Lumad soldier killed in clash

By Lito Rulona
and Jigger J. Jerusalem
Correspondent .

A Higaonon soldier was killed-in-action during an encounter with New People’s Army guerrillas in the hinterlands of Mt. Balatucan in Misamis Oriental Friday afternoon.

The Army’s 58th Infantry Battalion Commander Lt. Colonel Roy Anthony Derilo identified the fatality as Cpl. Fermin Lindahay.

Lindahay, a member of the Higaonon tribe, was a native of Sitio Lantad, Barangay Kibanban, Balingasag town, Misamis Oriental.

Lantad sits on the Mt. Balatucan Range and was considered as one of the rebel strongholds in the past years.

During the encounter where Lindahay was killed, an NPA fighter was wounded and was given medical attention by the soldiers. A government trooper was also wounded in the firefight.

“A bleeding NPA left by his comrades surrendered to our troops with his M16A1 rifle, we immediately gave him first aid and is now being evacuated,” Derilo said in the report.

Brigadier Gen. Edgardo de Leon, 403rd Brigade commander, said the communist insurgents have radicalized the tribal communities living within the Mt. Balatucan range “to recruit their children as child warriors and turning Indigenous Cultural Communities into a guerilla base.”

“This is the reason why tribal leaders have been asking for our presence to defend their [ancestral domain] from the intrusion of radical cadres from the lowlands,” de Leon said.

De Leon said Lindahay was recruited and joined the NPA but later surrendered to become a soldier “having realized the deception and exploitation of tribal communities by the CPP-NPA.”

Captain Ryan Layug, 403IB Civil-Military Operations officer, said Lindahay was an NPA fighter from 2004 to 2006.

After his surrender, he became a member of the Civilian Auxilliary Force Geographical Unit, from 2006 to 2011. Since 2011, he had been a regular government soldier.

Layug said Lindahay’s family has already been notified of his death.