Residents want soldiers, armed groups to stay away from Sagada

SAGADA, Mountain Province — Residents have appealed to authorities to respect the town as a peace zone, this after the peace and tranquility of this tourist destination in northern Luzon was broken by Philippine Air Force's air strikes last month.

A resolution signed by officials of the six northern barangays of Sagada reminded both the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the New People's Army not to set up camps in any part of the northern barangays, even as it condemned the bombing of the watershed area  at  the tri-boundary of  Aguid, Sagada; and barangay Mainit and Dalican of  adjoining Bontoc town on August 30.

Aguid barangay chairman Maximo Suyon in a separate interview said, “iyadi mi nan amin ay armado ay men kampo isnan ili” (we don’t allow any armed forces to set up their camps in  the community).

The PAF conducted air strikes on August 30 after the alleged discovery of an NPA camp in Sitio Pitang in Aguid.

At a fact-finding mission conducted by the Commission on Human Rights on Sept. 18, a villager said: “baken sa is enmi ub- ublaen ay winakgat ay men an- anap si NPA ( it is not our job everyday to be hunting for NPAs)." The villager appealed that the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) be respected.

Also, during the fact-finding activity, villagers reminded police and other government armed forces who went to Barangay Aguid early morning of  August 29, that  Sagada is a peace zone and that all armed forces are not allowed inside the community.

In a sworn affidavit, the villagers said they feared going to the fields to tend to their crops, and that their children were traumatized by the air strikes.

Redidents of Sagada's six northern barangays also reiterated their call for demilitarization of the Pidlisan area – either from the NPA and the AFP or other armed groups.

The villages were declared a zone of peace since the late '80s, when an elderly woman was hit in the crossfire during skirmishes between the military and NPA guerrillas.

Calls for demilitarization were repeated revived in in 2008 and 2010.

Fresh calls to maintain Sagada a peace zone stemmed from recent statement of Maj. Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr of the AFP's Northern Luzon Command insisting that “Sagada cannot be treated anymore as a peace zone because the NPA made it a training ground and a staging area to ambush government troops.” — Gina Dizon /LBG, GMA News