Guingona slams 'anarchy' in Surigao del Sur, says Magahat openly extorting from communities

From InterAksyon (Sep 14): Guingona slams 'anarchy' in Surigao del Sur, says Magahat openly extorting from communities

Senator Teofisto Guingona III denounced what he called the “anarchy” unfolding in Surigao del Sur where, he said, the paramilitary Magahat-Bagani militia is committing atrocities with impunity, with law enforcers unwilling to stop their rampage.

The militia has been blamed for the mass exodus of close to 3,000 people, mostly Manobo, from their hinterland villages following the September 1 murders of Emerito Samarca, executive director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development, and tribal leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Juvillo “Bello” Sinzo in Han-ayan, Barangay Diatagon, Lianga town.

In a privilege speech Thursday, Guingona urged the Senate to “put its foot down and do our little bit in restoring the rule of law” in the Mindanao province by conducting an investigation, “not here in Metro Manila but there in Surigao del Sur.”

He said the on-site inquiry was requested by Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel, who has confirmed that the military, despite its denials, organized, trained and armed the Magahat and other militias in the province and demanded that the military “disarm, disband or kill” the “monster” it had created.

Pimentel, said Guingona had promised to “bring the witnesses, the numerous witnesses, the numerous victims, the wives of those who have died, to testify, to tell what has happened.”

Guingona also slammed the Army, echoing Han-ayan residents’ testimonies that troops who had occupied their village before the Magahat arrived had not lifted a finger even if the executions of Campos and Sinzo, done in front of hundreds of villagers the militia had rounded up, had happened only around a kilometer away from where the soldiers were positioned.

The Army has washed its hands of responsibility for the Lianga murders, claiming that the killings were the offshoot of a “tribal war” between a Manobo faction opposed to the communist New People’s Army and another supposedly sympathetic to the rebels.

The military has openly accused schools set up by nongovernmental and religious organizations in indigenous peoples’ communities in Mindanao, including the award-winning ALCADEV, of advocating support for the communists.

But Guingona, a native of Mindanao, said Pimentel “swore” that Samarca had nothing to do with the NPA and was only there to help the community run the school, teach the children, teach the farmers.”

Worse, the senator said, the Magahat’s abuses did not end with the Lianga murders.

“To this day, I have been informed that the Magahat-Bagani are in the next municipality (to Lianga), the neighboring municipality of Barobo. They are there right now, in fact, in Barangay San Vicente,” he said, going from house to house and telling residents, “Dati nagbabayad kayo ng taxes sa NPA, ngayon kami naman, magbabayad kayo sa amin (Before you paid taxes to the NPA, now it is our turn, you pay us).”

Noting that the Barobo barangay he spoke of was not in the highlands, Guingona said he asked Pimentel why authorities were not stopping the Magahat’s extortion.

Pimentel’s reply: “Ayaw makialam ang pulis, ayaw gumalaw ang pulis, dahil daw (The police don’t want to get involved, the police don’t want to move, because it supposedly is a) military matter."

“Clearly, this is not the rule of law. Clearly, this is anarchy,” Guingona said. “Why are people who are not members of the police, who are not members of the military, going around with high-powered firearms, shooting people, torturing people, knocking on doors, extorting from citizens?”

“Where is our government?” he asked.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/117537/guingona-slams-anarchy-in-surigao-del-sur-says-magahat-openly-extorting-from-communities