From InterAksyon (Sep 23):
CHR starts probe of lumad killings as solon bares NICA hand in bid to close tribal schools
The chairman and two other officials of the Commission on
Human Rights are in Davao City to open an inquiry into the continuing lumad
crisis in Mindanao.
Meanwhile, an activist lawmaker bared what he said was the
hand of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and, by extension,
Malacanang in recent attempts to shut down tribal schools openly accused by the
military of advocating support for communist rebels.
Human rights commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit told a media
forum in Quezon City Wednesday that CHR chairman
Jose Luis Gascon flew to Davao
Wednesday morning, joining two other commissioners who left the day before.
They will be meeting with various “stakeholders” as they
look into the September 1 murders of Alternative Learning Center for
Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV) executive director Emerito
Samarca, Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang Sa Sumusunod (MAPASU) chairman
Dionel Campos, and his cousin Datu Bello Sinzo, who were murdered in Han-ayan,
Lianga, Surigao del Sur, by the Magahat tribal militia, although other
reports state said troops from units of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division may
have also been involved or, at the very least did nothing about the killings
happening within their view.
They will also inquire into the August 18 massacre in
Pangantucan, Bukidnon of Manobo clansmen Datu Herminio Samia, a blind 71-year
old, his son Jobert and grandson Norman, and brothers Ramil and Emer, the
latter two minors, who the Army initially claimed were New People’s Army
guerrillas slain in a “legitimate encounter.”
In Davao City, some 700 Manobo from Talaingod, Davao del Norte
have also sought refuge at the Haran Mission House of the United Church of
Christ in the Philippines
after the military and militias occupied their villages and tribal schools.
NICA and the tribal schools
In the House of Representatives, ACT Teachers party-list
Representative Antonio Tinio said it was the Regional Intelligence Committee in
the Davao
region, which he said was organized by NICA, which recommended the closure of
community learning centers of the Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon.
During deliberations on the 2016 budget of the Department of
Education Monday, education officials in Region 11 admitted the plan to close
down the Salugpungan schools and replace these with schools run by
soldiers deployed as “para-teachers” was hatched during a meeting called by the
RIC on April 23.
Soon after the Lianga murders, which triggered the mass
evacuation of up to 3,000 Manobo in Surigao del Sur, the 4th ID also announced
that several troops had been trained to be “alternative learning system”
instructors by the DepEd in Region 10.
Tinio said the NICA’s hand in the attempt to close the
tribal schools indicated that President Benigno Aquio III “must have a direct
hand in the continuing campaign of violence and harassment against schools and
communities of indigenous people” since the agency provides daily intelligence
briefings for the chief executive
NICA is the government’s lead intelligence collection agency
and is directly under the Office of the President. Its director general is the
president’s principal adviser on intelligence.
At the Quezon City forum, Dumpit noted that regional offices
of the CHR have dealt with atrocities against the lumad in the past
but acknowledged that recently, “a series of unfortunate events … all came
almost at the same time.”
“Given the fact that we are not excusing ourselves, we
really lack personnel in the regions. And as you know, we do not have enough
budget to be able to get up and go and send people to the many areas that
require our attention,” she added.
Quoting Gascon, Dumpit said that after a series of
inquiries, the CHR would “give the best and the brightest in a task force that
will take a look at the lumad situation,” adding that he had
promised to address the issues “to the best of our abilities and resources.”
‘The killings are nothing new’
Lilak Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights national
coordinator Judy Pasimio stressed that the killings of lumad did not
begin this year and that one of the “busiest” periods in the murders of
indigenous people under Aquino was in the latter half of 2012.
In September 2012, Subanen timuay (chieftain)
Lucenio Manda and his 11-year old son Jordan were shot on their way to school
in Zamboanga del Sur. Jordan died.
The following month, Juvy Capion and her children Jordan, 13
and John, 8 were massacred by troops of the 27th Infantry Battalion. Another
child, Vicky, 4, was wounded but survived when the soldiers heard B’laan women
hurrying to the Capion residence on hearing the shots.
The military reportedly claimed the incident was a mistake
since they were after Juvy’s husband, Daguil, a B’laan leader who had declared
a pangayaw or tribal war against the intrusion of Sagitarrius Mining’s
Tampakan gold and copper mines into the tribe’s ancestral domain.
In December, Sheryll Ananayo-Pugon was shot in a vehicle in
Nueva Vizcaya. She had been holding her three-month-old John Ezekiel, and the
incident was witnessed by her four-year-old daughter, Samantha.
In January the following year, Kitari Capion, Daguil’s
brother, was killed. Dexter Conde, an Ati of Boracay, was shot dead in March.
In September 2014, Datu Sandigan, a Higaonon of Cagayan De
Oro, was shot dead. The following month, Timuay Arig was also killed while
going home from a fiesta with his wife and two sons in Maguindanao.
Pasimio cited KAMP (National Federation of Indigenous
Peoples) data that showed over 68 indigenous people had been killed since 2010,
with all the murders having some things in common: The victim and their
families were actively involved in the defense of their ancestral domain, many
of them against large-scale mining. All were tagged rebels or sympathizers of
the New People’s Army.
And the violence is not confined to the physical.
The militiamen who carried out the Lianga murders warned the
residents of Han-ayan to leave within two days or face the same fate. This
triggered the mass evacuation of Manobo communities in five towns of Surigao
del Sur that saw 3,000 lumad taking refuge at the sports center in the
provincial capital Tandag
City, where they are
exposed to the fickle weather and where many sleep on cement floors.
At least one child, Reynabel Enriquez, a four-year-old
Manobo girl, died of asthma. She was buried the same day Campos and Sinzo were. Many of the Tandag
evacuees have also taken ill.
Another Manobo girl, 14, was allegedly raped by three
soldiers. She was among the 700 Manobos who fled Talaingod, Davao del Norte.
‘Investment defense forces’
Aside from the military and the militias they create,
private firms, especially those from extractive industries, whose operations
often target the resource-rich ancestral lands of indigenous people, are
allowed by law to fund their own “investment defense force,” essentially
private security forces deputized as militias.
This is the case in Oriental Mindoro where the Alangan
Mangyan oppose the Sta. Clara mini-hydro plant as well as the Norwegian
large-scale mining operation of Intex Resources, called the Mindoro Nickel
Project, within their tribal land, and in Tampakan, where the Capion family was
massacred.
The result, said Pasimio, is the growing phenomenon of
“investment refugees,” who flee their homes because of militarization
instigated by the intrusion of mining and logging interests in their
communities.
She said that such investments, instead of developing and
providing economic growth for communities, were in truth pushing people out of
their homes and noted that many more violations of indigenous peoples’ rights
are happening, but because of their isolation, they are not always able to
report these.
Pasimio called for the disbanding and disarming of
paramilitary groups and blasted the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples,
which she said is pushing itself into “irrelevance.”
DepEd’s admission
Under questioning by Tinio, Josephin Fadul, superintendent
of the Davao del Norte schools division, confirmed that intelligence officers
of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command attended the April 23 meeting
convened by the RIC.
It was Fadul who, on May 12, wrote Region 11 Director
Alberto Escobarte urging the closure of the Salugpungan schools.
In her letter, she said: “Should this request for the
closure of said schools be granted, in its stead, this Division requests
permission to implement the creation of a public high school in Butay,
Talaingod utilizing military personnel as para-teachers as has been previously
discussed and agreed upon during our meeting with the Regional Intelligence
Committee at NEAP last 23 April 2015.”
"This is a significant disclosure by Superintendent
Fadul," Tinio noted. "It belies the statements made by top officials
of the AFP, led by chief of staff General Hernando Iriberri during their own
budget hearing that the military played no role in calling for the closure of
the lumad schools.”
“Clearly, they were present and actively involved in
planning the school closures and in suggesting that their soldiers be assigned
as para-teachers,” he added. “In short, AFP officials lied to Congress. Their
game plan is obviously to deny everything and claim that the violence against lumad
schools is part of an alleged tribal war."
“The key role played by the NICA, an agency directly under
the Office of the President, in summoning DepEd Region 11 officials and
hatching the plan to close down the Salugpungan schools in Davao del
Norte establishes the direct hand of the President in orchestrating and
coordinating the ongoing campaign of vilification, harassment, and violence
targeting the lumad schools in Mindanao," Tinio said.
"This explains why Malacañang paid mere lip-service and
(has) taken no effective action to put an end to the extrajudicial killing
spree against lumad leaders and the occupation of schools by the
military. Malacañang can no longer feign ignorance, wash its hands, nor pretend
to conduct an investigation. The campaign against lumads apparently has the
sanction of the President," he added.
Tinio vowed to question NICA regarding its role in the
campaign against lumad schools when ghe agency’s budget is deliberated
by Congress.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/117923/chr-starts-probe-of-lumad-killings-as-solon-bares-nica-hand-in-bid-to-close-tribal-schools
