IP leader says Reds real human rights violatiors

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 19, 2021): IP leader says Reds real human rights violatiors (By Che Palicte)

The Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Council of Elders and Leaders (MIPCEL) warned its fellow IP members on Saturday not to fall victim to the recruitment of the so-called bakwit (evacuee) schools and their affiliates run by communist terrorist groups (CTGs), particularly the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

In a statement, Datu Lipatuan Joel Unad, chairperson of MIPCEL, condemned the CPP-NPA-NDF as the real human rights and international humanitarian law violators.

“For had they not organized these Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (MAPASU) and schools like Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS), there would be no IP youths recruited by the NPA,” he said.

He cited an encounter on June 16, 2021 that resulted in the death of three Manobo tribe members, one of them a 12-year-old girl in Surigao del Sur, a student of TRIFPSS.

Unad said the continuous recruitment of the Manobo youth in Liangga, Surigao del Sur resulted in the demise of IP communities.

It was also the same area where Jevilyn (alias Ka Reb), the daughter of Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Eufemia Cullamat and a former pupil of TRIFPSS, died in an encounter with the military in November last year.

“This is not an extraordinary case that a 12-year-old recruited in the NPA from among the ranks of a student from TRIFPSS. We had always warned that the radicalization of IP children who were pupils of the TRIFPSS will ultimately result in recruitment to the NPA,” he added.

“We are therefore echoing our call and warning for the IPs of Mindanao to expose and oppose these organizations under KALUMARAN (Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao), MAPASU, and training camps like TRIFPSS. They support and advance the armed revolution that had caused so much suffering to the IPs in Mindanao,” he said.

MAPASU is an organization under KASALO (Kahugpungan sa Lomadnong Organisasyon sa Caraga), organized and led by the CTGs under the North Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee and its underground mass organization is the Rebolusyonaryong Organisadong Lumad, a member organization of NDF, Unad said.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1144263