ANGELES CITY- The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Central Luzon bared over the weekend its findings that a total 112 families displaced by military operations in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija are “well fed” and in good health.
Lawyer Jasmine Regino, CHR regional director siad this was the report of a team she sent to Pantabangan to check on the conditions of the families.
“It’s not true that they’re starving. On the contrary, they were well supplied with food,” she noted.
Regino said that the municipal government of Pantabangan, headed by Mayor Romeo Borja Sr., had initially coordinated with the provincial government, the Philippine National Red Cross and the Department of Social Welfare and Development to ensure that the basic needs of the families are met.
She said the families “voluntarily fled” to evacuation centers in Barangays Malbag and Villa Rica in Pantabangan as they feared for their safety after the New People’s Army (NPA) ambushed last Jan. 31 soldiers from the Army’s 702nd infantry brigade in their town. The ambush killed one soldier.
The military has been engaged in anti-insurgency operations in the tri-boundary of Nueva Ecija, Aurora, and Nueva Vizcaya since last Jan. 26. Last Thursday three rebels were reported killed in clashes with the military in Ma. Aurora town, Aurora province.
Regino said that the schooling of the children in evacuation centers in Pantabangan have not been adversely affected as teachers continued their classes at the two evacuation centers. The evacuees from Malbang fled to a school building where classes were not suspended, while those in Villa Rice fled to a barangay hall.
“They are now just waiting for their local officials to give the go signal for them to go home with the assurance of their safety,” Regino said.
Maj. Charlemagne Batayola Jr, spokesperson of the 7th infantry division which covers Pantabangan, said that in his view, the evacuees are no longer under any threat in their homes, but added that the decision to allow them to leave their evacuation centers must come from the town’s officials.
Lawyer Jasmine Regino, CHR regional director siad this was the report of a team she sent to Pantabangan to check on the conditions of the families.
“It’s not true that they’re starving. On the contrary, they were well supplied with food,” she noted.
Regino said that the municipal government of Pantabangan, headed by Mayor Romeo Borja Sr., had initially coordinated with the provincial government, the Philippine National Red Cross and the Department of Social Welfare and Development to ensure that the basic needs of the families are met.
She said the families “voluntarily fled” to evacuation centers in Barangays Malbag and Villa Rica in Pantabangan as they feared for their safety after the New People’s Army (NPA) ambushed last Jan. 31 soldiers from the Army’s 702nd infantry brigade in their town. The ambush killed one soldier.
The military has been engaged in anti-insurgency operations in the tri-boundary of Nueva Ecija, Aurora, and Nueva Vizcaya since last Jan. 26. Last Thursday three rebels were reported killed in clashes with the military in Ma. Aurora town, Aurora province.
Regino said that the schooling of the children in evacuation centers in Pantabangan have not been adversely affected as teachers continued their classes at the two evacuation centers. The evacuees from Malbang fled to a school building where classes were not suspended, while those in Villa Rice fled to a barangay hall.
“They are now just waiting for their local officials to give the go signal for them to go home with the assurance of their safety,” Regino said.
Maj. Charlemagne Batayola Jr, spokesperson of the 7th infantry division which covers Pantabangan, said that in his view, the evacuees are no longer under any threat in their homes, but added that the decision to allow them to leave their evacuation centers must come from the town’s officials.
