ILIGAN CITY — The Department of Education on Friday afternoon has sent home the teachers and non-teaching personnel from Naawan town in Misamis Oriental, as tension broke off with the ongoing firefight between the members of the Special Forces of the Philippine National Police and the suspected members of the New People’s Army in the hinterlands of said town.
Rex Gabe, Public Schools Division Superintendent (PSDS) of Naawan said he needed to send home the employees and teachers because their security was on top of his concern.
The teachers, however, were advised to work from home, since they are now in the process of checking the modules and formative test of the learners which can be done back home, he said.
Captain Dennis Dano, chief of Naawan town PNP confirmed the ongoing encounter between the government troops and the rebels which started at around 10:00 in the morning Friday at Purok 3, Barangay Lubilan.
The encounter took place about 18 kilometers away from the town center. But residents can hear the whirring army helicopters hovering in their area.
Dano however said they have yet to determine how many armed members of the NPA group are holed since the Armed Forces of the Philippines is providing air support.
The Naawan PNP is conducting mobile checkpoints as they monitor the movement of people and the hospitals in the towns of Manticao and Initao. -Divina M. Suson
