ILIGAN CITY –More than a hundred households in hinterland barangays of Iligan are still staying in three evacuation centers after an encounter on Thursday, July 25, in Sitio Duwa-duwa with the troops of the Army’s 51st Infantry Battalion and members of the New People’s Army (NPA).
Kalilangan Barangay Chairman Alimoding Mansumayan on Tuesday (July 30) said these households are coming from two sitios of his barangay which were affected by the recent armed conflict and tension between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the NPA.
Two mosques and a barangay hall are being used as temporary shelter for the families who left their houses for fear of being caught in cross fire.
“They are not yet returning to their houses because the military is still pursuing the armed men. They are afraid there will be fire fight again,” Mansumayan said.
It can be recalled that a soldier of the 51IB was wounded during an encounter on July 25 with the armed men during their visit to the village for their Community Support Program (CSP) according to Col. Alex Aduca, deputy commander of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade.
In a dialogue this morning (July 30) with the barangay officials, leaders of the Indigenous People in the hinterland barangays and the security sectors in Iligan City, Barangay Rogongon Chairman Randy Pugoy, expressed woes that due to the armed conflict, about 130 elementary learners in his barangay were affected and that they continue to host displaced residents.
However, Grace Saquilabon, chief of Iligan City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD), said the local government unit have not yet delivered emergency relief assistance to the displaced families because the barangay council of Kalilangan have not yet submitted to them the master list of the evacuees.
“There should be masterlist of the evacuees so that we will know the profile of the legitimate evacuees that we are going to give relief assistance,” Saquilabon said in a phone interview.
