Shelter residents had fled fighting in their home villages
Tribal people who fled their villages in Mindanao clash with police who tried to evict the villagers from a Protestant church compound in Davao City July 23. (Photo courtesy of Kilab Productions)
Church leaders and human rights groups in the southern Philippine city of
At least 15 people were hurt when policemen, armed with
truncheons and riot shields, tried to force the indigenous tribesmen to leave
the Haran Center
of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines
The policemen destroyed temporary structures that housed the
families inside the compound. The tribesmen have been living in the evacuation
center since May this year after fleeing their homes in the hinterland villages
of Davao del Norte and Bukidnon provinces due to military operations against
communist rebels.
"It is insane for the police to force the people to
return to their militarized communities," said Sister Noime Degala of the
Sisters Association in Mindanao , an
organization of missionary nuns working in rural communities in the region.
A scuffle ensued when the displaced tribesmen resisted the
policemen, scaring at least 100 children who were attending school in a
makeshift classroom inside the compound.
However, the attempted eviction failed when Davao City Vice
Mayor Paolo Duterte intervened.
“We do not want violence and bloodshed. Those who want to go
home will be allowed to go home, and for those who do not, they have the
liberty to stay,” Duterte said.
People living in the shelter, however, expressed continued
concern.
"I don't think they will really leave us alone,"
said Neling Sambag, who secured her eight-month-old child in a corner of the
compound during the police raid. The other children hid inside the makeshift
classroom.
"I am angry, but at the same I am afraid for my
children and the rest of us," she said.
The policemen raided the center on the order of
Representative Nancy Catamco, head of the Committee on Indigenous Peoples in
the Philippines Congress. She had earlier urged the tribesmen to return to
their communities.
A dialogue between the people and Catamco last week
collapsed when the legislator insisted that the tribesmen go back to their
homes. The people have been neglected, the legislator said in a press briefing.
The legislator accused human rights groups of
"kidnapping" and "manipulating" the people.
"They need to go home because they are being treated
inhumanely at the evacuation center," Catamco said.
The people in the shelter fled their homes after
government-supported militia accused the villagers of supporting the communist
New People's Army guerillas.
Sambag said she left her village in Kapalong town, Davao del
Norte province, after a member of the militia attacked her "for no
apparent reason."
"They attack everyone, especially those whom they
suspect of being supportive of the rebels," she said.
Datu Kailo Buntulan, head of the Ata-Manobo tribe in
Talaingod village, said people in the shelter resisted the government's move to
send them home because of the continued presence of soldiers in their
communities.
"We are here because we are in danger. If they send us
home, we will be in absolute danger," Buntulan said.
http://www.ucanews.com/news/check-church-rights-groups-in-philippines-condemn-raid-on-displaced-people-in-protestant-church/73967
Article appears to articulate the views of CPP-affiliated front groups. The Sisters Association in Mindanao (SAMIN) is suspected of being a church-based CPP front organization.
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