People advised not to rely on gov’t alone

From the Sun Star-Cagayan de Oro (Dec 2): People advised not to rely on gov’t alone

TO PUT an end to human rights violations, the people must stand together and address this issue collectively rather than solely relying on the government, a lawyer-activist said Monday.

Lawyer Beverly Musni, of the Union of People’s Lawyer in Mindanao (UPLM) and regional chair of the human rights group Karapatan, said the people’s organizations and civil society groups play an important role in making sure that cases of human rights violations (HRV) will be reported and documented properly.

Despite the sheer number of human rights violations committed for this year alone, Musni is still hopeful that these can be resolved, but the citizenry must not let down its vigilance and commitment.

“Dili lang ta mohunong, since this is justice for every victim, dili ‘ni pwede katulgan. If we sleep on these cases, we will be a party to the perpetuation of these human rights violations,” she told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro in an interview Monday.

‘A thousand victims’

Musni was one of the resource speakers of the public presentation of the Northern Mindanao regional yearend human rights report held in a hotel in Cagayan de Oro City on Tuesday.

In a data provided by Karapatan to the media, from January to November, this year, there were more than a thousand victims of HRV in 54 incidents.

Among the HRV cases, Karapatan noted, were extra-judicial killings, frustrated killings, threat, harassment and intimidation, trumped-up charges, illegal or arbitrary arrest, arrest and detention, divestment and destruction of property, indiscriminate firing, forced evacuation, bombing, physical assault and injury.

Most of the HRV incidents committed were threat, harassment and intimidation with 749 cases; destruction of property, 23 household; indiscriminate firing, 168 individuals; and forced evacuation, 319 persons.

Musni said every incident of HRV, no matter how small, must not be taken for granted.
“I-address gyud na siya, pangitaan og accountability. Itaral kinsay nakasala og hatagan og relief ang nasal-an. That’s essential to justice,” she added.

Musni said all the HRV cases in region 10 had already been reported to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Commission on Human Rights, and the human rights committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Datu Santiago Agdahan Jr., chair of the Tribal Indigenous Oppressed Group Association (Tindoga), said most of his members had experienced HRV last year when armed men began firing indiscriminately in their direction in a village in Quezon, Bukidnon.

Tindog is one of the groups of the Manobo-Pulangihon clans that petitioned the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to award them a 623-hectare ranch owned by a private company, under the Ancestral Domain claims.

Agdahan said the NCIP has awarded them with the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) sometime last year.

Agdahan said the harassment happened while they were about to be installed as rightful owners of the land.

He recalled a group of armed men stormed the area where they were gathered and opened fire as they were told to get away from the site. Their houses were also demolished in the process.

Because of the indiscriminate firing, he said the more than a hundred Tindoga members, including nuns from the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), fled in different directions. Some hid in trees and structures.

Agdahan said he was almost shot when he stood up and shouted “Magbayad mo sa inyong gibuhat (You will pay for what you’ve done)!”

Traumatized

Although no one was killed in the melee, he said it traumatized some of the Tindoga members. A woman had bouts of mental breakdowns and has neglected to take care of her children.

Because of the experience, one of Agdahan’s nephews got sick and eventually died.
Agdahan said they reported the incident to the law enforcers, but the municipal police chief only ordered the arrest of the goons who were caught holding shotguns but not those who were shooting indiscriminately using high-powered firearms.

With the incident that they had been through, Agdahan said they are hoping that it will not be repeated and that the rule of law will prevail within their ancestral domain area.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2014/12/02/people-advised-not-rely-gov-t-alone-379891