Exploited for long, tribes fight back vs. NPA

From the Philippine News Agency (Aug 14): Exploited for long, tribes fight back vs. NPA

The Indigenous Peoples (IP) in Mindanao lamented the continued killings of their members by communist guerillas, often in the hands of their own tribesmen who have joined the New People’s Army (NPA).

Maj. Ezra Balagtey, Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) spokesman, on Tuesday said the NPA has already killed six IP members in recent weeks within the Eastmincom area.

Eastmincom covers the Caraga region, Davao region, Bukidnon and Cagayan in Region 10, Cotabato, Makilala, South Cotabato, Colombio and Sultan Kudarat in the Socksargen area.

Balagtey said the NPA's continued atrocities against tribal communities haven't gone unnoticed among the Lumads, prompting several tribal groups to gather in Davao City to seek government protection in February this year. Others, he said, have sought refuge in Army camps.

NPA atrocities

IPs, he said, are killed for varying reasons, often for refusal to support the communist movement, or even on suspicion of being government informants. The rebels, he said, are also known to "extort" whatever little food the IPs have in their already impoverished communities.

Tribal Chieftain Eusebio Meniano of Barangay Hinapuyan, Carmen, Surigao del Sur, considers himself luckier compared with what his other kalumonan (kin) have suffered under the NPA.

Meniano was forcibly dragged out of his home on July 24, and was only released by the NPA when the local government offered the rebels food in exchange for the tribal leader's freedom.

Eastmincom reported that the negotiation came after a pursuit operation was undertaken by the Army's 36th Infantry Battalion to rescue the abducted tribal leader.

Lt Gen Benjamin Madrigal Jr., Eastmincom commander,. said the incident "confirms the revelation of former rebels who surrendered before that the NPA rebels are experiencing hardship, where they have no food to eat and that they are always running to evade pursuing troops."

Among the NPA atrocities on IP groups this year, the military said, include the killing of the tribal leader of the Langilang-Manobo tribe and his son, who were shot dead by the NPA inside their home in Barangay Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao del Norte in February.

The victims, Datu Banadjao Mampaundag and his son, Jhonard Mampaundag, were attacked inside their home by the armed men posing as soldiers but were in fact members of the NPA.

Vulnerable, exploited

The incident prompted the tribal leader of the Ata-Manobo tribe Datu Lumansad Sibogan of Talaingod, Davao del Norte, to declare a “pangayaw” or tribal war against the NPA.

Sibogan, presiding officer of the Council of Elders of the Ata-Manobo Tribe in Talaingod, said it was high time for their own tribesmen who are NPA members to stop killing their own relatives.

On April, Councilor Antonio Takinan, 50, the Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) to the Magpet town council, was ambushed by six suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Barangay Tagbac.

According to Balagtey, the vulnerability of the IPs is persistently exploited by the NPA because they are the most accessible source of armed guerilla fighters. Ancestral domains, he added, are also commonly used as guerrilla bases.

Balagtey said the IP Summit in February, in coordination with the Eastmincom, was the beginning of an "IP-centric Community Support Program that is founded on broad-based consultations and engagements with tribal leaders and key stakeholders."

The summit, he said, aims to facilitate the resolution of issues and concerns affecting the IPs--consistent with President Rodrigo Duterte's advocacy of inclusivity and equity.

Reaching out

Amid the NPA atrocities on tribal communities, Balagtey said the government remains resolute in its goal to bring development to IP areas and ensure that the tribes do not become vulnerable to NPA recruitment and influence.

He said the military-led programs for IPs include the allocation of sufficient slots for tribe members into the military, skills training, livelihood programs, scholarships, and housing.

Last year, the Army's 1003rd (Raptr) Brigade in Davao City completed its IP Recruitment System, a special procurement program of the Army intended to optimize the integration of qualified IP members into the Philippine Army.

The IP recruits form part of the Lumad Security and Defense System that will augment regular Army units in securing communities. They belong to the Ata, Klata, Matigsalog, Obo-Manobo and Tagabawa tribes, residing in the districts of Baguio, Marilog, Paquibato and Toril, the areas that had been subjected to brutal subjugation and exploitation by the communist rebels.

The Lumad Security and Defense System will free IPs from the recruitment, oppression and exploitation by the NPA, military officials said.

This year, Balagtey said one of the major breakthroughs was the surrender of the feared tribal leader of the Salugpungan Ta Tanu Inkanugon and the Langilan-Manobo tribe in Talaingod, Davao del Norte.

Datu Gibang Apoga, chieftain of the Langilan-Manobo Tribe, together with the members of his group, signed a peace covenant with government security forces and local officials in a tribal ceremony in the remote village of Nasilaban, Palma Gil, Talaingod in June.

Apoga became a feared tribal leader after leading an armed opposition against the Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) project, a commercial logging operation in mid-1990’s in the ancestral domain. The IFMA would have covered an additional 17,000 hectares within the ancestral domain.

Apoga’s return to Nasilaban was seen as the positive outcome of the military’s continued peace initiatives with different tribal groups in the areas of the Eastmincom.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1044826