DISPLACED. Internally-displaced persons staying at the Don Florencio Villafranca National High School covered court in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental are informed on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 15, 2022) that they can return home. They left their houses after government troops and communist rebels clashed on October 6. (Courtesy of Himamaylan City Social Welfare and Development Office)
BACOLOD CITY – Some of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental started to return home on Sunday, more than a week after they evacuated due to clashes between government troops and communist rebels in the hinterlands of Barangay Carabalan.
In an advisory, Himamaylan City Mayor Rogelio Raymund Tongson Jr. said the evacuees at Don Florencio Villafranca National High School and Manuel Yulo Elementary School have been informed on Saturday afternoon that they can go home.
The IDPs staying in the two schools are from the sub-communities Palayan and Guia of neighboring Barangay Cabadiangan.
The evacuation centers in the two schools were closed on Sunday, according to the City Social Welfare and Development Office.
Also allowed to go back home are evacuees at Carabalan Elementary School and Carabalan covered court, except for residents of sub-communities Campayas, Sig-ang, and Medel, the last two being the main encounter sites.
Tongson said the decision to allow some of the residents to return home was decided during a command conference and based on the report submitted by the Philippine Army.
“In relation to our announcement on the gradual return of the evacuees to their respective homes, we continue to ask everyone for prayers to attain lasting peace in our community. We thank all those who have extended help and support to the city in this challenging time,” he said in a statement.
Troops of the 94th Infantry Battalion (IB) assisted the local government unit in transporting the residents home.
Out of the more than 18,000 affected persons mainly from Carabalan and Cabadiangan, and a part of Barangay 3, between 3,000 and 3,500 individuals sought shelter in evacuation sites since the series of clashes between troops of the 94IB and Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) rebels began on October 6.
On Saturday, the 3rd Infantry Division dismissed the claims of a left-leaning group of a “military lockdown” in Himamaylan City.
“There is no truth to the allegation of Karapatan-Negros. Such is a desperate action to hamper our peace efforts to protect the Himamaylanons from the terroristic activities of the CPP-NPA. We put up checkpoints as normal police and military procedures to ensure the safety of the residents living near the encounter sites and to prevent the NPA from escaping,” Maj. Gen. Benedict Arevalo, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said in a statement.
On October 10, soldiers recovered the body of Romeo Nanta, the commanding officer of the Regional Operational Command of the NPA’s Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros, in Sitio Medel.
Two soldiers, Corporals Christian Drilon and Rex Verde, died, while six others were wounded following the clash in Sitio Sig-ang on October 8. (PNA)
