major General Jogy Leo Fojas said 20 barangay officials as well as head teachers of six schools in Toril district have certified that the Army soldiers "never utilized any school facilities and rooms as their patrol base."
The barangays that issued their certification include Tagurano, Catigan, Sibulan, Atan-awe, Baracatan, Tagluno, Alambre, Camansi, Bangkas Heights, Bato, Daliaon, Kilate, Bayabas, Tibuloy, Mulig, Marapangi, Lubogan, Binugao, Daliao, Sirawan, and Crossing Bayabas.
Head teachers and teacher's club presidents from Binugao, Camansi, Piedad, Baracayo, Binugao, and Bangkas Heights also certified that no Army soldiers occupied schoolrooms in their area.
Fojas lamented how some public officials readily believed the lies peddled by some sectors against the Army.
"Sana naman lang, bago sila nagbigay ng (Before they releaed) press release they should have validated their information first," Fojas said.
The general was obviously referring to the City Council resolution last July 15 calling for the immediate pullout of Army soldiers utilizing schools as military camps.
In reaction, however, City Councilor Maria Belen Acosta said the resolution was but an expression of sentiment against all armed men -- whether soldiers, rebels, or even barangay officials -- to stay off school campuses.
She added that because it is an expression of sentiment, she does not have to validate anything or even ask the permission of the military before coming out with it.
She said she got her information from the Department of Education and was even informed by a DepEd official soon after coming out with a resolution to keep school campuses as peace zones that soldiers at a Deped facility by the National Reconciliation and Development Program were moved out.
She added that City Councilor Myrna Dalodo Ortiz admitted seeing the soldiers around schools in her district and shared Acosta's feelings about armed men near children.
This was the basis upon which the resolution was made, Acosta said. It was not intended to order soldiers to pull out but to remind everybody that schools should be kept as peace zones where no armed men should roam.
"Why should they take this personally when the council resolution was just an expression of sentiment? Do we have to ask their permission for us to state our sentiment?" Acosta said.
"Iba-iba kasi ang tono ng council resolution, we could have said we are urging the Philippine Army, the Task Force Davao ba, or whatever specific group to pull out from school campuses. But we did not say that, we just said that the City Council recognizes schools as peace zones and that this should be kept as peace zones."
Task Force Davao commander Col. Ricardo Rainier Cruz wrote a letter to Councilor Nilo Abellera of the peace and order committee last July 21 saying the Army is baffled as to why the council readily passed the resolution without even giving the Army a chance to validate the report or at least give its side on the issue.
He said the resolution "created an impression to the general public that our soldiers are using the safety of schools and the presence of children as deterrence against possible attacks from enemies of the state."
Fojas blamed some "unscrupulous groups" as behind the smear campaign against the Armed Forces of the Philippines to the point of fabricating stories that were accepted hook, line and sinker some public officials as gospel truth.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he does not believe that Army soldiers would turn schools into camps in their ongoing operation in the Toril area.
