| Group oppose military plans to build detachment in Sta.Cruz village |
| Written by Eldie S. Aguirre | |
| Saturday, 23 August 2008 | |
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A militant group expressed opposition to the planned construction of a military detachment in a sub-village of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.
Members of the Coronon People’s Alliance Against Militarization (CPAAM) flocked to the barangay hall of Coronon, Sta. Cruz airing their resistance to the village officials over the plan.
CPAAM in a press statement said they could not afford to experience the same situation in the past when a military camp was still in the area.
“The detachment will be established in the midst of a thickly populated area of the barangay thereby posing danger to the residents in case of an attack,” the CPAAM statement says.
CPAAM also recalled numerous human rights violation, maltreatment of civilians, harassment against women, gambling and proliferation of drunk soldiers in the community.
The detachment is set to be established in Sitio Talaw, Beringil Compound, Barangay Coronon.
Some villages in Sta. Cruz town have been plagued with NPA rebels in the 80’s where scores of civilians, military and police personnel died in the process.
The atrocities committed by the NPA rebels bogged down when the military established a camp in Barangay Cogon and Coronon where intensive military campaign backed by irate civilians successfully drove them to the mountain ranges of Mt. Apo while others voluntarily surrendered to the government.
The authorities’ unearthed bones of individuals buried in shallow graves few years later after civilians and former NPA rebels pinpointed the locations of the graveyards.
Communist rebels are currently haunting some villages of Sta. Cruz and other parts of the province killing barangay officials and leaders known to be antagonistic to their ideologies.
The military and town officials have not been reached to comment on the opposition of the CPAAM to the proposed installation of a military detachment. |