KARAPATAN has called for the immediate pullout of Task Force Kitacom (Kiblawan, Tampakan, Columbio and Malungon) troops from communities surrounding a mining area straddling four provinces in Mindanao after another member of the Capion family was killed on Jan. 29 in Barangay Kimlawis, Kiblawan, Davao del Sur.
The human-rights watchdog said members of the 39th and 27th Infantry Battalions and the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu) comprise Task Force Kitacom.
Karapatan condemned on the killing of Kitari Capion and the forcible evacuation of some 150 residents of barangay Kimlawis.
“We view the recent military operation as another violation of the B’laan’s right to their ancestral lands, as if the incursion of the mining company is not enough to wipe out the B’laan community,” said Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay.
Capion was killed during a military operation on Jan. 29, three months after her sister-in-law, Juvy Capion, and her two sons were killed.
Initial reports from the community indicated forced evacuation of the B’laan started on Feb. 1.
Military operations resumed in B’laan ancestral land after the forced evacuation was completed.
Members of the B’laan tribe opposed to the incursion of the Xstrata-SMI operation have employed pangayaw, traditionally a “war” waged by the tribes against intruders into their defined territory but is now waged against the mining company as a way of defending their ancestral land rights.
“The military operation is meant to protect the interests of the mining company by silencing dissent in the community,” added Palabay.
Kitari is the fourth member of the Capion clan killed by state forces under the Aquino administration.
He is the younger brother of Daguil Capion, the husband of Juvy, who was seriously hurt by troops of the 27th Infantry Battalion in October 2012.
“The involvement of the 27th IB in the recent military operations confirms our position that the AFP’s[Armed Forces of the Philippines] earlier announcement to punish those involved in the massacre of Juvy Capion and her sons was just for show,” Palabay said.
The AFP pulled out the 27th IB and replaced it with the 39th IB after the Capion killings.
“However, both battalions are now involved in the killing of another Capion,” Palabay said.
“President Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan has already resulted in the forced evacuation of thousands of people in Mindanao, literally wiping out courageous indigenous peoples who lead their people to stand up against anti-people policies of this government,” Palabay said.
“With people being driven away from their lands and their leaders killed, the B’laan have all the right to defend their ancestral lands, their source of life,” she said.
Karapatan also called for “justice for the Capions and all Lumad victims who have been killed to pave way for big businesses.”
So what is the real reason behind Karapatan's call for the withdrawal of military units from mining areas? It is to give the New People's Army free reign to extort "revolutionary taxes" from the mining companies without the threat of AFP interference. Karapatan is the main CPP-affiliated human rights front organization and as such its activities both directly and indirectly support CPP/NPA objectives.
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