AT LEAST 31 participants of the National Medical and Solidarity Mission in Talaingod town in Davao del Norte province were stranded Sunday after suspected members of the Alamara, a paramilitary group, threatened to kill them.
Save Our Schools (SOS) Network spokesperson Rius Valle, in a phone interview, said they are momentarily staying at Sitio Nasilaban in Barangay Palma Gil, waiting for the security assistance of the local government units (LGUs) in town.
Valle said they were supposed to leave the area when they received information that motorcycles that are supposed to fetch them were threatened by the Alamara saying, “do not fetch the visitors at Nasilaban so you won’t get hurt.”
Biology students and professors from University of the Philippines (UP) in Mindanao are among the 31 participants of the mission who are set to find the cause of the cholera outbreak in the town since last year. The mission started February 9, Thursday.
"The other participants already went home on Saturday. We are supposed to go home after the mission ended today (Sunday), pero tungod sa panghitabo, diri nalang usa mi mangatulog hantod sa naa na tabang mag-abot," Valle said.
According to reports, Valle said, it was Joven Salangani who threatened the motorcycle drivers not to fetch them. He added that Salangani is the one accused of killing 15-year-old Alibando Tingkas last January 2016.
"He (Salangani) is a fugitive. I wondered why he is still at large. He was the one who killed Alibando Tingkas, a student of the Salugpongan School. We are calling for the help and immediate interventions from the authorities," Valle said.
Philippine Army's 10th Infantry Division spokesperson Captain Rhyan Batchar, meanwhile, said they are willing to provide security for the participants who were stranded in the area.
"Kung mangayo sila ug tabang sa amoa then we will provide security assistance for them. We will coordinate with the local government on the matter," Batchar said.