88th, 8th IB forcibly evict 2,000 Lumads
Fifteen communities in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon have been under focused military operations and occupied by the 88th and 8th IB since June. The soldiers forcibly evicted about 2,000 Lumads and peasants from the said communities during the last week of June.
The military reportedly labelled the communities as a “no man’s land” after 200 residents led by their tribal leaders confronted the soldiers and demanded an end to the military occupation. The areas were bombed 15 times, shelled 11 times. and strafed on June 24. Soldiers on the ground also strafed the houses of the Lumad peasants and butchered their pigs and other domestic animals. Corn fields were also destroyed.
Lumad evacuees were declared as New People’s Army “surrenderees” and coerced to undergo a nine-day paramilitary training to serve as the military’s cannon fodder in combating the New People’s Army.
Last July 31, soldiers also evicted residents from Sitios of Mindao, Miaray and Kalakapan. Nearby farmlands were also shelled fifteen times.