Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel.
Reports reaching Manila indicated that Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel has summoned top local military and police commanders to discuss and put to a stop the spate of killings in lumad communities in the province.
According to Capt. Joe Patrick Martinez, public affairs chief of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, the discussion resulted in the creation of Joint Task Force "Tejero".
JTF Tejero refers to the group of Bobby Tejero, known as the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary force reportedly organized and armed by the military. This militia force is being held responsible for the Lumad killings on grounds that they suspected the victims were sympathizers or supporters of the communist New People's Army (NPA).
Earlier, the military confirmed that Tejero's group, numbering more than 20 armed men, was behind the killings, and disclosed that complaints have been filed against them.
The human rights group Karapatan blamed security forces for the killings, although the military repeatedly issued denials in the face of personal accounts of witnesses that soldiers were the ones directing the killings as part of the counter-insurgency operations.
Pimentel lambasted the military for creating a monster by arming such a group to kill their own fellow tribesmen, which Karapatan head Cristina Palabay described as the military's "divide and rule tactic".
The military claimed that Lumad communities are becoming the breeding grounds for the NPA as more than 70% of rebels in CARAGA region are believed to be comprised of indigenous people.
Pimentel expressed hopes that Task Force Tejero will expedite the arrest of all the perpetrators of the killings.
But Palabay insisted that military personnel who served as "handlers" of Tejero's group should also be brought to justice.
Karapatan also believed that some of the killers could be soldiers.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/117688/governor-summons-military-police-over-lumad-killings
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