Friday, September 19, 2008 Town going bankrupt due to MILF threat By Ben O. Tesiorna
NINETEEN people were killed in Kolambagun, Lanao del Norte in August but thousands more are in danger now after the town's economy plummeted due to threats by the Moro rebel group.
Kolambugan Mayor Bertrand Lumaque said aside from the estimated P10 million worth of damages in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) raid last month, millions more are lost due to the plunging economy of their municipality.
Though he could not give a definite amount of their economic losses, Lumaque qualified this by stating that 60 percent of their economy comes from the agricultural sector. He said after the MILF raid, only 10 percent of their farmers returned to their lands while others have already abandoned their farms due to security threat posed by the MILF.
"Before, we have about eight bakeries here now we only have three in operation. We have many sari-sari stores, now only few are left. Of the 26 barangays, eight are already ghost villages because residents left the place due to fear," Lumaque said.
It was learned that about 20-30 percent of the 26,000 total population of Kolambugan have already left their homes and have transferred to Ozamis City and other safer areas.
Making it worst to their already worse situation is the continuing spread of malicious text messages of an impending MILF attack that's causing more residents to seek refuge in Ozamis City whenever the night falls.
Lumaque said it is for this reason that they passed an ordinance that punishes anyone who would spread malicious text messages that would cause panic among the public.
In Sun.Star Davao's visit to Kolambugan Wednesday, only a handful of students of the Kolambugan Central Elementary School have returned to their classes since the attack.
Lumaque said from about 800 pupils, only about 200 have started attending their classes while the others have refused or were transferred to another school.
MILF rebels burned down two buildings of the said school and partially damaged another building.
Teacher Vivencia Ducao said many parents refused to send their children back to the school for fear that MILF rebels would return. She said even the presence of military soldiers camping inside one of the buildings of the school has not erased the trauma the MILF raid caused among students and teachers.
School principal Remedios Balane allegedly took a 15-day leave due to trauma. She went to Cebu and will return to work on the 19th of this month.
Nine-year-old Jeric Ceniza could also not forget his experience during the MILF raid. He narrated how he and his friend were chased by MILF rebels that morning that prompted him to run towards the town cemetery.
"Nadalin-as ko pagdagan nako tapos nabali akong kamot (I slip and twisted my arm)," Ceniza recalled.
Matilde Eballe, 51-years-old, was shot in the leg by MILF rebels who took her and sixty other civilians as hostages. Eballe was hit in her leg and survived the strafing. Nine others were however not as lucky as Eballe.
Fourteen-year-old William James Sechico was also hit by a bullet in his arm. The bullet is still embedded in his arm until now.
Cecilia Lagura and her child were also among the more than sixty hostages taken by MILF in Kolambugan.
They were held hostage from six in the morning until nine in the evening. Lagura's group was lucky since they were taken by the MILF to the house of the mayor of Tangcal, a Muslim-dominated town adjacent to Kolambugan. They were later released unharmed.
Eballe's group was meanwhile strafed by the MILF. Nine were killed while eleven were wounded.
