COTABATO
CITY, March 25 (PNA) -- Government forces drove away communist rebels who
occupied a remote uptown village in North Cotabato following a brief clash, the
Army said Saturday.
“Government
forces have retaken the village of Camutan in Antipas town, which the NPAs (New
People's Army) occupied for a day,” 1Lt. Silver Belvis, speaking for the Army’s
39th Infantry Battalion, said.
Antipas
Mayor Egidio Cadungon said the rebels have fled and that all civilians earlier
reported trapped, have been accounted for.
Belvis
said the village had been recovered at about 5 p.m. Friday and residents have
been told to return home.
No
civilian was harmed, and no government troop was hurt in a brief firefight
Thursday night, Belvis said.
The
local government of Antipas had started sending back to their communities about
80 families who fled when the rebels belonging to Guerilla Front 73 arrived and
tried to convince males to join their ranks.
In
a similar incident, the 27th Infantry Battalion also occupied a remote village
in Tablu, Tampakan, South Cotabato after the NPA fled to the borders of Sultan
Kudarat, Davao del Sur and South Cotabato Saturday morning.
The
villagers can return home, said Army Lt. Col. Benjamin Leander, 27th IB
commander.
More
than 50 families fled Friday morning after about 50 guerrillas harassed a
militia detachment in Barangay Tablu.
There
was no casualty on the government side. Quoting villagers, Leander said at
least four NPA attackers were seen carried by fleeing guerrillas following an
Army operation.
But
Leander admitted they could not confirm the report.
“Barangay
Tablu is now peaceful. The rebels have fled to the other side of the
mountains,” Leander said, referring to the NPA strongholds in the mountains of
Columbio town in Sultan Kudarat and Kiblawan in Davao del Sur.
Mila
Lorca, South Cotabato provincial disaster risk reduction officer, said the
displaced families, now at the Tampakan town gymnasium, reside near the militia
base camp near Sagittarius Mines Inc., a mining firm.
Following
Friday’s skirmishes, classes have been suspended in Barangay Tablu.
Lorca
said the affected families have been given relief goods. The provincial
government is working for their return to Tablu where the evacuees’ livelihood
is located.
