DAVAO CITY – Five members of the New Peoples’ Army (NPA), including a volunteer teacher who was among the “Bakwit 7” arrested in Cebu for alleged kidnapping and trafficking of Lumad minors, were killed in an encounter with military troops in Purok-8, Barangay Andap, New Bataan, Davao de Oro on Thursday, Feb. 24.
Capt. Mark Anthony S. Tito, chief of the Division Public Affairs Office of the 10th Infantry Division, said that the NPA members killed were identified identified as Jojarain Alce Nguho II alias Rain, Chad Booc alias Chad, a certain alias Daday, while the two others were still unidentified.
On Feb. 15, 2021, Booc and six other persons, collectively known as “Bakwit 7,” were arrested by police authorities on allegations of kidnapping with serious illegal detention and trafficking in persons for allegedly taking Lumad minors from Talaingod, Davao del Norte to a Bakwit school in the Talamban Campus of San Carlos University Talamban Campus in Cebu City.
The court eventually dismissed the charges and ordered the release of Bakwit 7 from police detention.
After the 15-minute encounter, the troops recovered one M653 rifle, one caliber 45 pistol, one hand grenade, one anti-personnel mine, assorted food supplies, and personal belongings.
According to the military, Booc, who graduated cum laude from University of the Philippines Diliman with a degree of Bachelor of Computer Science, was a known activist and “recruiter” of the NPA back in college.
He said he volunteered as a Mathematics teacher in the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural Development (ALCADEV) in Lianga, Surigao del Sur, and became a volunteer teacher at the Bakwit School in Cebu after the closure of the Salugpongan schools in Davao Region.
Booc was also involved in the Manilakbayan, a protest march organized by the communist guerrillas involving Lumads from Mindanao in 2015, Tito added.
Meanwhile, Tito said Nguho, graduated from Liceo de Tagum as a scholar of the communists, volunteered as a teacher in the Community Technical College of Southern Mindanao (CTCSM) in Barangay Lapu-lapu, Maco, Davao de Oro.
Brig. Gen. Jesus P Durante III, Commander 1001st Brigade said the neutralization of Booc “Lumad Schools” like ALCADEV, Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation, Inc. (MISFI), Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Center Salugpongan, and Community Technical College of Southeastern Mindanao, Inc. “are indeed breeding grounds” of the communist guerrillas.
He alleged that Lumad children are being radicalized to take arms against the government through these schools.
“We call on the parents whose children are still with these institutions to take action. Rescue your children immediately before it’s too late. Seek help from the authorities so that we can eventually rescue them,” Durante added.