Tambuli tu Kalinow, Paneytow tu Kahusoy

In response to the statements of the 402nd Infantry Brigade (AFP) and Manifesto of NCIP tribal chieftains in San Miguel

Last October 26-30, 2015 participants to the International Fact Finding Mission (IFFM) in Surigao del Sur went to Lumad communities in Surigao del Sur to look into the situation of communities affected by the September 1 Lianga massacre and subsequent massive evacuations due to human rights abuses committed by AFP units and paramilitary bandit groups which started in August and continues until present time.

Accompanied by community members and Lumad leaders, a delegation of more than 140 participants, including six participants from the UK, Belgium, The Netherlands and Australia, visited Han-ayan, Km. 16, Panukmoan and Manluy-a in Brgy. Diatagon, Lianga; Magkahunaw in Brgy. Buhisan, San Agustin; Brgy. Mahaba in Marihatag; Brgys. Carromata and Bolhoon in San Miguel, all in Surigao del Sur. IFFM teams interviewed community members, teachers of Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS) and Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV), victims and witnesses to the killings and forcible evacuation and local government unit (LGU) officials in Lianga, Barobo, San Agustin, Marihatag, San Miguel and Tago along with the Provincial LGU officials, PNP representatives and public prosecutors in Surigao del Sur. The participants were able to document statements pertaining to human rights violations, military and paramilitary involvement in these HRVs, along with the present conditions of the affected communities.

Instead of participating in the search for the truth, the AFP units in Surigao del Sur have vilified the IFFM and questioned the participation of foreign nationals in the mission. 6 days before the scheduled interviews, appointments were personally made by some of the letters’ signatories and IFFM convenors for audiences with each of the commanding officers of the 36th IBPA, 75th IBPA and the 402nd Brigade which they instantly refused to officially receive. Col. Purisima said that DFA clearance for the foreign participants in the mission was required before they could talk with the IFFM delegation. In the press statement released by the 402nd Brigade on October 26, they argued “foreign intervention” and went so far as to declare the IFFM as “an affront to national sovereignty” and “illegal”.

In an effort to engage the military so that they can respond to allegations of human rights violations against their units, the IFFM still went to the 402nd Brigade Headquarters in Tandag City on the appointed time, but they have chosen to justify their refusal by asking for irrelevant requirements and mouthing pseudo-patriotic statements.

A manifesto signed by Jimmy “Datu Momos” Guinsod, Rizal “Datu Manjobat” Maca and Rico “Datu Alinghian-III” Maca, all of San Miguel, was also issued vilifying the organizers of the IFFM and the IFFM itself. The three are claiming to be “legitimate datus” as they were declared datu by the NCIP. Rico Maca, the NCIP Municipal Chieftain in San Miguel was among the so-called datus that were presented by the military to the media in their September 15 press conference in Camp Aguinaldo to exonerate the AFP from involvement in the September 1 massacre of Emerito Samarca, Dionel Campos and Datu Bello Sinzo. They also accompanied the military during the Senate Inquiry in Tandag City last October 1 and 2. This clearly shows their bias.

Contrary to the allegations in their statement, the IFFM was able to talk with tribal elders and some NCIP recognized leaders in San Miguel who shared information linking the armed paramilitary leader Calpet Egua with the AFP.

The Manifesto claimed that the IFFM is “biased” as it mainly interviewed members and leaders of Kapunongan sa Mag-uuma sa Surigao del Sur (KAMASS), Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumsunod (MAPASU), ALCADEV and TRIFPSS. How can the IFFM not interview them when the leaders of these organizations ,if not the organizations themselves, are the victims of grave human rights violations? Dionel Campos was the MAPASU chairperson while Datu Juvello Sinzo was a member when they were killed. Emerito Samarca was the executive director of ALCADEV and he was killed in the very school building he helped establish. The victims of human rights abuses committed in the course of military operations and crimes of the paramilitary groups are members of MAPASU and KAMASS. The schools burned and constantly vilified are those run by TRIFPSS and ALCADEV.

Clearly the statements of the 402nd Brigade and Col. Purisima of the AFP and the manifesto of these so-called “legitimate” lumad leaders aim to discredit the individuals and organizations who participated in the mission to preempt the findings of the IFFM. The issuance of these statements right at the beginning of the mission is part of the systematic AFP campaign to attack the victims and their organizations, vilify them and their friends so that the inhuman acts of murder, harassment, divestment of property and dignity, as well as the suppression of information and lack of transparency in the status of official investigations and plans by law enforcement agencies, can be justified.

The statements of the AFP and their cohorts in the NCIP show their desperation to make the public believe in the alternate reality that the AFP has concocted regarding the Surigao del Sur Lumad crisis. But the truth is glaring and the IFFM validated the grave human rights violations committed by the AFP, their involvement in the creation, arming and use of paramilitary bandit forces in the counter-insurgency campaign in Surigao del Sur and the mining interest behind the continuing military operations at present.

The truth is out and no distortion of the truth can exonerate the Aquino III administration and the AFP, particularly the 75th IB and 402nd Brigade under Col. Isidro Purisima, of their accountability in the Lianga massacre and the current forcible evacuation in Surigao del Sur.

References:
Bishop Modesto Villasanta, UCCP
09286920141

Rt. Rev. Rhee Timbang, IFI
09209627420

Fr. Fortunato Estillore, DCT
09101601996

Families of the desaparecidos, or victims of enforced disappearances, once again gathered on All Souls’ Day to pay tribute to their loved ones and reiterate their demand for justice.

“With no tombs where to light candles and offer flowers, we tirelessly gather every year to remember the disappeared. But we shall not mourn in silence because there are persons in authority who should be haunted by their crimes against the disappeared, their families, and the Filipino people,” said Lorena Santos, secretary general of the group Desaparecidos, or Families of the Disappeared for Justice.

At the camp-out of the Manilakbayan ng Mindanao 2015 in Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila, however, the relatives of the disappeared since the Marcos martial law era to the present Aquino regime lit candles and offered flowers amid the photographs of their missing kin. It was their expression of solidarity with the Lumad and the people of Mindanao who have borne the brunt of the AFP counter-insurgency operations in recent months.

Almost 700 farmers and Lumad from Mindanao are in Manila to raise their voices against the worst attacks on their rights, including killings and enforced disappearances and the destruction of their schools and communities due to intensified military operations.

“For adding 26 more persons to the list of the missing, Pres. Aquino must be haunted by the desaparecidos’ cry for justice,” claimed Santos. Hundreds have been politically abducted under the previous regimes and are missing to this day.

“Enforced disappearance remains as a policy of the Aquino government in consonance with Oplan Bayanihan. Together with extrajudicial killings, torture, and forced evacuation, enforced disappearances are most felt by our Lumad brothers and sisters,”  stressed Santos.

Of the 26 victims of enforced disappearance under Aquino — as of September 30, according to Karapatan, 10 are from Mindanao. Three of the 10 are Moro, while two are Lumad.

The latest victim is John Calaba, a Manobo and anti-mining activist from Saranggani province, who was last seen on April 30, 2015. He was lured in the guard post of the David M. Consunji, Inc. (DMCI) premises and never came out. Witnesses claim having heard gunshots afterwards. Calaba actively opposed DMCI operations in his community.

The alleged DMCI takeover of the Manobo land started a decade ago.  But in 2014, they were able to reclaim it and started planting coffee. DMCI came back and destroyed what they Lumad had cultivated.

DMCI guards are trained by the AFP and are recruited into the Special Civilian Auxiliary Army (SCAA).

“From north to south, families of the disappeared cry out for justice. And the fact that almost half of those who disappeared during the Aquino regime come from Mindanao shows that the policy of abducting and disappearing persons have intensified in the island,” explained Santos.

Santos further said that “the Lumad and the people of Mindanao are on target owing to their staunch opposition against large-scale mining and other projects that plunder their ancestral domain. “

Desaparecidos has slammed the Aquino government for riding roughshod over the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law in spite of the persistent struggle of families and rights advocates to provide a legal remedy for political abduction one of the worst human rights violations on record, and are widely believed to have been perpetrated by state security forces.

Reference:
Lorena Santos
Desaparecidos secretary general
+639088121982

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KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights

Berlin, 1 November 2015

Dear President Aquino:

It is with a very deep solicitude that I am writing this letter on behalf of my organization – Human Rights Matter (HRM) – which is based in Berlin, Germany – working to defend, with full of dedication and ardor, the rights of Human Rights Defenders, victims of torture, Human Rights within the Armed Forces and LGBTQI all over the world.

We are seriously concerned on the unrelenting violations such as extra-judicial killings and attacks perpetrated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the paramilitary forces on the Lumad villages and schools mainly in the conflict prone regions of Mindanao particularly those attacks which have taken place in Lianga, Surigao del Sur, against prominent Lumad educational leaders and defenders.

It has come to our attention that the Philippine government has continued overlooking such unbearable destruction of the various economic, social, civil and political rights of the people both at the community and individual levels and the saddening prevalence of injustice and impunity

The recent massacre of Lito Abion, Dionel Campos, Bellos Sinzo, and Emerito Samarca together with the May 26 undignified killing of the Calago couple are among the cases emblematic of such situation, apart from the individual attacks on human rights defenders, continuing massive forced dislocations, harassment, threats, closing of schools, and other attacks on Lumad communities in Southern Philippines. Just recently on October 1, 2015, nearly a thousand individuals had to flee again from their homes in Marihatag, Surigao del Sur because of the threats by the paramilitary groups. It is a disturbing trend to see how the AFP and its paramilitary groups seem to continue to intimidate and harass the Lumad communities and the human rights defenders who work for their protection. It is clear that presence of such armed groups are only exacerbating the problem.

Human Rights Matter, therefore, strongly urges and calls for immediate actions to be taken to stop such violations. Accordingly, we request you – as Commander-in-Chief and as the Head of the government of the Philippines to:

1. Immediately form a truly impartial, independent and autonomous as well as responsible panel – composed of all the relevant stakeholders – to investigate the situation, identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
2. To send an official invitation to UN Special Rapporteurs, specifically the UN experts on extrajudicial/arbitrary killings, on indigenous peoples, and on the rights of human rights defenders, to allow them to conduct independent investigations in the Philippines in order to ensure that such results of their independent investigations reach the international community.
3. As any military and security force is meant to serve the nation and not the regime in power, we strongly insist on the removal of all the army force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the Lumad communities in Mindanao, and to do away with paramilitary groups such as Magahat/Bagani Forces as the alleged perpetrators of such violence.
4. To end immediately the counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan which victimizes the very people it should aim to protect.
5. Finally we would like to remind and urge your government to re-enforce its international and regional human rights obligations and constitutional based standards in protecting the diversified economic, social and political interests of its people.

Sincerely,

Linda Aguilar

Cc: Department of Justice Secretary: Leila M. de Lima; Department of National Defense Secretary: Ret. Lt. Gen. Voiltaire T. Gazmin; Commission on Human Rights Chairperson: Jose Luis Martin Gascon; Chair of Justice and Human Rights Committee Senator of Philippine Senate: Aquilino Pimentel III; Chairperson, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples: Atty. Leonor T. Oralde-Quintayo; Chair, of House of Representatives Human Rights Committee: Rep. Guillermo Romarate Jr.; Chair, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples: Leonor T. Oralde-Quintayo; Governor, Province of Agusan del Sur

Linda Aguilar
LL.M. International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
Executive Director
Human Rights Matter
Trautenaustr. 5, 10717 Berlin, Germany
Office phone +49.30.54887426
aguilar@humanrightsmatter.org
www.humanrightsmatter.org