NDF-Negros spokesperson Bayani Obrero said in a statement that Acosta and a companion were captured alive at around two o’clock in the morning of November 30 but were announced as casualties in a “fake encounter” a few hours later.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
MANILA – There is no need to rescue the Lumad students at the University of San Carlos-Talamban in Cebu City as they are about to go back into their communities.
This is the statement of the University of San Carlos-Talamban (USC) and Societas Verbi Divini (SVD) Philippines Southern Province, host of the Lumad
bakwit (evacuees) school after members of the Philippine National Police Regional Office 7, along with members of the local social welfare and development department entered the retreat house where Lumad students were being housed on Feb. 15, Monday.
Due to the COVID-19 lockdown imposed last year, students were not able to return to their communities. But with the government’s easing of travel restrictions, the university said plans have been made for their return. Four of the delegates, in fact, have already returned to their respective communities.