Arson at Davao lumad sanctuary 'self-inflicted'? Army thinks so

From InterAksyon (Feb 26): Arson at Davao lumad sanctuary 'self-inflicted'? Army thinks so



A lumad child with burn injuries from the arson at the UCCP Haran Mission House in Davao City. (photo from Defend Talaingod Save Pantaron Facebook page)

The fire at a United Church of Christ in the Philippines compound in Davao City that has been the refuge for hundreds of lumad fleeing atrocities in their communities could have been set to gain more “sympathy” and “donations” for the evacuees and discredit the military, the Army claimed.

Five persons, including children, were injured in what the Bureau of Fire and Protection has confirmed was arson. The early morning blaze at the Haran Mission House damaged tents set up by the refugees although the worst damage was to a dormitory that housed student boarders from nearby schools.

The refugees, from Davao del Norte and Bukidnon, said three men first poured gasoline on the canvas roofs of tents then threw a torch on these. Minutes later, an explosion sparked the blaze that razed the dormitory on the other side of the Haran compound.

The lumad, who fled their communities last year after state security forces and military-backed militias occupied their villages and tribal schools that the government has openly accused of advocating support for communist rebels, said they suspect militiamen of setting the blaze.

However, hours after the fire, Colonel Cristobal Zaragoza, commander of the military’s Task Force Davao, told media there: “Perhaps ‘di kaya orchestrated nila ‘yun just to gain another attention or gain sympathy para du’n sa mga donors nila ay magbigay lalo kasi nasunog ‘yung Haran (Perhaps they orchestrated it just to gain more attention and sympathy so their donors would give more because Haaran was burned)?”

He also voiced the military’s oft-repeated claims, earlier debunked by United Nations special rapporteur Cheloka Beyani, that the refugees are being kept against their will, saying: “‘Yung mga nasa loob ng Haran eh parang nakakulong ‘yung mga ‘yan. ‘Yung iba gusto nang kunin ng mga kamag-anak nila pero hindi nire-release d’yan sa loob ng Haran (Those inside Haran are like prisoners. The relatives of some want to take them back but they will not be released from Haran).”

And on Friday, the Army’s 4th Infantry “Diamond” Division, whose troops have been implicated in atrocities in northern Mindanao, among these the massacre of a Manobo elder and four relatives, two of them minors, in Pangantucan, Bukidnon last August, issued a statement calling the Haran arson a “ploy of the Left” and repeated the claim that the lumad are “manipulated” by so-called rebel “front” groups.

The Cagayan de Oro-based unit said the allegations raised over the Haran blaze had been “orchestrated by CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front) front and allied organizations.”

It cited as proof the continued call by “lumad evacuees exploited by the Left” for the military to pull out of their ancestral communities.

The 4th ID claimed the Haran arson bore “an uncanny similarity” to the torching of the Sibagat, Agusan del Sur campus of the award-winning Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development in November last year, as well as the attempted burning of another tribal school run by the Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation Inc. in Barangay White Kulaman in Kitaotao, Bukidnon.

ALCADEV is the tribal high school whose administrator, Emerito Samarca, was murdered together with Manobo leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Bello Sinzo by the military-backed Magahat militia in Lianga, Surigao del Sur on September 1 last year, triggering the evacuation of up to 4,000 lumad, many of whom remain at the sports center in Tandag City.

In the wake of the burning at the Sibagat school, the 4th ID issued a statement accusing journalist Inday Espina-Varona, who had reposted alerts about the incident from human rights groups on social media, of “being in cahoots” with the arsonists, citing the “speed” with which the incident was reported by news outfits, including InterAksyon.com, which was one the first to do so.

The MISFI school in Kitaotao, on the other hand, was forced to shut down after residents led by officials of Barangay White Culaman and, according to teachers, soldiers occupying the village, who threatened the faculty and students and ordered them to leave. This has been confirmed by the Kitaotao local government, which mounted an investigation.

The 4th ID statement claimed the “propaganda” generated by the Haran fire “would ensure the issues on lumad schools and the lumad killings be kept alive utilizing the different medias (sic),” in order to “rally support from unwary public (sic).”

The National Union of Students of the Philippines blasted the military’s claims but said this was “expected” since it was the military who "created and funded the paramilitary units responsible for these attacks.”

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/124566/arson-at-davao-lumad-sanctuary-self-inflicted-army-thinks-so