A woman watches over her sleeping child against the backdrop of slogans against militarization at the capitol grounds yesterday. Families from Sitio Kamansi, Barangay Banglay in Lagonglong town, Misamis Oriental evacuated as tension gripped their village again. (GSD File photo by nitz arancon)
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By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent .

SOME 163 indigenes fled their homes and then camped out at the capitol grounds an hour before midnight on Sunday for fear of being caught in the crossfires, days after troops killed two New People’s Army rebels during a clash in an outlying village in Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental.

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There were at least 38 families, including many children, staying at the capitol park. The lumad group Kalumbay said there is a two-week old baby there at presstime.

The evacuation was the sixth time for villagers of Kamansi, Banglay, Lagonglong because of rising tensions and skirmishes in the town.

Sariza Acosta, spokesperson of the Tagtabolon Tribe Organization, said the evacuations actually started in May 26 after soldiers started surrounding the village.

“Basin sulongon sila sa mga rebilde, di ma-ipit kami kon mag-gira sila,” Acosta.

Acosta said soldiers from the Army’s 58th Infantry Battalion and NPA rebels exchanged firepower the following day, May 27, resulting in the death of two suspected rebels identified by the military as Cesario Latio of Gingoog City and Odelo Compas.

The slain suspects were allegedly from the ordnance unit of subegional committee of the NPA-North Central Mindanao Regional Command.

Acosta’s group has appealed to Misamis Oriental Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano to ask 4th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Ronald Villanueva to pull out the troops from Sitio Kamasi, saying they feared that of more fierce encounters there.

The evacuations were difficult, according to Acosta. The evacuees, Acosta said, was stopped by police officers and soldiers five times on their way to the capitol.

Acosta said the evacuees fled to Balingasag town about a week ago but then decided to camp out at the capitol grounds. She said they were stopped in Jasaan,  Villanueva and Tagoloan towns, and then on the highway in Baloy in Barangay Tablon, this city.

“Gi-ingnan mi sa mga pulis nga mobalik mi sa among agi, pero unsa-on namog balik nga na-a may gira didto sa among sitio,” said Acosta.

In a statement, Kalumbay said evacuees asked assistance from the Lagonglong town government to use a gym as an evacuation center “but the LGU shunned them away.”

Kalumbay said the police and military held the evacuees at checkpoints for various reasons such as the search for arms and overloading.

“The (evacuees) are in need of food, water, and other basic needs in the coming days. They are also in dire need of support and attention from the government to heed their calls,” the group said.

The military said the May 27 encounters took place in two areas in Barangay Banglay:  Kamansi and Bayhutao.

Lt. Tere Ingente, Camp Evangelista spokesperson, said one of the slain rebels, Compas a.k.a. Sapayan, was the first to be found by soldiers. His remains were then brought to a mortuary in Jasaan town on Saturday, and subsequently claimed by his cousin, barangay chairperson Elizabeth Macabuhay of Barangay Kibanban in  Balingasag town.

“We have to make sure that families were informed and proper burial rites were done for Compas  and Latio. These people were victims of the circumstances and should be given due respect regardless of our differences in ideologies and principles. They were still Filipinos,” said 58th IB commander Lt. Col. Roy Anthony Derilo.

Latio was buried at the Lagonglong public cemetery.

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