Military decries foreign tourists' 'intervention' in IPs issue

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 2): Military decries foreign tourists' 'intervention' in IPs issue

The military on Monday cried foul over the alleged intervention of foreign tourists into the ongoing probe on the killings of the Indigenous People (IP) in Mindanao.

Capt. Joe Patrick Martinez, spokesperson of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division here, said that the acts of the foreign tourists showed disrespect of the country’s sovereignty.

Martinez 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.

He said that Fr. Fortunato Estillore, Diocesan Priest; Bishop Rhee Timbang of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI); Sister Stella Matutina, a Benedictine nun; Fr. Modesto Villasanta of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP); and Ms. Rosanilla Consad, have reportedly invited the foreign tourists in the ongoing investigation about the killings of Lumads in Northern Mindanao.

“Aside from failing to ask an authority from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the foreign tourists were also invited by the group who have accused the military of killing the IPs,” Martinez said.

He said that the foreign tourists also violated the Lumad Free and Prior Informed Consent, which demonstrates a mockery of the IP Rights (IPRA) Law.

The purported investigation conducted by these unwanted groups did not even touch the brazen murder of IPs leaders, particularly the reported killings of 357 Lumads allegedly by the communist New People’s Army (NPA), Martinez said.

He also said that the foreigners did not investigate the killings of other Lumads such as that of Loreto town mayor Dario Otaza, Datu Cadoy Sulhayan of Imbahandi, Nasipit and Datu Sandigan of Talaandig Tribe of La Paz, all of Agusan Del Sur.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=822446