Irinnews/Davao
Kailo Bontulan sat in front of a cluster of thatched bamboo huts next to a
humble Protestant church in Davao , a city on the
southern Philippine island
of Mindanao
About 700
members of his indigenous community fled there almost a year ago following
deadly attacks by paramilitary groups.
“In the camp I feel safe. The army can’t abduct me that easy, like back home where I can disappear without a trace,” said the community leader. “Here we are together and strong, and able to tell the world what is done to us by the army.”
Bontulan spoke too soon. Weeks later, on 24 February, unidentified men set the makeshift camp on fire, burning two buildings to the ground and injuring five people.
The United Church of Christ in the
“The threats have been executed, and, once again, the Lumads have been harmed,” the church said.
The Lumads find themselves caught in the middle of a violent struggle between an array of armed groups. The Philippine Army is battling the New People’s Army, which has waged a Maoist guerrilla struggle since 1969. The government army has allegedly drawn on indigenous communities to form paramilitary groups, which are accused of some of the worst abuses.
After a 1 September attack allegedly committed by the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary group that killed three indigenous leaders in the town of
The UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Chaloka Beyani, has expressed concern about links between the army and paramilitaries. The Philippine human rights group Karapatan says it has documented the relationship between the military and the Alamara, another
Military officials routinely deny such allegations.
But the circumstantial evidence is so strong that former justice secretary Leila de Lima announced last September an investigation into violence against Lumads and promised to probe the role of “paramilitary groups”, which are by definition connected to the army.
Since that statement, however, the ministry has released no further information about the investigation, and de Lima was replaced in January. Officials at the Justice Ministry did not respond to phone calls or e-mails.
There is an economic element to the plight of
The church said: “The Lumads live in mineral rich areas coveted by foreign mining companies. There is massive militarisation in these areas to protect foreign mining interests.”
It is a common enough allegation, but it’s hard to prove a direct connection between the individual acts of violence and mining interests.
However, anti-mining activists like Bontulan often receive death threats from members of the military. “They told a family member they would skin me alive if they ever saw me again in the village,” he told IRIN.
Bontulan takes the warning seriously. Targeted killings are common in
On 9 February, two Lumads were killed and others wounded in
Local media quoted an army spokesman saying the bombardment occurred during a battle with the NPA, but Karapatan denied that NPA elements were in the area at the time and accused the army of indiscriminately bombing the village. IRIN requested comment from the army on this incident and its alleged support for paramilitaries, but a spokesman did not reply before publication.
Karapatan also documented the extrajudicial killings of four people in
Despite the continuous attacks, indigenous leaders say they will not be driven from their lands.
Sabello Tatay Bello Tindasan, a CFA member, fled to
In January, Tindasan decided to return home despite the risks. Standing by his house, which is still pockmarked by gunfire, he told IRIN: “This is my ancestral land. It belonged to my father and it will belong to my son. I have no other choice than to stay and defend it.”
There seems to be little doubt that there is a level of violence resembling a civil war among lumad or hill tribe groups in many areas of Mindanao but especially in East/Northeast Mindanao.
ReplyDeleteThe Philippine military has been engaged in a two-pronged effort to end the insurgency in the NPA controlled lumad areas of Mindanao. It has sought to clear these areas of NPA forces through the deployment/use of regular military units as well as local militia units. At the same time the military has conducted local economic development projects and sought to deliver basic social services under its Bayanihan program.
This effort has been met with stiff resistance by local New People's Army (NPA)-affiliated lumad elemets who have sought to undermine military effort and retain access to the revenues derived from the ongoing mining operations in these lumad areas.
The result has been a constant level of violence to include ambushes, assassinations, tit-for-tat murders, etc. between those associated with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-linked NPA and those who side with the government and the Philippine military.
The struggle between these forces has included intense propaganda/disinformation campaigns carried out by above-ground/legal CPP front organizations such as the Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights (KARAPATAN) and the Compostela Farmers Association (CFA) both of which are cited in the article above.
Given the ideological orientation of these front groups and their not so hidden agenda, any allegations of human rights abuses leveled by them against the Philippine military are highly suspect and should be given close scrutiny by non-partisan outside organizations.