THE government has no plan to allow thousands of lumad evacuees displaced by conflict to return to their homes as the Department of Social Welfare and Development is proposing to build core shelters for them.
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said Tuesday she classified the displaced indigenous people in Surigao del Sur as victims of civil unrest and would work with the provincial government to house the displaced families elsewhere.
No direction home. A lumad child stands beside photographs of slain and missing tribespeople outside an evacuation center in Tandag City. John Paolo Bencito
“We will coordinate with Gov. Johnny Pimentel for a location where we can build core shelters,” Soliman said.
Pimentel had been
vocal about the military disrupting the peaceful lives of the lumad in their
war on the communist New People’s Army.
He also slammed
the military for creating a monster by supporting groups such as the
Magahat, Bagani, Alamara, and
Bolo Battalion,
made of lumad tribesmen, to kill their own on suspicion that they are NPA
sympathizers.
The military has
denied the allegation amid continuing reports that some local military units
have been coddling the suspects in the killing of three lumad leaders.
A total of 822
families or 4,191 persons, have been displaced from their homes as of Oct. 5.
Of the number,
the DSWD said 814 families or 3,822 persons are staying at the three evacuation
centers opened and managed by local government unit. The evacuees come from the
towns of San Miguel, Tago, Marihatag, San Agustin, and Lianga.
“You will be
provided with your own houses worth P30,000 to P50,000, wherein you will have
your own CR with water lines, more comfortable than your conditions here,”
Soliman promised the evacuees during a dialogue with them.
“With the
proposal, the provincial LGU shall find a resettlement site while DSWD shall
forge a partnership with the International Organization for Migration for the
construction of the shelter units. DSWD shall also hire the IDPs, through cash
for work, in the construction of their respective core houses,” she added.
Soliman said a
total of P7,174,893.88 worth of relief assistance have been provided to the
affected families from the combined resources of the DSWD, LGUs and
non-government organizations.
The assistance
from DSWD comprised of 2,824 family food packs, non-food items, nutri-cereals,
and medical and burial assistance. Psycho-social processing activities were
also held for the evacuees.
On Tuesday, a
group of bishops lambasted President Beningo Aquino III for tolerating military
operations that displaced the indigenous people.
“The country is,
indeed, being destroyed. Our lumad who belong to the indigenous peoples are
getting harassed, intimidated, threatened and killed. Their leaders are being
extra-judicially exterminated because they defend their ancestral land and
protect their people. The perpetrators, the military and their paramilitary
forces, use as an excuse the pretext that these leaders are New People’s Army
combatants or supporters,” said Bishop Elmer M. Bolocon of the United Church of
Christ in the Philippines
“The Aquino
government cannot legitimize the killing of Emerito Samarca, executive director
of the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development,
and of Manobo leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Bello Sinzo on Sept. 1
in Lianga, Surigao del Sur by saying they supported the NPA,” the EBF statement
said.
EBF also thrashed
economist Solita Monsod who wrote in a column that only rebels and their
supporters run the risk of being killed.
“Why are they
being driven out of their ancestral lands? The reason is money,” the bishops
said. “Big foreign mining corporations want to exploit the resources of the
lands known for their richness in gold, nickel and copper. The military wants
to make sure that that happens. However, they could not freely enter due to
people’s resistance. Hence, the militarization of the area had to commence.”
“Money has become
more important than people!” they added.
The bishops noted
that lumad communities have been neglected for decades yet, after churches and
non-governmental organizations took it on themselves to build schools, these
have come under attack from the military and paramilitary groups.
They also slammed
North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catamco, who chairs the committee on indigenous
people at the House of Representatives, for parroting military claims that the
lumad refugees in Davao
City
“We support the
just demand of the lumad. It is their right to go back to their own homes and
be assured to live in peace. This is the least that the government can do—leave
them in peace,” the bishops said.
The human rights
group Karapatan said Tuesday that the military was behind the
closure of lumad schools on the suspicion that they were being used by
communist rebels to “radicalize” the lumad.
Karapatan
chairwoman Marie Hilao-Enriquez cited the case of the Mindanao Interfaith
Services Foundation Inc., which received a memorandum from the barangay captain
of White Culaman, Kitaotao, Bukidnon, informing them that its schools in his
bailiwick would be closed after it was proved to be an NPA tool.
“Barangay White
Culaman, for almost a month now, has been virtually under Martial Law with the
presence of soldiers from the 8th and 23rd Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army.
Barangay captain [Felipe] Cabugnason has been mouthing the same orders coming
from the military. Aside from the closure of lumad schools, residents were
arrested, forcibly recruited to the Barangay Defense System, and had to report
to the soldiers’ camp at the barangay hall for monitoring,” Enriquez said.
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/10/07/lumad-evacuees-kept-from-returning-home/
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