SCHOOL DIRECTOR. Salugpongan Ta’Tanu Igkanugon Community Learning Center Incorporated Executive Director Ronnie Garcia decries the threats he got from an alleged army intelligence agent. He said the school and their teachers have been tagged as an NPA school even before he formally started teaching in 2011. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
A Lumad school
administrator accuse the Army of sending intelligence agents to harass him by
“visiting” him and his family.
Ronnie Garcia, executive director of the Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon Community Learning Center (STTICLC) said they saw suspicious men in the Davao Regional Hospital in Barangay Apokon, Tagum City where they were attending to his sick grandfather morning of July 24.
Ronnie Garcia, executive director of the Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon Community Learning Center (STTICLC) said they saw suspicious men in the Davao Regional Hospital in Barangay Apokon, Tagum City where they were attending to his sick grandfather morning of July 24.
Garcia said the men asked his family if he is their
relative. “Even while we were eating, they were around. But what made me
realized that the threat was real is when we saw one of them carry a firearm
tucked in the garter of his shorts,” Garcia said in a press conference on
Thursday at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines Haran compound in
Davao City.
He said a certain Mario Claveria, who identified himself as
intelligence agent of the military, wanted to pay him a visit in their office.
“He wants to visit our office in Salugpungan. He also said
he wants to pay a surprise visit to where I was staying,” Garcia told the
media.
“He really made an effort to talk to my parents,” he said. The 28-year old school director started teaching in Salugpungan Ta
Tanu Igkanugon
Learning Center
campus in Talaingod, Davao
Garcia, who comes from the Mamanwa tribe in Compostela Valley
The Salugpungan Learning Center
Read related story: Army
presence halts Lumad school classes
Garcia said this is the reason why the harassment he
experienced recently is “not an isolated case”, but a systematic attack to
threaten him.
“The threats against our schools started in 2010 when the military
were encamped in the school’s vicinity in Talaingod, Davao del Norte,” he said.
He said there was a point when their school was
indiscriminately fired at for “six consecutive days”. “It happened while I was
teaching our high school class,” he said.
“The bullets did not hit the roof of the school. But the
shots came from the military camp in front of our school, and towards the
vicinity of our campus,” he said.
However, Army
spokesman Capt. Rhyan Batchar of the 10th Infantry Division said they have not
yet received a formal complaint regarding the incident.
“Should he file any
formal complaint, we will be ready to assist (him),” Batchar told Davao
“We shall make formal
investigations and welcome any duly instituted investigating authorities to
conduct a separate investigation against the violator,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.