Human rights advocate slams Soliman for comments on IP kids at rallies

From GMA News (Jun 23): Human rights advocate slams Soliman for comments on IP kids at rallies

A human rights advocate slammed Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Dinky Soliman for condemning non-government organizations and faith-based groups for bringing indigenous children to rallies in front of Department of Education office in Davao Region.

"DSWD Sec. Dinky Soliman should think and study first the context why the indigenous children joined the rallies and camp-out in front of DepEd Davao," human rights group Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay told GMA News Online on Tuesday.  

In a statement sent to the media Tuesday, Soliman said that although groups have the right to protest, it should not be at the expense of the children's welfare and rights.

"Ang kampo nila ay nasa harap ng DepEd, nauulanan, hindi kumakain. Dapat nasa eskwela iyang mga bata na iyan. Hindi ninyo dapat dalhin sa mga ganyang rally," she said.

Soliman also said that she will ask the Commission on Human Rights to look into the condition of the children and the groups' practices.

However, Palabay stressed that the children who were in the rallies have a "stake" in what the groups are fighting for. She said that DepEd ordered the closing of Lumad community schools in remote Talaingod, Davao del Norte because of counter-insurgency accusations.

She pointed out that if the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) believes that the schools are part of counter-insurgency efforts, then the military should charge them in court instead of "hovering around" the schools.

Palabay added that many schools are "operating in fear."

"In the first place, the AFP and DepEd, as DSWD's collaborators in conducting counter-insurgency programs such as Oplan Bayanihan, are those who drove these children and their teachers out from schools when they made these institutions their camps and barracks...So it is perfectly understandable that the Lumad children join the rallies for their schools and their well-being, which Dinky totally is oblivious of," she said.

In a text message to GMA News Online, AFP Public Affairs Office chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc said it is "black propaganda" to discredit AFP's "expanded and well-accepted Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) Bayanihan activities in the countryside."

"Karapatan should partner with us in fighting for the rights of the victims of the [New People's Army] NPA's rampant kidnapping, extortion and bombing attacks that claimed the lives of innocent people," he said.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/509154/news/nation/human-rights-advocate-slams-soliman-for-comments-on-ip-kids-at-rallies