Tuesday, March 29, 2016

‘Lumad’ holds indignation rally against NPA

From the Philippine New Agency (Mar 29): ‘Lumad’ holds indignation rally against NPA

MALAYBALAY CITY, Bukidnon – About 800 ‘Lumads’ (Indigenous People) held an indignation rally here Tuesday to denounce the atrocities allegedly committed by the New People’s Army (NPA) in the IP communities in the region.

Datu Armando P. Bravo, spokesperson of the Lumad Mindanao Movement for Peace and Development, Inc. (LMMPDI), said that the Lumads were gathered to condemn the NPA atrocities towards the Lumads in Bukidnon on the rebel’s founding anniversary on March 29, 2016.

“We the Lumads in Bukidnon have been suffering from being oppressed and abused by the group of bandits of the Communist Party of the Philippines for the last 47 years", Bravo said in a statement emailed to the local media in Northern Mindanao.

The Lumads came from various ancestral lands in different areas in Bukidnon have gathered in the Plaza Rizal of Malaybalay City to express the apprehension about the oppression and exploitation of the NPA against the IPs, Bravo said.

Bravo also exposed the alleged brazen recruitment and the reported deceptions employed by NPA in the recruitment of the IPs, including minors, to forcibly join the armed insurgency and fight the government.

Aside from the abuses, the NPA also mercilessly killed many Lumads, including the IP leaders, who refused to support the armed struggle of the communist movement.

Bravo cited the killings of Mayor Mario Okinlay, of Impasug-ong, Datu Mambansilan ng Sitio Ulayanon, in Kalabugao, also of Impasug-ong, Datu Melody Delamance ng Cabanglasan, Datu Manhadukan Sandigan also of Cabanglasan, all of towns of the province of Bukidnon.

He said that the LMMPDI wants the government and the military to clear and drive away the NPA rebels in the ancestral lands in the whole province of Bukidnon.

“It is only when the province of Bukidnon is freed from the clutches of the communist rebels that the IPs could live and enjoy lasting peace,” Bravo said.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=871159

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