By Aldwin Quitasol
LUBUAGAN,
Kalinga -- An indigenous community in this town urged abusive army soldiers who
encamped on their homes to leave even as they rejected the proposed setting up
of a Citizens' Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) detachment inside their
village.
An elder of Barangay Western Uma, Benito
Sugao said the 50th IB and 77th IB of the Philippine Army plan to build a
detachment in Sitio Ag-agama in Western Uma.
They urged concerned government authorities
to make the soldiers leave as they have been committing human rights violations
against them.
He said the army called for a community
meeting on Sept. 4 and talked about this plan. Sugao said the village folk did
not agree.
“The setting up of a detachment inside our
village will further put us in danger because they might attack. We will be
living in fear,” he said.
The Kalinga elder added that government
troopers who came and went their village left a long list of human rights
violations that include harassment, physical injury and extrajudicial killings
among others.
Sugao said that the proposed area for the
detachment is right in the middle of the village surrounded by their houses and
rice fields.
He said that with such set up, they fear that
they will serve as shield for the detachment because whoever will attack them
must pass through their houses and rice fields.
At present there are seven to eight soldiers
encamped in civilian houses in Western Uma since Oct. 15.
The community folk recently signed a petition
asking for the pull out of these government soldiers from their village saying
that their presence poses danger to the community.
The community folk also cited various human
right violations these soldiers perpetrated against them.
Among these violations included a soldier
pointing a gun to a teenager early morning of last August 17 when he was on his
way to their school.
The victim was traumatized that he said his
vision went blurred due to extreme fear at the time.
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