Wednesday, September 23, 2015

CHR starts probe of lumad killings as solon bares NICA hand in bid to close tribal schools

From InterAksyon (Sep 23): CHR starts probe of lumad killings as solon bares NICA hand in bid to close tribal schools




The chairman and two other officials of the Commission on Human Rights are in Davao City to open an inquiry into the continuing lumad crisis in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, an activist lawmaker bared what he said was the hand of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and, by extension, Malacanang in recent attempts to shut down tribal schools openly accused by the military of advocating support for communist rebels.  

Human rights commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit told a media forum in Quezon City Wednesday that CHR chairman Jose Luis Gascon flew to Davao Wednesday morning, joining two other commissioners who left the day before.

They will be meeting with various “stakeholders” as they look into the September 1 murders of Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV) executive director Emerito Samarca, Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang Sa Sumusunod (MAPASU) chairman Dionel Campos, and his cousin Datu Bello Sinzo, who were murdered in Han-ayan, Lianga, Surigao del Sur, by the Magahat tribal militia, although other reports state said troops from units of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division may have also been involved or, at the very least did nothing about the killings happening within their view.

They will also inquire into the August 18 massacre in Pangantucan, Bukidnon of Manobo clansmen Datu Herminio Samia, a blind 71-year old, his son Jobert and grandson Norman, and brothers Ramil and Emer, the latter two minors, who the Army initially claimed were New People’s Army guerrillas slain in a “legitimate encounter.”

In Davao City, some 700 Manobo from Talaingod, Davao del Norte have also sought refuge at the Haran Mission House of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines after the military and militias occupied their villages and tribal schools.

NICA and the tribal schools

In the House of Representatives, ACT Teachers party-list Representative Antonio Tinio said it was the Regional Intelligence Committee in the Davao region, which he said was organized by NICA, which recommended the closure of community learning centers of the Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon.

During deliberations on the 2016 budget of the Department of Education Monday, education officials in Region 11 admitted the plan to close down the Salugpungan schools and replace these with schools run by soldiers deployed as “para-teachers” was hatched during a meeting called by the RIC on April 23.

Soon after the Lianga murders, which triggered the mass evacuation of up to 3,000 Manobo in Surigao del Sur, the 4th ID also announced that several troops had been trained to be “alternative learning system” instructors by the DepEd in Region 10.

Tinio said the NICA’s hand in the attempt to close the tribal schools indicated that President Benigno Aquio III “must have a direct hand in the continuing campaign of violence and harassment against schools and communities of indigenous people” since the agency provides daily intelligence briefings for the chief executive

NICA is the government’s lead intelligence collection agency and is directly under the Office of the President. Its director general is the president’s principal adviser on intelligence.

At the Quezon City forum, Dumpit noted that regional offices of the CHR have dealt with atrocities against the lumad in the past but acknowledged that recently, “a series of unfortunate events … all came almost at the same time.”

“Given the fact that we are not excusing ourselves, we really lack personnel in the regions. And as you know, we do not have enough budget to be able to get up and go and send people to the many areas that require our attention,” she added.

Quoting Gascon, Dumpit said that after a series of inquiries, the CHR would “give the best and the brightest in a task force that will take a look at the lumad situation,” adding that he had promised to address the issues “to the best of our abilities and resources.”

‘The killings are nothing new’ 

Lilak Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights national coordinator Judy Pasimio stressed that the killings of lumad did not begin this year and that one of the “busiest” periods in the murders of indigenous people under Aquino was in the latter half of 2012.

In September 2012, Subanen timuay (chieftain) Lucenio Manda and his 11-year old son Jordan were shot on their way to school in Zamboanga del Sur. Jordan died.

The following month, Juvy Capion and her children Jordan, 13 and John, 8 were massacred by troops of the 27th Infantry Battalion. Another child, Vicky, 4, was wounded but survived when the soldiers heard B’laan women hurrying to the Capion residence on hearing the shots.

The military reportedly claimed the incident was a mistake since they were after Juvy’s husband, Daguil, a B’laan leader who had declared a pangayaw or tribal war against the intrusion of Sagitarrius Mining’s Tampakan gold and copper mines into the tribe’s ancestral domain.

In December, Sheryll Ananayo-Pugon was shot in a vehicle in Nueva Vizcaya. She had been holding her three-month-old John Ezekiel, and the incident was witnessed by her four-year-old daughter, Samantha.

In January the following year, Kitari Capion, Daguil’s brother, was killed. Dexter Conde, an Ati of Boracay, was shot dead in March.

In September 2014, Datu Sandigan, a Higaonon of Cagayan De Oro, was shot dead. The following month, Timuay Arig was also killed while going home from a fiesta with his wife and two sons in Maguindanao.

Pasimio cited KAMP (National Federation of Indigenous Peoples) data that showed over 68 indigenous people had been killed since 2010, with all the murders having some things in common: The victim and their families were actively involved in the defense of their ancestral domain, many of them against large-scale mining. All were tagged rebels or sympathizers of the New People’s Army.

And the violence is not confined to the physical.

The militiamen who carried out the Lianga murders warned the residents of Han-ayan to leave within two days or face the same fate. This triggered the mass evacuation of Manobo communities in five towns of Surigao del Sur that saw 3,000 lumad taking refuge at the sports center in the provincial capital Tandag City, where they are exposed to the fickle weather and where many sleep on cement floors.

At least one child, Reynabel Enriquez, a four-year-old Manobo girl, died of asthma. She was buried the same day Campos and Sinzo were. Many of the Tandag evacuees have also taken ill.

Another Manobo girl, 14, was allegedly raped by three soldiers. She was among the 700 Manobos who fled Talaingod, Davao del Norte.

‘Investment defense forces’

Aside from the military and the militias they create, private firms, especially those from extractive industries, whose operations often target the resource-rich ancestral lands of indigenous people, are allowed by law to fund their own “investment defense force,” essentially private security forces deputized as militias.

This is the case in Oriental Mindoro where the Alangan Mangyan oppose the Sta. Clara mini-hydro plant as well as the Norwegian large-scale mining operation of Intex Resources, called the Mindoro Nickel Project, within their tribal land, and in Tampakan, where the Capion family was massacred.

The result, said Pasimio, is the growing phenomenon of “investment refugees,” who flee their homes because of militarization instigated by the intrusion of mining and logging interests in their communities.

She said that such investments, instead of developing and providing economic growth for communities, were in truth pushing people out of their homes and noted that many more violations of indigenous peoples’ rights are happening, but because of their isolation, they are not always able to report these.

Pasimio called for the disbanding and disarming of paramilitary groups and blasted the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, which she said is pushing itself into “irrelevance.”

DepEd’s admission

Under questioning by Tinio, Josephin Fadul, superintendent of the Davao del Norte schools division, confirmed that intelligence officers of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command attended the April 23 meeting convened by the RIC.

It was Fadul who, on May 12, wrote Region 11 Director Alberto Escobarte urging the closure of the Salugpungan schools.

In her letter, she said: “Should this request for the closure of said schools be granted, in its stead, this Division requests permission to implement the creation of a public high school in Butay, Talaingod utilizing military personnel as para-teachers as has been previously discussed and agreed upon during our meeting with the Regional Intelligence Committee at NEAP last 23 April 2015.”

"This is a significant disclosure by Superintendent Fadul," Tinio noted. "It belies the statements made by top officials of the AFP, led by chief of staff General Hernando Iriberri during their own budget hearing that the military played no role in calling for the closure of the lumad schools.”

“Clearly, they were present and actively involved in planning the school closures and in suggesting that their soldiers be assigned as para-teachers,” he added. “In short, AFP officials lied to Congress. Their game plan is obviously to deny everything and claim that the violence against lumad schools is part of an alleged tribal war."

“The key role played by the NICA, an agency directly under the Office of the President, in summoning DepEd Region 11 officials and hatching the plan to close down the Salugpungan schools in Davao del Norte establishes the direct hand of the President in orchestrating and coordinating the ongoing campaign of vilification, harassment, and violence targeting the lumad schools in Mindanao," Tinio said.

"This explains why MalacaƱang paid mere lip-service and (has) taken no effective action to put an end to the extrajudicial killing spree against lumad leaders and the occupation of schools by the military. MalacaƱang can no longer feign ignorance, wash its hands, nor pretend to conduct an investigation. The campaign against lumads apparently has the sanction of the President," he added.

Tinio vowed to question NICA regarding its role in the campaign against lumad schools when ghe agency’s budget is deliberated by Congress.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/117923/chr-starts-probe-of-lumad-killings-as-solon-bares-nica-hand-in-bid-to-close-tribal-schools

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