Lumad families in Surigao del Sur village flee again after militia returns

From InterAksyon (Sep 8): Lumad families in Surigao del Sur village flee again after militia returns



Lumad children at the grandstand of the sports center in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur where close to 3,000 Manobo have fled following human rights abuses in their communities. (photo by Erwin Mascarinas, InterAksyon.com)

The return of a militia accused of murdering two lumad brothers in a hinterland village in Surigao del Sur has prompted at least 30 families, among the hundreds who fled following the killings but had since gone home, to evacuate again out of fear, a human rights group said Tuesday.

Eliza Pangilinan of Karapatan Caraga said the evacuees fled from Barangay Siagao to Barangay Tina on Monday after soldiers and members of the “Hasmin paramilitary group” arrived at their village.

Siagao was where militiamen “went on a rampage and killed brothers Crisanto and Ellie Tabogol in their home” the evening of August 28, sending 332 families fleeing to the provincial capital Tandag City.

Since then, said Pangilinan, the Siagao residents had returned to their village after assurances from the local government in San Miguel that it was safe for them to do so.

However, she said, the families who fled to Tina did so because of the Hasmin militia’s threat, following the deaths of the Tabogol brothers, that they would return and sow more mayhem.

But instead of heading for Tandag again, “they have chosen to stay at the barangay hall and with relatives in Tina so they can easily return to their homes and farms once it is safe again.”

Currently, there are close to 3,000 refugees, mostly Manobo, sheltering at the provincial sports center in Tandag following the September 1 murders in Barangay Diatagon, Lianga town of Emerito Samarca, executive director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development or ALCADEV, a tribal school, who was found with his throat slit and stabbed in the body, and tribal leaders Dionel Campos, chairman of the Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang Sa Sumusunod or MAPASU, and his cousin Bello Sinzo, who were gunned down in front of hundreds of residents, teachers and students who had been rounded by gunmen of the Magahat militia.

Alcadev, which has reaped many awards for its groundbreaking work among the lumad, and other tribal schools, many of which are the first learning institutions in the communities they serve, have openly been accused by the military of advocating support for communist rebels.

The Lianga killings happened two days after Army troops arrived in Diatagon and occupied schools in the community, the refugees said.

Some accounts say soldiers may also have been involved in the deaths of Campos and Sinzo.
The Lianga killings and evacuation led Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel to demand that the Army disband the militias, but the military has claimed it had nothing to do with organizing and arming them.

Human rights groups and activist organizations are demanding “zero budget” for funding paramilitary groups whose disbanding they have long called for because of human rights abuses but which government maintains are needed as “force multiplier” for the regular military.

Lumad from Lianga will be joining a protest at the House of Representatives Tuesday morning, when the Department of National Defense’s proposed 2016 budget will be deliberated.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/117210/lumad-families-in-surigao-del-sur-village-flee-again-after-militia-returns