CTG kills civilian, destroys equipment in SurSur
TANDAG CITY, Surigao del Sur -- Another violation of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) was committed by the Communis terrorist group (CTG) after they destroyed the civilian-owned construction equipment and killed and severely wounded the caretakers in Lanuza town, Thursday evening, June 24.
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| Photo credit to 36IB, PA |
The said
incident was perpetrated by more or less 15 members of the New People's Army
(NPA) under Noel Tumarlas Alacre alias Meagan of Guerilla Front 30, North Eastern
Mindanao Regional Committee.
The troops
of the 36th Infantry (Valor) Battalion (36IB) immediately responded to the said
incident and briefly engaged the CTG. Two backhoes owned by a certain Mr. Paulo
Lopez were damaged while three other equipment were safely salvaged by the
responding troops.
Accordingly,
the CTG harassed the Lanuza Municipal Police Station as a ploy to deliberately
burn the target equipment located in a privately established construction base
are about 350 meters away from the police station.
The
perpetrators sporadically exchange gunfire with the police for about 20 minutes
while their cohorts simultaneously torched the heavy equipment being rented by
JLMCI Construction for the bypass road construction in the said municipality.
The
initial report stated that a watchman was killed by the CTG while another one
was reportedly wounded during the attack.
The
victims were identified as Aldren Daraman, 27, married, and Melvin Buniel, 28
both residents of Barangay San Roque of Madrid town.
Daraman
was killed on the spot while Buniel was rushed to Adela Serra Ty Memorial
Center in Tandag City for immediate medical treatment.
In the
statement of Lt. Col. Michael Rey Reuyan, Commanding Officer of the 36IB, said
that the unfortunate incident was a desperate attempt of the CTG to disrupt the
peace and development efforts of the government.
He further
said that it was a "treacherous act and anti-development tactics of the
CTG to sow fear on the locals to survive their senseless revolution."
On the
other hand, Brigadier General George Banzon, Commander of 901st Infantry
(Fight’Em) Brigade said that the destruction of civilian-owned heavy equipment
that was not used for any military purpose perpetrated by the CTG was meant to
pressure the companies to give in to their extortion demands.
He also
cited that the destruction of privately-owned property and murder of noncombatants
are all included in the provision that the Geneva Convention prohibits.
“What
happened in Lanuza town manifests the true colors of the CPP-NPA-NDF. Their
action affirmed their inclusion to the list of terrorist groups by the
international community such as the United States, New Zealand, and by the
European Union composed of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands,
Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. The incident
will be added to the long list of war crimes they committed against our people
over the years,” he said.
In
addition, Brig. Gen. Banzon offered the sincerest condolences to the bereaved
family of the killed victim. He said that continuous operation is being
conducted to go after the perpetrators.
“We will press the fight against these ruthless murderers and violators of human rights to bring justice to our innocent people and to shield the peace-loving communities,” he said. (Capt. Joash Pramis, CMO-901st Bde, 9ID, PA/PIA-Surigao del Sur)
