2 hurt as truck overshoots highway
Zamboanga tweets 'unconfirmed' reports of looting by troops PAGE 2
Old woman dies in Pagadian road accident PAGE 4
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Police arrest Zamboanga Norte village chieftain on gun charges
Police recover bomb in school
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Opinion Page
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Nov. 4-10, 2013
WAR REFUGEES FINALLY RETURN HOME
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esidents who fled their village follo wing last following month ebel attacks in Z amboanga City in month’’s rrebel Zamboanga souther nP hilippines hav e finally rretur etur ned southern Philippines have eturned home er e either home,, but many of the houses w wer ere bur w villagers w er e tr ying to burned now wer ere trying burned or looted, and no rebuild not only their homes es homes,, but their liv lives es.. Villagers in Santa ravaged by a fiery twister – Barbara said their houses mangled steel bars, broken had been ransacked and street poles and blackened nobody can say who were house frames burned responsible in the loot- down by conflagration – ing, but security officials are the only visible landhave previously blamed scape in the village. One villager also reMoro National Liberation Front rebels, who occu- covered a rifle grenade and pied several villages here was retrieved by a soldier deployed in the area. Anas behind it. But several army sol- other man said there are diers were also accused of still many explosives in the looting in the village and village. "I saw grenades the military said it is in- and soldiers better retrieve vestigating the allega- them before anybody else," he told the regional newstions. “My computer was paper Mindanao Examgone,” one boy cried as he iner. Authorities said rebels frantically searched for burned down the village as his personal computer. One Muslim woman they flee from military atsaid she lost everything tacks, but residents from the fire that gutted claimed the conflagration their neighborhood dur- was cause by the governing the three-week street ment assault in the village. The Department of Sobattles in Santa Barbara. “We lost everything and cial Welfare and Developwe don’t know what to do ment has allocated P10 milnow,” she said. lion to fund the building of A huge area in Santa bunkhouses inside the Barbara looked like it was Joaquin Enriquez Memo-
Residents return to their homes in the village of Santa Barbara in Zamboanga City after authorities allowed civilians to go back a month after security forces cleared the area following three weeks of street battles last month between military and rebel forces that killed and wounded over 400 people. More photos on Page 3. (Mindanao Examiner Photo) rial Sports Complex where thousands of war refugees are now staying. The bunk-
houses are only temporary shelters that will house several hundred people.
The fighting, which killed and wounded more than 400 people, forced
over 100,000 people to flee their homes. (Mindanao Examiner)
Army troops capture motorcycle gunman in Pagadian City PAGADIAN CITY – Government troops captured one of two motor-
cycle gunmen following a chase in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur prov-
A government soldier mingles with curious children in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province. (Mindanao Examiner)
ARMM
ince in the southern Philippines, an army spokesman said. Army Lieutenant Franco Suelto, a spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division, said patrolling soldiers led by Lieutenant Michael Paul Caspe seized an AK 2000 automatic rifle and a KG9 machine pistol, including five magazines and ammunition, from Victor Muños, 25. He said Muños, a resident of Dumango village in Pagadian City, was also wounded after the rifle he was carrying went off hitting his left leg. The soldiers, who were members
Southern Mindanao
Davao
of the 53rd Infantry Battalion, brought the wounded gunman to the hospital and eventually handed him to the local police. Muños' companion escaped. Suelto said they received reports from civilians that the two men were frequently spotted armed and roaming during night time in the village of Kawit. “According to the residents, the duo had been roaming Barangay Kawit during evenings and sow fear and terror to the neighborhood,” he said without further elaborating.
Manila
Lieutenant Colonel Victor Tanggawohn Jr, the battalion commander, has ordered troops to intensify their patrol following the arrest of the gunman. Brigadier General Felicito Virgilio Trinidad Jr, the regional army commander, praised the soldiers for the arrest of the Muños. “The vigilant efforts of our soldiers will continue to ensure peace in the community,” he said. It was not immediately known whether the the arrested man and his cohort were behind the spate of gun attacks and
killings in Pagadian City perpetrated by motorcycle gunmen. Just recently, a motorcycle gunman also fired his M16 automatic rifle in the air at Purok Muslim Village in Kawit village and fled with his companion after the indiscriminate attack. Armed men riding tandem on motorcycle have been sowing terror in villages in Pagadian where hired killers are actively operating and largely blamed by authorities for the spate of murders in the city. (Mindanao Examiner)
Zamboanga Peninsula