The officials of Barangay Matanglad, Pio Duran, Albay clarified that the 49th IB soldiers which clashed with the New People’s Army (NPA)-Albay on October 27 were not conducting relief operations in their community. Barangay captain Liza Paloyo told Henry Maceda of DZGB-am in an interview today, October 28, said that there was no distribution of relief goods in their community.

Captain Paloyo emphasized that police and military reports in the media about the distribution of relief goods were false. “This prompted the barangay residents to come to us for relief goods,” she said in Bikolano. She said that there was no flooding in their barangay because it is situated at a high area, and there had no evacuees or substantial damage from Typhoon Kristine.

Captain Paloyo said they were surprised to hear gunshots in their barangay on October 27. After an hour, her constituents asked her to accompany them to where the incident occurred to check on their livestock and saw the Philippine Army and wounded soldiers in the area.

After this, Captain Paloyo was asked to sign a “certificate of legitimate encounter” which stated the account of the encounter. The certificate allegedly stated that the soldiers were conducting Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Response Operations (HADR), not distributing relief goods.

Barangay Matanglad’s Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) chairperson also posted information on social media about the incident. He said that they did not want to come off as liars and villains for telling poople that there was no relief goods distribution.

Meanwhile, other residents and local officials of Pio Duran are worried that this incident may affect their efforts for relief operations in areas affected by the typhoon.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) also released a statement today regarding the incident. Party information officer Marco Valbuena said the 49th IB tried to use the inclement weather conditions as cover for their attempted attack on the position of the NPA unit, but it failed to inflict damage to any of the Red fighters.