Negros folk told: Sitio now safe from rebels

BACOLOD CITY — Oriental Negros Gov. George Arnaiz has advised villagers, who have fled a sitio in Siaton town due to fighting between military and rebel forces, to return to their homes.

Arnaiz said Sitio Balugo in Barangay Bonawon where soldiers and New People’s Army (NPA) rebels engaged in a two-hour gunbattle last Wednesday, has been cleared, thus it is now safe for the residents to return to their respective homes.

Lt. Col. Norman Marcos Flores, commander of the 61st Infantry Brigade, said about 63 families or 250 people fled the village three days before the encounter.

The residents, according to Flores, decided to leave after sighting about 30 rebels identified with the group of NPA leader Raul Villar, alias Ka Drilon, in their community.

Flores said the villagers feared they might be caught in the crossfire like what happened in the 1980s.

He said the encounter occurred some three kilometers away from Sitio Balugo. — Antonieta Lopez