Residents of Bondoc Peninsula in Quezon province filed cases against the 74th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for forcing them to flee from their homes during counter-insurgency operations.

The Save Bondoc Peninsula Movement, in a statement, said that many civilians were forced to flee  from their homes last May 31, 2013 after an alleged encounter between the military and the revolutionary armed group New People’s Army (NPA) in Sitio Pange, Brgy. Ilayang Doongan, Catanauan, Quezon.

“The bakwets (evacuees) composed of children and their families have since mentioned that soldiers indiscriminately fired at their houses claiming that the soldiers did a house-to-house and interrogated them prior to the incident,” said Pedro Gonzales, spokesperson and convener of the Save Bondoc Peninsula Movement.

Gonzales blamed the counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan for incidents such as the one mentioned. He charged that since the deployment of eight battalions of combined military, police and paramilitary groups in South Quezon and Bondoc Peninsula last year, human rights abuses were on the rise.

The group said they documented 128 cases of harassment, strafing and illegal arrests since last year affecting mostly women and children.

“It is disturbing that under Noynoy’s ‘Tuwid na Daan’, these children are deprived of education and safe environment, while their parents are forced to give up their livelihood for fear of their lives due to militarization,” Gonzales said.