By Bong S. Sarmiento |
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/08 May)—The military is training militiamen to thwart the alleged growing infiltration of communist rebels in Barangay Ned, a far-flung village in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato rich in coal deposits, a military official said.
Lt. Col. Alexis Noel Bravo C. Bravo, 27th Infantry Battalion commander, said that more than two dozens villagers have volunteered to become members of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit.
“They want to join to fight the communist guerrillas now operating in Ned,” he said, noting the New People’s Army Front 73 has established a foothold in the area.
Bravo said the military has “token forces” in Ned, a government resettlement area, since they are more focused in the towns of Columbio in Sultan Kudarat and Magsaysay in Davao del Sur where communist presence is more intense.
Columbio town forms parts of the Tampakan copper-gold project of foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc.
Bravo earlier classified the Tampakan project as “potentially highly at risk” from NPA attacks.
In Lake Sebu, San Miguel Energy Corp. has set up a base camp in the village of Ned in a bid to extract massive coal deposits in the area.
Claiming increased NPA presence in Ned, Bravo said in a separate statement that 27th IB troops recently captured a suspected communist rebel there.
He was identified as Marlon Donayre, 25, of Pantukan, Compostela Valley.
Donayre confessed to belong to the NPA Guerilla Front 73, according to the military statement.
He was captured by 27th IB troops at Sitio Tasufao in Ned after he detached from his group to gather firewood, it added.
Allegedly taken from his possession were a hand grenade and a rifle magazine with ammunition.
Bravo said Donayre was working to organize a mass base for communist guerrillas in the area.
The captured rebel’s revelations on NPA activities in Barangay Ned coincided with the information provided by an alias Estoy, a former NPA Front 73 member who yielded to the 27th IB last February, Bravo said.
Charges of illegal possession of explosive and ammunition have been filed against Donayre at a court in this city, Bravo said.
The military official accused Karapatan of having a link with the NPA after members of the human rights group allegedly tried to help Mr. Donayre.
In March, the 27th IB and members of the Taboli Manubo S’daf Claimants Organization, which is opposing the coal mining project, met here to discuss the military presence in Ned.
Members of the tribal organization feared harassment from the military on account of the ongoing campaign against the NPA rebels in the area.
TAMASCO said their members are not sympathizers of the communist rebels. (Bong Sarmiento/MindaNews) source
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