From Malaya Business Insight (Sep 28): Link between paramilitary, crime groups probed: DOJ
A TEAM tasked to investigate probe recent killings of indigenous people in Mindanao will also look into the possible link between paramilitary groups and organized crime groups in the region, according to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
The team, which is composed of prosecutors from the National Prosecution Service and investigators from the National Bureau of Investigation, is under the supervision of NBI deputy director Edmund Arugay.
A paramilitary group, the Magahat/Bagani, is being blamed for the recent killing of three tribal members in Surigao del Sur. The military has denied allegations of leftist groups that it is behind the creation of the Bagani group.
De Lima said paramilitary groups have a “long tradition of involvement in criminal activities in Mindanao,” like “vigilante operations of the most heinous kind, whether in the name of counter-insurgency or tribal retribution.”
She said the probe would also determine the “supporters who fuel their criminal operations and acts of violence,” the financiers, and the source of their firearms.
De Lima appealed for a stop to finger-pointing, saying both the communist New People’s Army and its allied organizations and some elements of the state’s security forces have contributed to the situation the indigenous people are now in. She said there are even instances wherein Lumad tribes are pitted against one another and made to choose between government forces engaged in anti-insurgency operations and the NPA which is stepping up recruitment of tribe members into the communist group.
Among those to be covered by the probe are incidents involving the “Lumad,” a term referring to indigenous people of the southern Philippines, at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Davao City, Talaingod in Davao del Norte, Pangantucan in Bukidnon, and in Lianga in Surigao del Sur.
http://malaya.com.ph/business-news/news/link-between-paramilitary-crime-groups-probed-doj
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