Classes in the three sitios of Barangay Carabalan in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, will resume Monday, October 24.
Mayor Raymund Tongson, in an executive order issued October 20, said that the resumption of classes in Sitios Campayas, Medel, and Sig-ang was based on the recommendation of School Division Superintendent Gladys Amylaine Sales.
Residents of the three sitios were the last ones to return home after the Army and the Incident Management Team previously cleared other areas in the village of insurgency.
The encounters between the state troopers and members of the New People’s Army that started on October 6 claimed the lives of two soldiers and a ranking rebel leader.
It also forced residents to flee to evacuation centers, where some of them stayed for almost two weeks.
At the onset of the clashes, Tongson ordered the suspension of classes in barangays Cabadiangan and Carabalan.
On October 18, the Army and the IMT recommended that the remaining evacuees – the residents of the three sitios – could return home.
The Army has deployed a task force in Himamaylan to augment the police to ensure peace and security in the locality, especially in the far-flung areas.*