NORTH COTABATO, Philippines – More than a hundred peasant families have fled from their hinterland villages in Magpet town for fear of more attacks by the New People’s Army following last week’s roadside bombing by rebels that left two soldiers dead.
Antonia Fernandez, social welfare officer of Magpet, told reporters the evacuees were from farming enclaves in Barangay Manobisa, scene of recent Army-NPA encounters.
The evacuations started immediately after rebels killed last week two soldiers running after them by setting off improvised roadside explosives along a road in Manobisa.
The Magpet LGU is now attending to the needs of the evacuees, confined in makeshift relief sites and houses of relatives in nearby barangays.
Fernandez said 96 families evacuated to the barangay center, while another group of 60 families relocated to Barangay Amabel, which is nearer to the Magpet town proper.
Combatants of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion are still pursuing the rebels behind the roadside bombing that left two Scout Rangers dead.
Barangay officials said the NPAs behind the bombing had threatened to return and “arrest†villagers they accused of providing the police and military with information on their extortion activities in Barangay Manobisa.