By BEN SERRANO
Correspondent
BUTUAN City–The militia group Magahat killed another tribal leader in Agusan del Sur before New Year’s Day, the National Democratic Front (NDF) in northeastern Mindanao alleged on Monday.
In a Jan. 4 statement, NDF spokesperson for northeastern Mindanao Ka Maria Malaya accused the anti-communist group of snatching Manobo Datu Juan Perez, and subsequently beheading the tribal leader in Sitio Gakub, Barangay La Purisima, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur.
The murder allegedly took place at around 5 pm on Dec. 27, 2015.
The NDF said the beheading resulted in evacuations from tribal communities in sitios Quarry, Mahogany, Gakub and Mahogany right after Perez was buried on Jan. 29, 2015.
Malaya said the evacuees sought the help of Prosperidad town officials in Dec. 30 but were not given any aid because it was a holiday.
According to the NDF, the killers are now in Inagawan, Barangay La Purisima, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, near a military camp.
There is no police report about the alleged beheading but the barangay and municipal disaster risk reduction councils confirmed that villagers evacuated.
The same group has been linked to the Sept. 1, 2015 killing of a tribal school director, and two other tribal leaders in Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
The militia group is allegedly headed by an alleged tribal leader with mining interests in an ancestral domain in Agusan del Sur. The ancestral land has been claimed by the Perez clan.
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