By KIMBERLIE QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY— A farmers’ group in Cagayan Valley and a national human rights alliance assailed the bombing in Baggao town in Cagayan, following an encounter with communist guerillas, forcing villagers to evacuate. 

Danggayan dagiti Mannalon ti Cagayan Valley assailed the bombing runs of the 95th IB of the 501st Infantry Brigade and Tactical Operation Group of the Philippine Air Force in Hacienda Intal in the afternoon of February 2. They said this endangered the people’s lives, homes and sources of livelihood.

In a video report, the 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army said a 20-minute firefight between their soldiers and New People’s Army rebels in the same barangay on the same day of the bombing. Soldiers said they recovered two firearms after the gun battle.

According to Danggayan, 150 families from the villages of Regaay, Birao, Marus, Krosing, and Patina.

In a social media post, the Department of Social Welfare and Development Region 2 said they distributed 256 family food packs and P5,000 cash assistance to affected residents. The office recorded 103 internally displaced persons, with some staying with their relatives at night and checking their houses during the day.

Lives in danger

Danggayan pointed out that Hacienda Intal residents are mostly farmers whose farms are in the mountains. The bombings have forced them to leave their crops and livestock unattended.

The farmers’ group also said the soldiers have imposed checkpoints, controlled the residents’ mobility in the village, and even went to their upland farms. Soldiers required residents to bring with them their valid IDs at all times.

In a separate statement, Karapatan Secretary General Kristina Palabay expressed alarm over the possibility of residents getting hurt due to indiscriminate bombings by the military.

“We fear that there are civilian casualties since the military rained bombs while the farmers were in the thick of side-dressing and spraying their crops,” she said.

Moreover, Danggayan pointed out that farmers are already suffering from the rise in prices of essential goods and farm inputs coupled with the drop in buying price of their crops. They also mentioned the storms that devastated Cagayan and the country just last year.

“Instead of giving assistance to farmers the government chose to spend so much on expensive armaments that are being used against the people,” Danggayan further stated.

Dangayan urged the Baggao local government and the Commission on Human Rights to probe the incident.

Disregarding IHL

Palabay lamented that civilians always bear the brunt of military operations against NPA rebels.

“They are often deliberately targeted, in brazen disregard of international humanitarian law (IHL) protocols because the military suspects them of supporting the NPA,” she said.

“This refusal to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants has resulted in mounting civilian casualties in the State’s decades-long counter-insurgency war,” she added.

In September 2021, the 5th ID also launched an airstrike in Sta. Teresita and another on January 29, 2022, in Gonzaga. Both are in Cagayan province. These airstrikes were also part of the Philippine Army’s pursuit of NPA rebels.

Chapter three of the Customary International Humanitarian Law prohibits indiscriminate attacks that will hurt civilians. Rule 13 states that “attacks by bombardment by any method or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects are prohibited.” # nordis.net