By JIGGER J. JERUSALEM
Correspondent

THE military denied they pressured members of a community of indigenes in Bukidnon into admitting that they are supporters of the New People’s Army.

Lt. Col. Franklin Fabic, commander of the Army’s 88th Infantry Battalion, said they did not coerce the residents of Barangay Sta. Filomena, but only pleaded with some of them to stop supporting communist rebels.

“There is no truth to that,” Fabic said in a cellphone interview, referring to the allegation that 88th IB soldiers went around Sta. Filomena, particularly in Sitio Dumasilag, and forced residents to admit they are NPA supporters and that they should return to the fold of the law.

He said they already have identified those who are NPA supporters in the area but added, “there is no pressure from us, but they have to be truthful to us that they will stop supporting the NPA.”

Fabic said they have received information that there are villagers who have been aiding the NPA fighters.

“The information did not come from us. It came from the people there, from those who have already surrendered to the government,” he said.

Fabic said Dumasilag in Sta. Filomena has remained as the last area of support of the NPA.

“That’s why they (NPA) don’t want to let go of it, or else they will lose their support network in the area,” he added.

He also clarified that the presence of the 88th IB soldiers, through its community support team, in Sta. Filomena was to help the communities who lack or don’t have access to the basic services of the government.

Fabic’s statement was in reaction to the allegation made by Wilboy Lay-um, spokesperson of the Movement against Tyranny in Bukidnon, who accused the military of coercing the Dumasilag residents to own up to being NPA supporters prompting them to flee to Quezon.

Reports said 133 individuals, 35 of them children, left Dumasilag, on Dec. 2.

The evacuees, belonging to the Manobo tribe, took shelter at the Iglesia Filipino Independiente compound in Barangay Poblacion, Kitaotao. They returned home on Monday.

Lay-um said that aside from forcing the residents to confess, the military has also threatened to bomb their community if they refuse to comply.

He said they asked the help of Gov. Jose Ma. Zubiri to intercede on their behalf the pullout of the government troops in the area but the local chief executive told them there was nothing he could do since Mindanao is still under martial law.

“Zubiri told us it is only the President who can decide,” Lay-um said.

He said the villagers may have returned to their homes but their lives are still in danger due to the presence of the state forces.