Advocates report 'harassment' of lumad schools but military decries 'black propaganda'

From InterAksyon (Jun 9): Advocates report 'harassment' of lumad schools but military decries 'black propaganda'

(UPDATE - 12:45 p.m.) Two lumad schools, one in Compostela Valley, the other in Sultan Kudarat province, suspended classes Tuesday after staff and students were allegedly harassed by soldiers, advocates of indigenous people’s education in Mindanao reported.

But officers of the accused military units promptly denied the claims and decried the "black propaganda" by the Save Our Schools Network to "villify the Armed Forces of the Philippines."

According to an alert from SOS, nine soldiers from the 46th Infantry Battalion led by a sergeant surnamed Fernandez entered the compound of the Salugpongan Community Learning Center in Sitio Kidaraan, Special Barangay Mascareg-Anitapan, Mabinia, Compostela Valley around 7 a.m.

SOS said the three teachers “were threatened” and “forced to sign … their names in a notebook” as their photos were taken by the soldiers.

The class suspension in the school affected 15 students, SOS said.

In a separate alert, SOS said a school coordinator and two health workers of the Center for Lumad Advocacy and Services, or CLANS, who together with village officials were heading to their school for the opening of classes in Sitio Lamgawil, Barangay Datalbiao, Columbio, Sultan Kudarat were barred by soldiers of the 39th Infantry Battalion who “threatened and intimidated them.”

“Even the daughter of the tribe’s chieftain, who was supposed to become a teacher, was discouraged by the soldiers,” SOS said.

The SOS chapter in the Socsargen region responded and “rescued” the educators but classes were temporarily suspended.

Reacting to SOS' claim o the Compostela Valley Incident, 46th IB civil-military operations officer Captain Dave Aguilar, said "there is no truth to the report" and noted that classes have yet to begin. He said the soldiers who went to the school were "part of a team of the Brigada Eskuwela."

He also said their troops "would always seek the permission of the barangay officials" when going to the village and would set up hammocks away from houses, the school, village hall, chapel and other civilian structures.

For his part, Captain Danny Boy Tapang, CMO of the 39th IB, said: “Ang gagaling nilang gumawa ng istorya. Walang pagpigil o harassment na nangyari. Kinausap lamang sila ng ating mga sundalo. Sila nga itong nagalit. Hindi pa nagsisimula ang klase doon (They are good at inventing stories. No one was stopped and no harassment happened. Our soldiers only talked to them. They got angry. Classes have not started yet)."

Both officers said their units would be submitting official reports on the incidents.

Several nongovernmental organizations, including a number run by religious, have built and operated schools for indigenous people’s communities throughout Mindanao that have been deprived of such facilities.

However, these schools have invariably been targeted for harassment and even closure by government security forces and militias who accuse the learning institutions and the communities that host them of advocating support for the communist revolutionary movement.

This has led to the evacuation of whole communities of lumad.

Last year saw one of the worst wave of evacuations.

In early 2015, some 700 Manobo from Davao del Norte and Bukidnon seeking sanctuary at the United Church of Christ Haran Mission House in Davao City, where many remain to this day.

But the worst evacuation followed the September 1, 2015 murders in Lianga, Surigao del Sur of Emerito Samarca, administrator of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development, and Manobo leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Bello Sinzo by the Magahat Bagani militia while Army troops looked on from nearby.

The killings prompted thousands of lumad and farmers to seek refuge at the sports center in Surigao del Sur’s capital, Tandag City, where more than 2,000 of them still remain.

http://interaksyon.com/article/128823/military-men-harass-lumad-schools-in-compostela-valley-sultan-kudarat