Members of the Mamanwa tribe in a sitio in Northern Samar were forcibly driven out of their land as the 8th Infantry Division made a military headquarters out of their community for a massive combat operation in the surrounding forests, the New People’s Army today reported.

Since early May, soldiers and not civilians are the ones staying in the indigenous people’s (IP) community in Kilometro 7 in Barangay San Isidro, Las Navas, after all of the sitio residents left their homes. Everyone in nearby Kilometro 6 have also fled their village.

The civilians left as an estimated 400-500 fascist troops, including those from the 87th Infantry Battalion based in nearby San Jose de Buan, Western Samar, began building up and scouring the forests covered by Barangays San Isidro and adjacent Sag-od. The operation, which targeted the local NPA unit, is under the command of 8th ID commander Major General Edgardo de Leon, according to the Rodante Urtal Command (RUC), the provincial command of the NPA.

According to NPA-RUC spokesperson Ka Amado Pesante, the peasant and IP communities in Kilometro 6 and 7 have long been used to leaving their homes as soon as they learn that soldiers are coming. “Like a standard operating procedure, the masses immediately packed their belongings and left their homes,” he said.

But since leaving, they have not been farming, hunting, or gathering rattan for a living, Pesante said. “Just as before, when the soldiers arrived, the peasants and IPs in Sais and Siyete also ceased all economic activity. They would rather avoid staying in the farms and mountains in fear of being harassed or tagged as members of the NPA.

“At the same time, they don’t know how they will feed their families,” Pesante said.

Such is what happened last January when up to 623 fascist troops under the 8th ID also launched a combat military operation against the NPA which covered the same areas. During this time, human rights abuses abounded. A poor farmer found his farmland cleared (“ginrabas” in Winaray) while another found his farmhouse burned by the fascist troops. Soldiers also tied up a peasant who was a member of the Mamanwa tribe, and threatened to kill him with his sundang. They also illegally detained a peasant couple, then tortured the husband and raped the wife.

Pesante said that the peasants have learned their lesson (“nagmaan”) and left for other barangays in Las Navas to avoid the soldiers and being forced to “surrender.”

“For as long as there is military presence in the community, the peasant residents cannot expect a peaceful life. They cannot quietly tend their farms, sell their products, and buy their needs without risking being suspected of doing it to support the NPA.”

The Mamanwa tribespeople in the upstream and densely forested parts of Barangay San Isidro have long been subjected to harassment, red-tagging, and “surrender” tactics by the military.

“They want to use them in their combat operations and take advantage of their mastery of the surrounding mountainous areas, places they frequent in their hunting and farming activities,” Pesante said.

The NPA-RUC spokesperson called on the public to condemn the military occupation of Barangay San Isidro and the other barangays in Northern Samar.

According to field reports, the fascist troops continue to occupy entire peasant communities in dozens of barrios throughout the province, such as those in Las Navas, Catubig, Palapag, Mapanas, Gamay, and Lapinig towns.

“Military occupation in the peasant communities immediately prevents the masses from doing work in the farm and other forms of livelihood. In the midst of the unprecedented food and economic crisis, the soldiers are a threat to the lives and livelihood of the people in the countryside.

“All the more that the Filipino people must support the call of the peasant masses that the military leave their barrios,” Pesante ended.