By FROILAN GALLARDO
Special Correspondent
and ERWIN MASCARIÑAS
Correspondent /
BUTUAN City — The soldier who was killed when government and communist rebels forces clashed again in the hinterland village of Anticala was a private 1st class from Cagayan de Oro.
Capt. Anthony Pueblas, spokesperson of the Army’s 402nd Infantry Brigade, identified the slain soldier as Pfc. Roger Badayos, 27, of Barangay Carmen, Cagayan de Oro.
Badayos was killed as the military launched a new offensive against the New People’s Army in Butuan following a crackdown ordered by President Duterte against the guerrilla organization and its perceived fronts.
Capt. Pueblas said Badayos was killed while he was responding to a report about the sighting of rebels in Barangay Anticala, some 23 kilometers east of the Butuan city proper.
He said the military have noted that rebels were slowly and increasingly encroaching the villages around the city, apparently to “envelop” the urban center.
“The encounter happened around noon Monday as our troops approached the village,” Pueblas said.
He said the encounter was the second incident involving the NPA fighters. The first encounter happened on the same day in Kitcharao town, Agusan del Norte.
The renewed clashes between 29th Infantry Battalion and NPA forces left many indigenes here displaced.
About 23 families from Sitio Patagon was displaced and sought refuge in Sitio Dugyaman, Barangay Anticala on Monday afternoon after they got startled and shocked from the sudden gunbattle.
“A lot of the women and children are still in shock. We never expected the sudden explosions and gunfires. We heard the loud sound of gunfire and explosions at around 12:20 in the afternoon. We panicked and fled. Everyone ran away from Patagon. We could not figure out exactly where the gunfire and explosions were coming from. It felt like it was all around us,” recounted Aurilio Salahay, 57, purok president of Sitio Patagon.
Salahay, a father of nine, said some children were hurt as they ran away barefoot.
Myrna Torepalma, purok president of Dugyaman, said there were families from other areas that were adversely affected.
“With the conflict between the NPA and Army, we can’t go to our farms because we are afraid. Some of the residents were supposed to harvest. Unfortunately, we can’t,” said Torepalma.
She appealed for relief aid for the displaced families, especially those from Patagon, Dugyaman, Tagkiling, and Kadhaan.
Torepalma said her estimate is that around 60 families were adversely affected.
The NPA has become very active after Duterte ordered the Armed Forces to destroy the rebel bases in Mindanao.
On Feb. 4, 2018, suspected NPA rebels killed Datu Benadjao Mampaundag and his son, Jhonard Mampaundag in their house in Barangay Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao City.
The father and son have just came from the “Panagtagbo Alang Sa Kalinaw and Kalambuan (A meeting of peace and development) attended by President Duterte at a military camp in Panacan, Davao City last Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
The Mampaundags along with several leaders of the indigenous people have expressed support to the call of President Duterte “to distance themselves” from the NPA rebels.
Capt. Tere Ingente, public information officer of the 4th Infantry Division, said the indigenous people form 60 to 80 percent of the NPA cadres in Mindanao.
Ingente said the rebels are targeting leaders of the indigenous people who are supporting the Army.
She said rebels abducted and later beheaded Mar Acebedo Bocales while he was out hunting for wild animals in San Miguel, Surigao del Sur last Jan. 29.
Bocales and his family who were allegedly members of Mangahat-Bagani Force, a paramilitary group, were among the suspects in the killing of two leaders of the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture.
The National Democratic Front International Office said in its website on Jan. 31 that the NPA had nothing to do with the beheading.
The NDF pointed to an armed group led by a certain Emerson Cuarteron as responsible for the abduction and beheading of Bocales.
Disclaimer
Mindanao Gold Star Daily holds the copyrights of all articles and photos in perpetuity. Any unauthorized reproduction in any platform, electronic and hardcopy, shall be liable for copyright infringement under the Intellectual Property Rights Law of the Philippines.
