BACOLOD CITY - More than 1,000 individuals belonging to 234 families in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental have returned to their respective houses on Sunday, Oct. 16.
Most of these residents are from Barangays Carabalan and Cabadiangan where the government troops engaged the New People’s Army in a series of encounters from Oct. 6 to Oct. 12.
The residents were given the go-signal to return after their areas were cleared during a mopping up operation conducted by the Philippine Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade (IBde).
The government Troopers had cleared most of the sitios in Barangay Carabalan from insurgency threat.
Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, commander of the 303rd IBde, said that only Sitios Sig-ang and Medel in Barangay Carabalan are not yet cleared.
On Oct. 8, two personnel of the 94th Infantry Battalion (IB) were killed, while six others were wounded in a clash at Sitio Sig-ang.
Two days later, alleged wanted NPA top leader Romeo Nanta alias ‘Juanito Magbanua’ was also killed in another encounter with the 94th IB at Sitio Medel on Oct. 10.
Pasaporte said they are making sure that the people are safe to go back to their homes, thus they are not in a hurry in allowing the evacuees to return.
One sitio in Barangay Cabadiangan, which is the neighboring village of Carabalan, has also been cleared by the Army.
Based on the advisory of the city government posted on social media on Sunday, evacuees at Don Florencio Villafranca National High School and Manuel Yulo Elementary School were allowed to go home.
Evacuees at Carabalan Elementary School and Carabalan village gymnasium were also sent home, except for residents of Sitios Sig-ang and Medel, as well as Sitio Campayas, which is a neighboring sitio of these two areas.
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Reynante Jomocan, Himamaylan police chief, said the remaining evacuees from the three sitios in Barangay Carabalan were transferred to the Regional Evacuation Center in Barangay 3, and covered court of Barangay 1, while there were some residents of Barangay Payao in Binalbagan town who were also affected owing to their proximity to where the government troops and the NPA fighters clashed.
They are temporarily staying at Payao village hall, Jomocan said.
Jomocan said the figure is just initial, as more residents will be sent home, depending on the ‘go signal’ from the Army.
The checkpoint of the Army remains in Barangay Carabalan as part of their security measures.