By BEN SERRANO
Correspondent
BUTUAN City––While hundreds of lumad evacuees are still staying at the San Miguel, Surigao del Sur Municipal Gym since Aug. 9, another set of lumad evacuees of about 332 families joined them over the weekend.
The indigenes from Barangay Bulho-on, San Miguel left their homes because two tribal groups who used to belong to the New People’s Army have allegedly been harassing their community.
The new batch of indigenes from Barangay Siagao, however, have a different reason for leaving their homes on Saturday––two of their tribesmen were shot dead allegedly by the same paramilitary group, the Baganis and Magahats.
On Friday, two Manobo tribesmen were shot dead by armed men belonging to anti insurgency paramilitary group “Bagani” allegedly headed by one Datu Hasmin.
In a phone interview with Gold Star Daily, Surigao del Sur police director Senior Supt. Narciso Verdadero identified the fatalities as one Crisanto Tabugol, widower, 39, and his younger brother Ely “Loloy” Tabugol, single, 34. Both belong to the Manobo tribe and are residents of Purok 3, Barangay Siagao, San Miguel, Surigao del Sur.
Human rights group Karapatan-Caraga, in a press statement signed by its secretary general Eliza Rose Pangilinan, identified the same victims in the police report.
At about 6 pm on Friday, the two brothers were on their way home in Purok 3 also in Barangay Siagao, San Miguel, Surigao del Sur and one of them, the younger Tabugol, went to a nearby store to buy ice water when suddenly armed men came and confronted Ely “Loloy” Tabugol.
The armed men allegedly shot the younger Tabugol, and while on the ground grimacing with pain, he begged the suspects to spare him.
But the armed men allegedly finished him off.
When the older brother Crisanto saw what happened, he immediately ran off but the men caught up with him and allegedly shot him thrice.
The elder Tabugol succumbed to nine gunshots to the forehead and all over the body. His body was left in the middle of a barangay road for everyone to see.
Not contented, eyewitnesses claimed the armed men sprayed houses with automatic gunfire but no one was hit, witnesses told San Miguel town police chief Darwin Uy.
On Saturday morning, some 1,865 residents evacuated for fear that they would be attacked.
They said the armed men told them that they would be next unless they admitted that they were rebels or NPA supporters.
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