Acres of banana plants shielded fleeing NPA raiders

DAVAO CITY – The thick banana plantations in the area had helped the New People’s Army (NPA) rebels escape the pursuing government forces after holding hostage scores of villagers in Panabo, Davao del Norte on Wednesday.

An Army official who was among those pursuing the rebels claimed the thick banana plantations made it difficult for them to continue the pursuit operations.

"It is really hard to penetrate the banana plantation. It was really difficult because the visibility was down to a few meters. It’s like we entered a maze of trenches which is more difficult than the Liguasan Marsh terrain," the Army officer said, referring to the marshland area in central Mindanao sprawling the boundaries of three provinces in the region.

The official said the troops had difficulty pursuing the rebels after they entered the acres of banana plantation in Braulio Dujali town.

Large tracts of land in Panabo and the neighboring towns of Braulio Dujali and Sto. Tomas have been converted into banana plantations. Bananas comprise the main export of southern Mindanao.

The military had launched pursuit operations against the band of NPA rebels who took scores of villagers hostage in Panabo and used them as human shields against pursuing government forces.

Hundreds of police and Army troops, backed by rocket-firing aircraft, clashed with the rebels who took cover in Sitio Casilac and Barangay Manay in Panabo after raiding the Davao Penal and Prison Farm (DPPF) in Davao del Norte last Sunday.

The NPA herded the villagers into a gymnasium before they were released unharmed.

Officials said the residents who were taken hostage by the rebels were caught in the middle of the gun battle with government troops.

The rebels were led by Leonardo Pitao, alias Commander Parago of the NPA’s Mindanao Regional Guerrilla Unit-Pulang Bagabi Command-1, who led the daring Easter Sunday attack on the prison farm in which the guerrillas seized more than 100 rifles, shotguns and pistols.

Government forces earlier found the rebels in Casilac, sparking the running gun battle.

The pursuit operations were called off yesterday after the rebels were able to elude their pursuers in the banana plantations and fled toward the jungle.

Manay local officials, on the other hand, criticized the military operation and denied claims that the residents had been used as human shields by the rebels.

The residents claimed they were forced to move out from their villages because of the aerial bombing by the military in pursuit the rebels.

Panabo police chief Senior Inspector Glenn Kristines maintained the rebels seized the villagers as hostages and used them as human shields.

Kristines said it was because of this that joint forces of the Army’s 73rd Infantry Battalion and the 10th Infantry Division’s Task Force Raptor, along with the Southern Mindanao police regional mobile group and police Special Action Force units in the area, were unable to attack the rebels.

"The government forces could not hit at the rebels if there are civilians around... the people were some sort of human shield for the rebels," he said.

Kristines added some 308 evacuees who earlier sought shelter at the Barangay San Francisco Elementary School were already advised to return to their homes in Barangay Manay as the government forces have already moved out.