AFP: Soldiers didn't occupy lumad school in Surigao Sur

MANILA, Philippines - The military yesterday debunked allegations that Army soldiers stormed and occupied a school for lumads in Surigao del Sur, forcing the villagers to leave in fear for their safety.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Armed Forces spokesman, said that what the soldiers did was to respond to intelligence reports that the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development in Barangay Diatagon, Liangan town was being used by the New People’s Army (NPA) to train its cadres.

“We have documents and pictures showing that the groups who run the school hold plays about the NPA,” he said.

Brawner also cited information that the school, which is not accredited by the Department of Education, does not teach its students to sing the National Anthem but the revolutionary song “Internasyunal,” which is also the NPA’s anthem.

He said even the identification cards that were taken by the soldiers bear the symbols of the NPA, bolstering their suspicion that the school was training cadres for the rebel movement.

He said members of the Army’s 58th Infantry Battalion acted on this information but not to occupy the school and force the students, mostly from lumad communities, to evacuate.

“Because of that information, our government forces started to ask what is the true nature of that school, but while in the process of asking, the people running the non-government organization told the residents in the area to transfer or move to evacuation centers, claiming that they could get caught in the crossfire, and then they did not want the lumads to talk to the military,” he said.

Lt. Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos, Army spokesman, said though that the soldiers have already left the area.