Lawyers group backs IP cases

From Business World (Sep 13): Lawyers group backs IP cases

A group of Mindanao-based lawyers are helping members of indigenous peoples (IP) communities in Surigao del Sur and Bukidnon, where separate killing incidents took place two weeks ago.

About a hundred lawyers, paralegals and law students belonging to the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) gathered in Cagayan de Oro City over the weekend to gain public support against the crimes allegedly perpetrated by military and paramilitary groups.

At the same time, UPLM expressed support for the filing of criminal complaints by the witnesses and families of the victims in the shootings in Lianga, Surigao del Sur.

“UPLM is fully behind its member-lawyers who have promptly offered their services voluntarily to the bereaved families and filed the case a week after the incident,” UPLM Secretary-General Beverly S. Musni said.

On Sept. 1 at 4:00 a.m., armed persons opened fire at Manobo residents along Kilometer 16 Han-ayan in Lianga, killing Dionel Campos and his cousin Juvello Sinzo.

Mr. Campos was the chair of the Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa mga Sumusunod, an IP organization.

Around the same time, the office of another IP group, the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development (Alcadev) located just a few meters nearby, was also attacked.

Alcadev Executive Director Emirito Samarca was reportedly told by the armed men to stay behind and neighbors later found him dead with his hands and feet bound with rope, throat slit open, face bruised, and with gunshot wounds on his chest and stomach.

Both incidents have forced members of the affected IP communities to flee their homes.

The UPLM points to members of civilian militias organized by the military as suspects and condemned President Benigno S. C. Aquino III’s inaction on lifting the 2006 Executive Order 546, which allows the arming of paramilitaries.

“As peoples’ lawyers, we will surely take (Mr.) Aquino to court for these dastardly acts, including before international human rights bodies and the international community,” Ms. Musni said.

The nongovernment organization Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights, has already asked the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) to conduct an investigation.

“We want international bodies to know what is happening in Mindanao -- that the Lumad (IPs), in defense of their land, are being killed and forced to leave their communities,” Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay said in a statement.

The group sent letters to Dr. Chaloka Beyani, Special Rapporteur (SR) of the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons; Christof Heyns, SR on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Michel Forst, SR on Situation of Human Rights Defenders; and Victoria Lucia Tauli-Corpuz, SR on Rights of the Indigenous People’s.

“We are asking the UNHRC to investigate and recommend actions to the Philippine Government on these issues,” Ms. Palabay added.

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=lawyers-group-backs-ip-cases&id=115184