By Gina Dizon
SAGADA, Mountain Province -- Members
of the Sangguniang Bayan led by Vice Mayor Benjamin Capuyan issued a resolution
urging members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to deployed at vicinity
of Lake Danum to pull out from Sagada.
In their
resolution requesting the AFP to pull out from Lake Danum, located within the
boundaries of Sagada and neighboring
Besao town, the legislative officials said the presence of the soldiers may
result in armed conflict endangering the lives of participants of the provincial
scout jamboree set Dec. 12-15 at Lake Danum area.
Earlier,
Capuyan with some members of the Sangguniang Bayan and officers of the
Department of Education visited the
soldiers and told them to leave to
ensure safety and security of the people of the town especially farmers and tourists trekking the mountainsides.
In an
interview with 2nd Lt Col John Chester Dalit, commanding officer of the 503rd
company stationed at Lake Danum, Dalit said their presence in the area was up
to the decision of officials of higher command when they will leave.
The 503rd
Infantry Brigade with headquarters at Lagangilang, Abra is headed by Col Paul
Atal.
Other
government armed forces are stationed at Lasig at the northern part of Lake
Danum and at Ampakaw within the vicinity of the Smart telecom tower site
located a few kilometers away at the southern side of Lake Danum.
On Nov.
16, civilian Raymund Bacali and a certain Robin from Bangaan were on their way
home from small scale mining at the
boundaries of Abra and northern
Sagada when they were held
as guides by government
armed forces to lead their way.
Bacali
along with two other soldiers were wounded when New People’s Army rebels sniped
at them at Sitio Amtinangad, Ambagiw, Besao.
Earlier,
the Sagada local government unit officials led by Mayor Edwardo Latawan entered
into a memorandum of agreement with the AFP represented by Lt Col Richard
Sibayan of the 50th Infantry Batallion
for the local chief executive to take the lead role in internal peace and
security operations.
The
proposed agreement by the AFP was amended by the Sangguniang Bayan officials
with the provision to respect Sagada as a peace zone.
Sagada as
a peace zone was established in 1989 by the people of the
tourist town following the bloody death of three children – one caught in a
crossfire and two caught in gun shooting of drunk soldiers within the market compound October 1988 at the height of
insurgency and bloody AFP-NPA encounters .
The 1989
peace zone arrived at by an angry and grieving community who emphasized no
armed groups- from both the military and NPA rebels should stay within the
territory of Sagada.
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