AFP’s witnesses against NPA on Lumad case ‘fake tribal chieftains’ — HR group

From the Daily Tribune (Sep 28): AFP’s witnesses against NPA on Lumad case ‘fake tribal chieftains’ — HR group

The three datus previously claimed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines AFP) to be witnesses against the “control” of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) on currently displaced Lumad evacuees are not genuine tribal chieftains, a human rights group said yesterday.

Left-leaning human rights group Karapatan, in fact, claimed that the three datus - Nestor Apas, Lumansad Sibogan and Marcial Belandres – are actually members of paramilitary groups responsible for atrocities across Mindanao.

Apas is a known leader of the paramilitary Alamara in Davao del Norte responsible for harassing students and teachers of the Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation, a Lumad school in Kapalong, Davao del Norte, Karapatan said.

He was seen last Feb. 6 in the company of soldiers of the 60th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army (IBPA) that encamped at the school. He was also present when the Alamara and Cotabato representative Nancy Catamco raided the compound last July 23.

Apas allegedly instigated and facilitated the filing of serious illegal detention and kidnapping charges against leaders and supporters of the 700 Manobo evacuees sheltered at the Haran compound of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Davao City. The Davao City Prosecutors Office dismissed these charges for lack of evidence.

Sibogan is also an active leader of the Alamara who forcibly recruits Lumad into the paramilitary group, Karapatan added. The group said Sibogan was among those seen with the 38th IBPA that encamped in tribal schools in Talaingod, Davao del Norte.

Belandres for his part was identified by witnesses as one the killers of Lumad leader Henry Alameda in Sitio Cabalawan, San Isidro, Lianga, Surigao del Sur last Oct. 24.

Karapatan disclosed that Apas, Sibogan and Belandres are not only active paramilitary criminals but are also fake datus, either self-declared or have since turned their backs on their people.

In a previous press conference in a Makati restaurant last Sept. 15, the three introduced themselves as Lumad chieftains. The event followed a press conference organized by the AFP at Camp Aguinaldo two days earlier.

Belandres said he is the leader of 6,000 Manobo in the towns of Barobo and Lianga, Surigao del Sur while Sibogan said he leads 14,000 Manobo in Talaingod. Apas did not divulge a territory and a number but said he is a tribal council member and a traditional law expert.

In an interview with the radio program Tala-Akayan over Radyo Veritas last Sept. 17, however, two Catholic nuns who have worked with the Lumad for decades said a genuine datu is always with his people.

Sr. Rowena Pineda, MMS (Medical Mission Sisters) and Sr. Mary Jane Caspillo, MMS both said that a datu must be acclaimed as such by his tribe primarily for his ability to settle disputes and unite his people.

The MMS first initiated medical interventions in Tawi-Tawi province but has since transferred their health programs to Lumad communities in Mindanao island itself since the 1990s.

“Our many years of working with the Lumad make us understand that anyone who takes up arms, harms and divides his own people is not a genuine datu nor is recognized as one,” Pineda said.

The medical missionaries also said that the Lumad observe a strict process in choosing succeeding datus.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/nation/afp-s-witnesses-against-npa-on-lumad-case-fake-tribal-chieftains-hr-group