Army condemns charge linking them in strafing

Philippine Army’s 79th Infantry Masaligan Battalion Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Erwin Bernard Neri vehemently denied fresh accusations of military abuses by the militant human rights group Karapatan.

Neri dismissed the allegation that a group of soldiers led by 1st Lt. Alvin Dugho fired upon house of Gemelito Saguban Sr. in Nagbinlod Sta. Catalina as fabricated and a big lie.

Earlier, Karapatan accused the army of “strafing the house of Saguban on November 1 injuring to innocent children who were rushed to the hospital.” The militant then went on to castigate alleged rampant military abuses and renewed its call for the unit’s removal from southern Negros.

However, Neri strongly maintains that the November 1 encounter between the Philippine Army and suspected communist rebels was legitimate. Then after receiving reports that some children were hit and injured, Lt. Dugho went to the house of the Sagubans for verification but found out that no children were hurt from the exchange of fire.

They found instead one of the children with a festering knee wound and another suffering from coughs, hence the soldiers decided to bring the children to the hospital for proper medical attention.