Tapaz evacuees return home

By Felipe V. Celino 

 

ROXAS CITY, Capiz – The 200 evacuees from Brgy. Lahug in Tapaz, Capiz have returned home on January 7, 2021 following the assurance of Mayor Roberto “Nonong” Palomar that they will not be harmed.

Palomar said the evacuees returned home after they were convinced that the presence of the military in their barangay is for their security and safety.

But the mayor clarified that the families of the victims that were killed during the raids will remain at the town’s civic center until their departed relatives are buried.

Palomar said the municipal government will shoulder the burial of the nine deceased persons aside from the financial assistance to their families.

The evacuees were provided trucks for their transportation in proceeding to their houses together with workers from the Tapaz Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) and nurses who checked their health.

The military provided security.

It was learned that only 27 persons were left in the civic center to attend to the needs of their deceased families.

Meanwhile, there is no plan to pullout military forces from the barangays where the raids were conducted.

According to Major Cenon Pancito III, spokesperson of the Philippine Army’s 3^rd Infantry Division, they have been staying in the area for four months to push through with their community support program.

Pancito made it clear that the Philippine Army did not participate in the deadly police operations.