KATUNGOD-Sinirangan Bisayas (Rights-Eastern Visayas) accused the Philippine Army in the region of harassing residents of Barangay Bay-ang in San Jorge, Samar.
The group said members of the 63rd Infantry Battalion “indiscriminately shoot fire at a mountain near their village while riding a helicopter” on January 15.
“The said incident brought fear to the village folks which pushed them to take temporary shelter at the town's health clinic since January 18,” the group said.
In a statement, Katungod-Sinirangan Bisayas said the evacuees are pleading for immediate assistance after the incident.
Also, the group reported that residents of the nearby Barangay Calungdan “started packing and evacuating still due to the heightened military operations near their community.”
“As of today, the villagers live in discomfort within the small space of the clinic, enduring hunger and unease while thinking about all that they have left for survival. In an attempt to cover their atrocities, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have been distributing relief goods to the evacuees and also told them not to go back to their village yet while their ‘clearing operations’ is not yet over,” the group said.
The evacuees “did not take refuge voluntarily but was forced due to the life-and-death situation brought by the intense harassments perpetrated by the AFP,” according to the group.
“Had there been a better choice, the people would probably choose to stay in their village and continue their farm productions,” it said.
“More than ever, no civilian should be displaced even amidst armed conflict which would happen only if the military officials will adhere to the law that civilian communities are not and shall never be utilized as war arena. Therefore, military troops should pull-out from their communities and sign an agreement to never harass the officials and any other residents of Barangay Bayang and Calungdan and the many other villages within the region,” the rights group added.
While they called for the immediate pull-out of the government security forces from their communities and have the troops be held accountable for the alleged damages they have brought to the residents, the group said that recent incidents “signal the beginning of the military rites during held every election where villagers are being harassed as a tool to coerce to follow their command, suppressing the people's democratic rights.”
The Philippine Army, however, belied the group's accusations.
It said the presence of 63rd Infantry Battalion troops in Barangay Bay-ang is to help track down the presence of New People’s Army rebels and to protect the residents from the guerillas' resurgence.
“Just recently, the large Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee (EVRPC) camp was overrun by the same troops in Barangay Bay-ang that merely shows that the military was not the first one who created threat among the localities, it is the terrorists New People’s Army,” said Captain Cherry Junia, Division Public Affairs Office acting chief of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division based in Catbalogan, Samar.
“The large EVRPC camp signifies that they have stayed long in the area to conduct extortion, recruitment and other illegal activities that made the people of Barangay Bay-ang suffer every single day,” Junia added.
“The NPA should be the one to leave the people of Bay-ang not the military, because the presence of the military is to secure and protect the well-being of the people,” Army spokesperson said.
“The successful overrun of the enemy encampment through the tip of the concerned residents of Barangay Bay-ang greatly shows that they no longer like the presence of these NPA terrorists in their barangay,” Junia added.
He said the government forces “will continue [their] pursuit operation until these terrorists won’t stop their illegal activities in this region.”
“The 8ID assures the people of Bay-ang that the military troops will see to it that their barangay is free from these terrorists before they will be allowed to go back to their homes,” said Junia.
He urged the residents to cooperate with the government by giving them information about the presence of NPA rebels in their areas.
For decades, the Samar provinces continue to be the stronghold of the NPA in Eastern Visayas. (SunStar Philippines)