Mindanao groups demand Aquino to stop attacks on Lumad schools; revoke DepEd memo 221

From the periodically pro-CPP Bicol Today (Dec 10): Mindanao groups demand Aquino to stop attacks on Lumad schools; revoke DepEd memo 221 



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SURIGAO DEL SUR – The Save our Schools Network (SOS) – an alliance of different child’s rights advocates, people’s organization, religious and academic institutions, and individuals – calls the government to act as many of the schools in Lumad communities were either closed or destroyed.

As one of the lead convenors of Manilakbayan ng Mindanao, SOS reiterates the call for the Aquino administration to put a stop to the attacks on Lumad schools and communities.

According to Rius Valle, SOS Network spokesperson for Mindanao, there are 22 out of 162 lumad schools in Mindanao that were closed or classes were suspended due to military harassment and encampment of their schools and communities.

Military operations

Military operations and encampment have resulted to 6,000 Lumad affected by forcible evacuation and displacement from September to November 2015 alone.

“Despite of the concern and sympathy from the public over the killing of a Lumad school executive director and Lumad leaders, there is no let-up in the military operations for the closure of lumad schools. The military not only continued, but has become more bolder in their attacks against Lumad community and people,” said Valle.

Valle added that after the September 1 massacre in Lianga, Surigao del Sur, 18 lumad schools run by the Tribal Filipino Program in Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS) and Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV) were forcibly closed-down as 3,000 Lumad evacuated to Tandag City.

In a report of the recently -held International Fact-Finding Mission in Surigao del Sur dated November 9, 2015, it was stated that out of 18 schools affected, one (1) TRIFPSS school was totally scorched along with several houses, while two (2) were partially burned. A teachers’ cottage of  ALCADEV was also burned down last November 10, 2015 in Barangay Padiay, Sibagat, Agusan del Sur.

Lumad schools burned, closed

In Southern Mindanao region, several Lumad schools in Kitaotao, Bukidnon, Talaingod, Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley were also burned down and forced to stop classes due to military encampment:

• Three (3) schools in Talaingod and Kapalong Davao del Norte were forced to stop their classes in June this year and were forced to resume in an evacuation camp in Davao City;
• Another four (4) Lumad schools have been subjected to different forms of military attacks from October to December;
• In mid-November two (2) lumad schools in different communities of Barangay Palma Gil in Talaingod were forced to stop classes and evacuate the community due to the presence of paramilitary group Alamara;
• In Compostela, the Salugpongan School and their homes were abandoned by the Matigsalog tribe in Purok 4B, Barangay Mangayon due to the encampment of 66^thInfantry Battalion in front of the school and along community houses.

Valle added that while the Lumad leaders of Kitaotao, Bukidnon were in Manila for the Manilakbayan protest caravan from October to November, 24 students of their Lumad school, Fr. Fausto Tentorio Memorial School, were forced to flee as the school was forcibly closed and was demolished by the village chief Felipe Cabugnason along with the 8^th Infantry Battalion.

Valle also slammed the connivance by different government agencies and local government units with the military in perpetrating these attacks.

Government conspiracy: military, Malacanang, DepEd, related agencies

He added that under the Aquino adminstration’s Oplan Bayanihan, several government agencies were used to suppress Lumad schools.

Instead of supporting community-initiated lumad schools, the Department of Education (DepEd) complements Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Letter Directive 25 through the issuance of DepEd Memo 221, which allows and legitimizes military presence in schools and other public places.
Other agencies such as the National Commission on Indigenous People and the local government units also kowtow to the military in its implementation of counter-insurgency program by red-tagging the lumad schools and its teachers as well as the community leaders who head the schools.

Valle also reports that in Southern Mindanao, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process (OPAPP) have been actively participating in military operations aside from complementing military psy-war tactics by providing conditional cash programs to Lumad communities.

Lumad struggle to continue

Valle said that the success of the Manilakbayan ng Mindanao rest on the people who sympathized and supported the campaign of the Lumad people to stop government attacks on their schools.
Aside from donations received, Valles urged support groups to also push the government to revoke its counter-insurgency policies that affects the Lumad people.

“For the sake of the Lumad children and the future of the Lumad community, we urge those who were reached by our campaign to help rebuild Lumad schools that were burned and forced to close down, actively call for the revocation of DepEd Memo 221 and campaign for a stop to military operations in Lumad areas,’ said Valle.

http://bicoltoday.com/2015/12/10/mindanao-groups-demand-aquino-to-stop-attacks-on-lumad-schools-revoke-deped-memo-221/