Army wants foreigners in 'fake' fact-finding mission on lumad killings deported

From InterAksyon (Nov 5): Army wants foreigners in 'fake' fact-finding mission on lumad killings deported



Lumad children at the evacuation camp at the Surigao del Sur sports center in Tandag City.

The Philippine Army said it is investigating the presence of six foreigners who joined a recent fact-finding mission that looked into the spate of atrocities against the lumad and would seek to have them deported and banned from returning to the country.

Army spokesman Colonel Benjamin Hao insisted that the mission, organized by human rights and religious organizations, was “fake” and said they were also probing “leftist” groups allegedly distorting the issue of the lumad’s plight.

For months, the military has been under fire over human rights abuses, including killings and the occupation of tribal communities and even schools, by soldiers or state-sanctioned militias that have driven thousands of lumad from their communities.

The military has regularly and openly accused schools set up in lumad communities by nongovernmental organizations of advocating support for communist rebels.

The fact-finding mission Hao complained about, the participants of which included Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Isaagani Zarate, was formed to look into the plight of Manobo in Surigao del Sur, more than 4,000 of whom have been staying at the provincial sports center in Tandag City.

The bulk of the evacuees fled their homes following the September 1 murders of tribal school administrator Emerito Samarca and Manobo leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Bello Sinzo in Lianga town by the Magahat militia, one of sever al paramilitary groups Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel said the Army organized and armed and whose disbanding he has demanded.

The military has denied any links to the militias but has admitted soldiers witnessed the executions of Campos and Sinzo in front of hundreds of their fellow Manobo but did nothing.

"The Army is giving a special attention on the existence of the fake international fact-finding mission composed of six foreign tourists," Hao said.

"If they are found violating our immigration laws, they will be deported and be banned forever in entering our country. The Army is also looking into the legal liability of their cohorts," he added.

Earlier the military identified the foreigners as Jonas Straetsmans of Belgium; Dalkiran Metin and Hans Schaap, both Dutch; Gill Boehringer, a lawyer from Sydney, Australia; and Henry Langston and Philip Calles of Vice News London.

Hao, who has accused the fact-finding mission of “bias,” reiterated accusations that the foreigners’ participation was “illegal” since they did not have the mandate either of the government or international organizations and constituted “interference” in the country’s internal affairs.

However, organizers of the mission earlier said they had requested to interview military officials for their side but had been snubbed.

They singled out the Army’s 402nd Infantry Brigade, which they said refused to entertain mission participants who sought to “engage the military so that they can respond to allegations of human rights violations against their units,” by “asking for irrelevant requirements and mouthing pseudo-patriotic statements.”

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/119765/army-want-foreigners-in-fake-fact-finding-mission-on-lumad-killings-deported