ROXAS City – Some 300 individuals fled their homes after a deadly military raid in Barangay Lahug, Tapaz, Capiz on Dec. 30, 2020.
They moved to the town’s civic center in Barangay Poblacion.
Gov. Esteban Evan Contreras personally checked their condition at the center and assured them of assistance – food, livelihood and even some amount.
He also took time to listen to the evacuees who narrated what happened on Dec. 30.
Nine persons were killed while 17 others were arrested by joint forces of the police and military in simultaneous raids in Tapaz and Calinog, Iloilo. Several illegal firearms and ammunition were supposedly confiscated.
The evacuees told Contreras they feared for their safety. But leaving Barangay Lahug did not only mean leaving their houses. It also meant they left their livelihood or their farms.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 6 alleged that those killed were members of the New People’s Army (NPA) who fought back.
The targets were mostly indigenous peoples (IP).
Among those killed in Barangay Lahug, Tapaz were Roy Giganto, chairperson of the IP organization TUMANDUK and village councilman, and fellow councilmen Reynaldo Katipunan and Mario Aguirre, according to farmers’ group Pamanggas Panay, the regional chapter of militant peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.
The three were all previously placed under military surveillance for protesting against dam projects in the region.
Pamanggas said farmers Marilyn Chiva, Welsie Chiva, Luisito Bautista Sr., and Glen Legario were rounded up in separate operations by the 12th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police Regional Office 6 in Calinog, Iloilo.
In an interview with Panay News, Marilyn denied owning the recovered weapons from her house.
They were planted, she claimed.
“Indi na ya akon. Wala ko ya ikasarang mag-bakal sang mga armas kag explosive. Diyos lang ang kabalo kung kay sino ina,” Chiva said.
Glen and Luisito, on the other hand, confessed that they were former rebels who yielded to the government because of the hardships they experienced in the mountains.
“Naging NPA ako pero nag-untat kag nanaog sa bukid. Tama ka budlay sang sitwasyon sa babaw,” Legario said./PN
