REPRESENTATIVES of various national people’s organizations, progressive party-list organizations and human-rights groups on Sunday flew to Davao City to join other human-rights workers and peace advocates in Mindanao to investigate alleged rights abuses committed by the military against peasants and indigenous peoples in Davao and Cotabato provinces.
The Manila contingent was composed of representatives from the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan); party-lists Gabriela, Act Teachers, and Bayan Muna; Karapatan, Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas; Children’s Rehabilitation Center; Kalikasan, Koalisyon ng Progresibong Manggagawa at Mamamayan; Kilusang Mayo Uno; Task Force for Indigenous People’s Rights; National Council of Churches in the Philippines; and Health Alliance for Democracy.
The National Solidarity Mission was formed because of the adverse impact of the massive military operation and inaction of local and regional government, said a joint statement of the Mindanao-based Exodus for Justice and Peace, Defend Talaingod Save Pantaron Range Alliance, Defend Compostela Valley Alliance, Save our Schools, Sowing Seeds of Peace in Mindanao, Pasaka, Bayan-SMR, and Karapatan-Southern Mindanao Region.
The group is blaming “Oplan Bayanihan,” the direct effect in Mindanao of which is the deployment of five divisions, about 60 percent of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the statement said.
“The towns and villages where the AFP conducts its operations are the same towns and villages with the most reported cases of human-rights violations,” the statement said.
Of the 192 cases of extrajudicial killings under the current Aquino administration, 25 occurred in Southern Mindanao where the Davao provinces belong to, organizers of the National Solidarity Mission said.
They said that on April 3, some 1,353 Talaingod-Manobo, mostly children under 12 years old, arrived in Davao City after a six-day trek from their ancestral lands in the Pantaron mountains in Davao del Norte, fleeing from conflict areas.
The children complained of abuses, threats and harassments, bombings and indiscriminate firing by the soldiers from the 60th Infantry Battalion (IB), 68th IB of 1003rd Brigade, and 4th Special Forces, the statement said.
After a dialogue with Davao del Norte Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario, Talaingod Mayor Basilio Libayao, and AFP Gen. Ariel Bernardo, the Talaingod-Manobo agreed to go back to their lands once the military pulls out from their communities.
The AFP agreed to suspend its operation in Talaingod for the return of the evacuees, but only for two days.
“Oplan Bayanihan’s military operation in the Davao region has resulted in the displacement of peasants and indigenous peoples, and gross human-rights violations committed against them,” said the Mindanao human rights and peace advocates’ organizations.
Aside from going to Talaingod, Davao del Norte, the NSM also visited the communities in Magpet, Arakan, North Cotabato; Maco, Compostella Valley; and Paquibato, Davao City.
Just another commie "fact-finding mission" that invariably finds the Philippine military guilty of massive human rights violations. Almost all of the "national people’s organizations, progressive party-list organizations and human-rights groups," highlighted above are Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) front groups or sympathetic organizations.
ReplyDeleteThe areas visited by these commie fronts to include Talaingod, Davao del Norte; Magpet, Arakan, North Cotabato; Maco, Compostella Valley; and Paquibato, Davao City are all known strongholds of the New People's Army (NPA).
The intent of this National Solidarity Mission and these front organizations generally, is to discredit the military on human rights issues, generate grassroots and political opposition to the presence of the Philippine military forces in the vicinity of NPA strongholds, and provide breathing space for the New People's Army to expand the areas under their control.