http://www.karapatan.org/AFP+told%3A+Call+it+by+whatever+name%2C+it%E2%80%99s+still+combat+operations+vs+Lumad+schools

“Obviously, the AFP would not admit that it is in Talaingod, Davao del Norte for combat operations. It needs to cover up the abuses it has committed, especially the elements of the 68th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army, against the Lumad schools, the teachers and pupils,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.

Karapatan said the reply of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on the complaint against its operating units in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, is expected. Despite several reported incidents of encampment in and looting of schools, harassment of pupils and teachers, and indiscriminate firing near the school grounds, the AFP said they are in the community to “conduct peace and development activities”.

“The military and its paramilitary unit, the ALAMARA, particularly targets Lumad schools that were built through the initiative of the indigenous people’s organizations in the locality and were supported by the Church and other advocacy groups here and abroad. The government may be piqued because these schools speak of government incompetence and neglect,” added Palabay.

On November 6, leaders of the Salugpungan Ta Tanu’ Igkanogon Community Learning Center, Inc. had a dialogue with the 1003rd Brigade to impress on the military the need to pull-out their troops from the community.  But after the dialogue, the military stayed on and even put up a camp in the center of the village in Nasilaban.

Last month, in October, several incidents of indiscriminate firing committed by elements of the 68th Infantry Battalion were reported. Once, bullets were fired into the goats’ shed, which is within the school grounds. The soldiers’ camp was directly across the school. Such incidents resulted in the suspension of classes in Nasilaban community.

In March and April this year, Manobo and peasants from the Pantaron Range were forced to leave their community due to the heavy military presence that resulted in a series of abuses and rights violations.  In Barangay (village) Dagohoy, for example, the military interrogated nine students and one teacher for two hours whom they met along the road.

Under the BS Aquino regime, there are 52 documented cases of attacks on schools, with at least 2,722 children victims.  “Though the incidents are rampant in Mindanao, there are also reported cases in the Cordillera region,” said Palabay.

Since the establishment of STTICLCI in 2007, it has provided free education to Manobo youth through their nine elementary schools and two high schools. “With this success, the STTICLCI has earned the ire of the government and the AFP, branding it as NPA school. School rooms and teaching aids were destroyed, and the teachers and pupils subjected to red tagging and interrogation,” said Palabay.

The STTICLCI, with the Save our Schools Network (SOS), has lodged complaints to the regional office of the Department of Education in Davao City.  Some 13 Lumad students of the Salugpungan are now in Metro Manila for a cultural caravan “Og Iskwela Puron” (To school I wish) to call attention about the on-going military operations in their communities and to gather support for their call for military pull-out so they may continue their studies.

Reference:
Cristina “Tinay” Palabay
Secretary General
+63917-3162831

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

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PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
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Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
2nd Flr. Erythrina Building
#1 Maaralin corner Matatag Streets
Central District, Diliman
Quezon City, PHILIPPINES 1101
Telefax: (+63 2) 4354146
Web: http://www.karapatan.org

KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties.  It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign. 

Statement of Hustisya on the 1st year commemoration of Supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan)

Hustisya (Victims United for Justice) is one in solidarity with the survivors of supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in demanding justice today, one year after the strongest typhoon hit the Eastern and some parts of Western Visayas o the Philippines.

We demand justice, as we stand firm that the Aquino government is guilty of criminal neglect. Pres. Noynoy Aquino bragged that the government is prepared for the coming disaster, but later justified its ineptness amid the overwhelming destruction wrought by the supertyphoon . The Aquino government declared a “state of national calamity” four days after, only when the people have been too desperate for food, water and shelter. More lives were lost and put in danger in the coming days, while government agencies were ready making different excuses why help did not reach the people on time.

We hold the Aquino government accountable for the massive loss of lives and the absence of much-needed relief and rehabilitation. The people looked for ways to survive while enduring the pain and sudden loss. Various cause-oriented individuals and groups, both locally and internationally have set foot in the areas affected, way earlier than the government, way much earlier than Pres. Aquino himself. The national government, that should have the means, the resources and machinery for disaster response, was quick to pass the blame.

If there was one disaster that the people suffered from in the event of supertyphoon Yolanda, it is the inutility, inaction and outright callousness of the Aquino government.

We are enraged that the approval of the rehabilitation plan for areas affected by supertyphoon was only signed shortly a week before the first year commemoration of the supertyphoon. Meanwhile, the Aquino government was quick to allow the entry of multinationals and local compradors and landlords in the affected areas in a matter of months after the supertyphoon. Big businesses have begun dividing the affected provinces among themselves, using “rehabilitation” as a way to pursue their interests of business and profit. Pres. Aquino not just showed his inutility and callousness to the needs of the victims – he showed whose interests he favors.

The survivors of typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) continue to rise up. They continue to muster strength after the disaster, not just to rebuild their lives and livelihood, but to hold accountable a government that is not worth staying another day in power.

We enjoin everyone to echo the call for justice.

Justice for victims of typhoon Yolanda!
Justice for victims of criminal neglect!
Noynoy Aquino, waray pulos! Patalsikon!

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Hustisya National Office
2/F #1 Maaralin cor. Matatag Streets
Central District, Diliman
Quezon City 1100 Philippines
Telephone: (02) 434-7486 | (02) 435-4146
Mobile: 0949-1772928
E-mail: hustisya.national@gmail.com

10th year anniversary of the Hacienda Luisita strike

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MANILA – “Your Holiness, please intercede for us in seeking justice for our disappeared loved ones,” wrote families of desaparecidos to Pope Francis as they gathered at Plaza Miranda on All Souls Day.

As a renewal of vows to seek justice, they lighted candles and offered flowers to remember those who were forcibly abducted and disappeared by state security forces since martial law up to the present.

“It has been the practice of families and relatives of victims of enforced and involuntary disappearances to gather every November 2. Beyond remembering, we come together as a reminder that our loved ones have yet to be surfaced and the state’s policy of enforced disappearances be stopped,” said Desaparecidos secretary general Aya Santos.

It has become more significant as families of desaparecidos gathered to join the nation in awaiting the visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines in January 2015.

Santos explained they have followed and listened to series of statements Pope Francis on justice and human rights. For the families, his visit is an opportune time to voice out the injustice and rights violations in the Philippines.

“Hope springs when on several occasions he made clear his firm stands to defend human rights and in seeking social justice. We turn to the Pope for support because under the current regime of Noynoy Aquino, human rights violations against the people intensify without let up. We stand as testimonies to the gross situation of human rights here,” Santos said.

Santos said there have been 21 victims of abduction under Pres. Aquino and has since added up to the number of desaparecidos since the Marcos dictatorship.

Despite the passage of the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law, the crime of enforced disappearance continues as a state policy under Oplan Bayanihan, Aquino’s counter-insurgency program. Also, as a DAP recipient program, it uses public funds to abduct, torture and disappear persons. It also uses funds to coddle the likes of butcher Jovito Palparan who is a ‘free man’ at Fort Bonifacio.

“We pray that the good Pope will listen to our plea and stand one with us in calling to stop enforced disappearances in the Philippines. Dear Pope, please heed our call for justice. We cry out to surface all the disappeared, in the Philippines and other parts of the world, such as in Latin America and Argentina, the Pope’s homeland,” said Santos.

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis is from Argentina, a nation that also suffered the worst kind of human rights violations under a dictatorial rule in the 1970s.