THOUSANDS of people were forced to flee their homes in Zamboanga Sibugay as the military started an “all-out” campaign against lawless Muslim gunmen in the province Monday beginning with a barrage of aerial bombings and artillery fire and ground assault that left four rebels and two soldiers dead and four others wounded.

A report from the local provincial disaster risk reduction coordinating center said around 10,000 villagers from Payao municipality were forced to evacuate for fear they might by caught in the crossfire or by artillery fire and aerial bombings.

A report to PNP chief Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome said that at around 11:45 a.m. Monday, Air Force OV10 bombers started bombing selected targets in Sitio Talaib, Barangay Labatan in Payao municipality. The first aerial attacks lasted for 15 minutes.

Nineteen minutes later, another OV10 bomber launched a second attack followed by artillery fire from the Army. Police Regional Office 9 director Chief Supt. Elpidio de Asis said two Navy patrol boats were stationed at Talabi Point along with soldiers from the 333rd Naval South Force to support troops from the Army Special Forces Company inserted in the area.

De Asis said ground troops started their assault after the aerial bombings and Army 105mm artillery fire ended. He said that policemen set up blockades in nearby Sitio Olama to prevent the lawless elements from escaping. Three Navy gunboats were also stationed at the west side of Olutanga town and in the waters of Alicia municipality to prevent the gunmen from escaping by sea.

The top Western Mindanao police official said heavy fighting ensued between security forces and the gunmen in Sitio Talaib shortly after the aerial attacks and artillery fire ended.

De Asis said troops encountered gunmen in Look Karang and Sitio Osama in Bgy. Labatan. One soldier was killed and five others were injured. He said the enemy suffered an undetermined number of casualties during the heavy exchange of fire. The gunmen were hiding in fortified bunkers, he added.

An AFP spokesman in Mindanao, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, said the gunmen targeted by the strikes were rogue Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas involved in kidnapping, sabotage, extortion and other criminal activities. The suspects are believed to be behind the series of ambuscades last week that left four soldiers and four policemen dead.

IDPs

The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is growing as government offensives against “lawless elements” continues in Payao town, Zamboanga, Sibugay.

Records from the provincial office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development show that the IDPs are made up of 2,368 families, and the number is still increasing.

The IDPs are in the town of Payao (917) and the neighboring towns of Alicia (1,237), and Talusan in Olutanga Island (214).

Flordeliza Alar, provincial coordinator of the government’s Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), said some of these IDPs are living in makeshift tents. They fled their homes for fear of being caught in the crossfire.

“Some of these IDPs are in government centers while most of them are living precariously with their relatives,” she said.

Alar said around 350 families in Barangay Labatan are trapped in the village as intense firefights erupted Monday between government troops and suspected lawless elements. 

Payao municipal welfare officer Belen Clavejo Diaz, however, said the local government is “doing its best to respond to the needs of the IDPs.”    With Antonio M. Manaytay