BY MIKE CRISMUNDO, PNA
A Manobo tribe leader critical of the communist movement and his two companions were killed while two others were wounded in an ambush staged by suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Lianga, Surigao del Sur Sunday afternoon.
Police identified the slain victims as indigenous peoples (IP) leader Datu Hawudon Jumar Bucales, Alberto dela Peña, and Artemio Moldes; and the wounded as Ronald Acevedo and Oluver Rosaldo, all of the Manobo tribe.
Initial report from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) said Bucales and seven other IPs were traveling to Barangay San Isidro in Lianga when they were ambushed by around 20 fully armed NPA rebels at around 1:30 p.m.
Bucales is the Indigenous People Mandatory Representative (IPMR) of Lianga.
He supported the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, saying it will help IP communities ward off continuing harassments, extortion, and killings perpetrated by communist rebels.
Bucales had previously released statements against the NPA and other party-list groups and led the closure of Lumad schools in Surigao del Sur.
Last month, he and Datu Rico Maca challenged Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Eufemia Cullamat to go to Surigao del Sur and conduct an investigation on the killings perpetrated by the NPA in the tribe.
Bucales joined NCIP chairperson Allen Capuyan and NCIP 13 regional director Marlon P. Bosantog in the inter-agency visits of IP communities in Region 13 last August and September.
He also joined the opening ceremony of the Department of Education schools that replaced Lumad schools and the Tribal Filipino Program in Surigao del Sur which he personally dismantled and closed in 2017.
Lianga tribal chieftain Datu Constancio Duhac and the whole IP community condemned in strongest terms the killing of their IPMR and have vowed to continue his vision towards saving the whole IP community from being corrupted by the NPA terrorists.
Datu Bucales was also a former NPA leader who returned to the folds of the law upon discovering that he and his tribesmen are being exploited by the communist movement in their armed and political struggles, according to Civil Military Operations (CMO) officer of 3rd Special Forces Battalion 1st Lt. Krisjuper Andreo J. Punsalan.
Last Saturday, a relative of Maca, also one of NTF-ELCAC’s supporters, identified as Ariel Guinsod Maca, was also killed.
These are the 11th and 12th IP killings by suspected NPA rebels in San Miguel, Surigao del Sur since March this year. (Mike Crismundo, PNA)
