Lumad school teachers’ cottage torched

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Armed Forces of the Philippines has condemned the burning of a teachers’ cottage at the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Development (ALCADEV) in Barangay Padiay in Sibagat, Agusan del Sur on Thursday. 

Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Aurelio Baladad said reports reaching his office showed that unidentified gunmen wearing Army uniforms were behind the incident.

ALCADEV is a school catering to lumads.

“It is clear that military uniforms were used by the perpetrators... We strongly deny the involvement of our soldiers and we condemn the burning of the ALCADEV cottage by a bandit group,” Lt. Col. Lynart Castisimo, commander of the Army’s 23rd Infantry Battalion, said yesterday.

Castisimo assured the public the military would help the police in the investigation and law enforcement operations to arrest the perpetrators.