A LUMAD leader who has vocally dismissed and criticized the New People's Army (NPA) survived an attempt on his life following an ambush by still unidentified men believed to be communist rebels in Lianga town, Surigao del Sur on Wednesday, December 12.
Datu Jumar Bocales along with some companions were on their way home and on board 2 motorcycles when ambushed around 1:40 p.m.
According to the Surigao del Sur Provincial Police Office, Bocales was still able to reach Lianga Police Station to report the attempt on his life, and was later admitted to the hospital.
He sustained a gunshot wound on his left arm.
Bocales, a Manobo leader, is a former rebel and now supports the campaign of the government against the NPA.
Bocales was among the tribal leaders who signed a manifesto to condemn the NPA for violating Indigenous People’s (IP) rights by entering ancestral lands without the clan’s permission, and for forcing IP youths to join the communist rebel movement.
He was, however, tagged in the killing of three lumad leaders Emerito Samarca, the school director of Alternative Learning Center for Livelihood and Agricultural Development (Alcadev) and brothers’ Dionel Campos and Datu Bello Sinzo in 2015.