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4 Higaonon Datus face trumped-up murder charges

ICHRP Secretariat
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4 Higaonon Datus face trumped-up murder charges

Four Datus (indigenous chieftains), along with eight other members of the Higaonon community in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon, face murder charges at the start of 2016.

Bendiho “Datu Mahurel” Ampildon, Lonie “Datu Manlalaban” Licunan, Bebe “Datu Sandigan” Duco, Loloy “Datu Makiyobo” Ade, Ester Ade, Diden Landasan, Brando Ampildon, Benjack Angunao, Somar Ruiz, Bobby Tilucan, Erand Balanban, Villamor Diwanan received a complaint from the Provincial Prosecutors Office of Bukidnon charging them with the murder of Melody Dela Mance committed on April 14, 2012. According to Diden Ladasan, there were 9 other respondents in the complaint but they were not familiar with the names.

The complainant, Dante G. Dela Mance, the brother of Melody, stated that the respondents participated in the planning and killing of his father. The cited witness, Therisa Santos, claimed that she know very well the respondents and accused them to be members of the New People’s Army (NPA).

The victims denied the accusation of killing Melody Dela Mance, an act that had already been owned up to by the NPA.  The victims also said that they do not know of and have not attended any meetings to plan the killing of Melody Dela Mance. They also denied the accusations that they were members of the NPA.

The 12 victims did not receive summons to submit counter-affidavits. The complaint was registered to have been sent from Malaybalay post office on December 15, 2015 and was recorded to have been received by the Cabanglasan post office on December 17, 2015. The respondents only got them on January 11, 2016. The respondents strongly believe that the serving of the subpoenas were intentionally delayed to deny them the due process of legally responding to the charges on time.

The victims of this action by the Dela Mances are members of the Higaonon community in Cabanglasan and had been active in last year’s call to stop the killings of their Lumad brothers. Some respondents have been involved in the campaign of exposing the Dela Mance brothers’, who are members of the paramilitary group Alamara, involvement in the killings of at least eight indigenous individuals the previous year. They had also been involved in anti-mining, anti-plantation, and land rights protection campaigns. They summed up the filing of false charges as malicious and a form of political harassment. Diden Ladasan said that, “this is a futile attempt of the Dela Mance to weaken our resolve in the defense of our ancestral land.”

Demand justice now!

EXPRESS YOUR CONCERN to the Philippine Government by writing to:

H.E. Benigno S. Aquino III
President of the Republic of the Philippines
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
E-mail: corres@op.gov.ph / opnet@ops.gov.ph

Hon. Alfredo Benjamin Sabater Caguioa
Secretary, Department of Justice
Email: info@doj.gov.ph; communications@doj.gov.ph

Ret. Lt. Gen. Voltaire T. Gazmin
Secretary, Department of National Defense
Voice:+63(2) 911-6193, Fax:+63(2) 911-6213

Hon. Jose Luis Martin Gascon
Chairperson, Commission On Human Rights
Telefax: 929-0102, 928-5655, 926-6188

Atty. Leonor T. Oralde-Quintayo
Chairperson, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples
Tel: 373-97-87
Email: chairpersonsoffice@gmail.com

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III
Chair, Justice and Human Rights Committee
Philippine Senate
Trunk Lines: (632) 552-6601 to 70 loc. 5548
Direct Lines: (632) 822-9758
Fax No.: (632) 822-9759
Email: kokopimenteloffice@yahoo.com

Rep. Guillermo Romarate Jr.
Chair, Human Rights Committee
House of Representatives
Tel: (632) 931-5001; local 7051, 9518974

Hon. Renante I. Ocando
Mayor, Municipality of Cabanglasan
Tel.: 0917-718-7079

Hon. Jose Ma. Zubiri, Jr.
Governor, Province of Bukidnon
Provincial Capitol, Malaybalay City
Tel.: (088) 221-2523; (088) 813-3845

Hon. Ignacio W. Zubiri
Mayor, City of Malaybalay
E-mail: malaybalaycmo@gmail.com
Tel.: (088) 221-2267

Copy furnish your letters to info@rmp-nmr.org

Contact us at:
Higala sa Lumad Network
Room 01, Kalinaw Lanao Center for Interfaith Resources
0016 Bougainvilla Puti, Villaverde
9200 Iligan City, Philippines
T/F: +63 (63) 223 5179
E: info@rmp-nmr.org

Katungod Lumad Alert is published by the ‘Higala sa Lumad’ [Friends of the Lumad] Network.

‘Higala sa Lumad’ Network is a support group composed of a broad range of interfaith personalities/representative of organizations synergizing relevant capacities and resources for Lumad communities under attack. ‘Higala’ also serves as an informal monitoring network for Lumad human rights. ‘Higala’ has been established as a component of the ‘Healing the Hurt’ Project.

Published with support from the European Commission.

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of RMP-NMR and ‘Healing the Hurt’ Project partners and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

Hey Joe! Come and No Go?

ICHRP Secretariat
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Hey Joe! Come and No Go?

Re SC EDCA decision: Hey Joe! Come and No Go?

The Supreme Court’s decision declaring the Enhance Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) “constitutional” and does not need Senate concurrence is lamentable, to say the least. At best, its sounds more of a judicial cynical incantation that the Philippines remains sovereign and in control of the armed visitors once they set boots in the Philippines en masse, and with more braggadocio.

That executive agreement is another, if not the last nail, driven into the coffin of the independence and sovereignty , nay dignity, of the Filipino people who stood tall in 1991 when they successfully kicked out the US military bases from Clark and Subic.

Today, under the EDCA, US forces may now, with unbridled license, occupy any public facilities and properties, or may erect their own facilities exclusive for them and beyond the supervision and even knowledge of the host country, notwithstanding assurances from the High Court that the Philippine Government will still be in control and will be calling the shots. Tell that to the Marines.

Worse, with EDCA, the Philippines surrenders jurisdiction on erring US military personnel who commit dastardly crimes in Philippine soil; it accords criminals immunity from arrest, prosecution and punishment under the Philippine legal system.

The High Court divided decision in effect justifies many disturbing events after the VFA took effect that for one, marked the re-occupation of a sovereign state – the Philippines — by US armed forces which to date, refuses to report its deployment into the country of nuclear weapons and materiel that Article II, Section 8 of the Constitution prohibits.

The dismissal of the petitions against the EDCA only confirms two opposing trends at this juncture of history: on one hand, the bankruptcy and puppetry of the BS Aquino administration to US dictates, and on the other, the collective determination of the greater majority of the Filipino people to assert their sovereignty with or without the court on its corner.

It does not help either that intellectual boorish bullies from ivory and glass towers churn out anticipated vicious attacks criticizing the people’s legal and political arguments against foreign troops, bases and materiel.

Parenthetically, the decision has unwittingly endorsed presidential candidates kowtowing to US interests who are, not so subtly, being primed by the US government to take over the crown.

We shall nonetheless support a motion for reconsideration of the dismissals. We draw further resolve by the support of freedom-loving allies like the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) which categorically said recently that such kind of military agreements are not only legally dubious and violative of international law on the rights to peace and self-determination but ultimately, the right of peoples to be respected as such.

So Joe, are you coming and will never go? But come to think of it, you never really left.

Reference:
Atty. Edre U. Olalia
NUPL Secretary-General
Co-Petitioner and co-counsel
+639175113373

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National Secretariat
National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)
3F Erythrina Building
Maaralin corner Matatag Streets
Central District, Quezon City, Philippines
Telefax no.920-6660
Email addresses: nupl2007@gmail.com
and nuplphilippines@yahoo.com

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Visit the NUPL website at http://www.nupl.net/

Datu Mandayhon: We have a community problem which I can no longer solve

ICHRP Secretariat
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Datu Mandayhon: We have a community problem which I can no longer solve

 By Higala sa Lumad Network

There’s a community problem this Datu can no longer resolve

“He reserves the use of his slippers for when he needs to go out,” said Gerry Lipande.

Datu Mandayhon Han-ayan, the person he was referring to, sat crosbys-legged and bare-footed on a chair in a corner. Unable to speak any language other than their own, he instead gave toothless smiles to the people around him.

“I am Datu Mandayhon from Balaudo,” he said as a simple introduction. “I am here because our community has a problem which I can no longer solve. Maybe the people from the city can help me.”

Lipande, one of his companions translating for him, explained that as their leader, Datu Mandayhon arbitrated between conflicting parties, determining penalties and offerings to reconcile them. For so many decades, this has been so as their community structure does not have a council of elders. Datu Mandayhon was their respected leader who performed all political, judicial and spiritual roles.

‘But they would not listen to me’

“But they would not listen to me,” Datu Mandayhon lamented. He was referring to the brothers Mankolobi and Manlumakad Bocalas, their community members who killed three other Lumad the previous year. The last victim had been Mankombete Mariano, a renowned hunter in their community.

“Mankombete’s baits and traps always caught an animal,” Datu Mandayhon recalled of his fallen companion. “He was able to hunt a wild boar when none of us had been able to get one in the last three years. His hunting skills had been incomparable.”

On October 27, 2015, Mankombete, with around 16 companions that included his grandchildren, went to Dulmatong in the town of Cabanglasan, Bukidnon. Dulmatong was a forested area that had a lot of fruit trees and it had been the community’s tradition to go there at that time of the year to bring back food to their families.

Always brave and looking for action, Mankombete had been at the front of the group. But as they approached a large durian tree, they were met with gunfire. Mankombete was immediately hit and was unable to run. His two grandchildren were also wounded. The girl was able to run while the boy rolled off the incline they were on and hid behind some abaca plants. From his position, he saw Manlumakad Bocalas approach his grandfather and hack him with a machete. The boy was found behind some bushes by the search team from the community the following day, weak and scared.

More death

The gruesome death of Mankombete had been preceded by the killing of Obet Pabiana, a Banwaon who had been passing through Sitio Balaudo with five companions. The other was a boy, Olaking Olinan, only 15 years of age, who had been on his way to gather abaca leaves with his brother.

“It is beyond our minds why they were killed and why they threaten to kill us,” said Arlene Han-ayan, the granddaughter of Datu Mandayhon. Even heavily pregnant, she had accompanied her grandfather to the city to help him communicate their plight. “We have not committed anything against them. Why are they targeting us?”

When the killing of Mankombete occurred, Datu Mandayhon had taken refuge in the forest with the family of his youngest son as he is no longer capable of fighting nor of quick escapes. When the community decided to leave their homes and journey to Mahayag, he had been left.

“We made makeshift houses in the forest made out of banana leaves and fallen branches,” he recounted. “We had to rebuild them everyday because they are not sturdy and the rain would get in.” It was cold and uncomfortable but it was safer than having to face the guns of the Bocalas brothers.

Temporary shelters

Eventually, his eldest son who had been with the community when they evacuated, came back with some companions to bring him safely to Mahayag. There they sought help from their relatives and were allowed to set up temporary shelters on a basketball court.

The mandatory representatives of the indigenous peoples in the government of Bukidnon had told them to return to their homes because they had supposedly settled the situation. “But when some of our companions went to check, they found that our houses had been broken in, our harvested abaca had been thrown, many of our things were destroyed or stolen,” said Datu Mandayhon. They decided to remain in their temporary shelters and at the same time bring their issue to the city where other government institutions and officials might hear of their problem and provide them with better solutions.

“We believe that the Bocalas brothers want to claim the lands in Balaudo and Sitio Kinuaw,” said Lipande. “They have allied themselves with the Dela Mance paramilitary group, claiming that the individuals they killed were members of the New People’s Army.”

Peace disturbed

The community of the Talaandig in Sitio Balaudo had been living peacefully for decades. Conflicts are easily settled following their traditional processes. “Even encounters between the military and the rebel group do not take place in our community,” Datu Mandayhon said. “We ask both the armed groups to just pass our communities, to camp somewhere else. For a long time now also, we have not trained baganis (traditional warriors) because there had been no reason – our community had not declared a pangayao (tribal war) for decades. This is the first time that our peace is disturbed.”

Very far from the city centers, their community is reached by at least a day’s worth of walking from the farthest sitio a motorcycle can reach. “We all farm to feed ourselves,” said Datu Mandayhon. “We do not sell them because we are too far that our products would rot on the way to the market.”

Without external influences, they have relatively intact traditions. They perform the rituals that accompany the growing of their crops. They give offerings to the owners of the land, the waters, and everything around them. For the Talaandig community, the land is their source of life, but they only borrow the land from the gods that have blessed them and their forefathers. And to continue receiving their blessings, they have to be one with the land – nurturing it, protecting it.

“We do not have any papers for our ancestral lands,” said Datu Mandayhon. “We have not applied for these. We have been there for generations. My forefathers had been living on these lands. It will be there for my grandchildren and the future generations.”

The feet of Datu Mandayhon are flat, more sure-footed on rocks and mud when bare. He does not need protection from the land that has nurtured him and given him and his community their life.

Datu Mandayhon is the tribal chieftain of the 70 Talaandig families of Balaudo and Kinuaw in St. Peter, Malaybalay, Bukidnon. He is now in the city to bring into the attention of the urban populace the violence they have suffered from the hands of a bandit group currently affiliated with the notorious paramilitary band Alamara. Want to know more about their plight? Organize a forum in your schools, churches, and wherever possible. Contact the ‘Higala sa Lumad’ Network at info@rmp-nmr.org

Justice for Eduardo Serrano! Free all political prisoners!

ICHRP Secretariat
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Justice for Eduardo Serrano! Free all political prisoners!

Karapatan mourns with the family and friends of political prisoner and NDFP peace consultant Eduardo “Eddik” Serrano who passed away on January 8, 2016 due to cardiac arrest. Karapatan shares the grief and rage of the detained peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, other political prisoners, and inmates of Ka Eddik, with whom he spent the last 11 years of his life.

The 11 years of suffering in prison of Serrano, 62, for trumped-up criminal charges meant for another person is unpardonable. Serrano was detained for 11 long years for criminal charges for ‘Rogelio Villanueva’. The Philippine government is accountable for the Gestapo-style abduction, torture, and detention, and eventually, Serrano’s death.

Ka Eddik’s abduction and detention spanned two regimes. He was abducted and detained by the Arroyo regime in May 2004. BS Aquino, who supposedly promised to correct the wrongs of the Arroyo regime, failed to right the wrong. BS Aquino continued the practice of criminalizing political activities, arrested and detained peace consultants, and completely shut out the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

Serrano was a farming consultant and lecturer-trainer-adviser to farmers’ organizations and rural cooperatives when he was arrested. He was held incommunicado for one week, deprived of the right to counsel and access to and by his family and human rights organizations. He was then presented before the members of the media as ‘Rogelio Villanueva’ a member of the New People’s Army. Later, the military brought Serrano to the 204th Infantry Brigade, headed by “The Butcher” Gen. Jovito Palparan, in Oriental Mindoro and to the Regional Trial Court Branch 40 in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro for inquest. For three years, he was jailed at the Mindoro Oriental Provincial Jail.

While in jail, as a true servant of the people, he assisted inmates with their ailments through acupuncture. He initiated a number of prison reforms and established a cooperative store. He gave paralegal advice to inmates and jail guards alike.

In 2007, Serrano was transferred to PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame. All his cases were also transferred to the Quezon City Regional Trial Court. While at the Custodial Center, he took up a Environment and Natural Resources Management at the Open University of University of the Philippines. He finished the course on May 2009.

Last year, 2015, Serrano and several other political prisoners were arbitrarily transferred to Special Intensive Care Area-1 (SICA-1) in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, a detention place far worse than Camp Crame Custodial Center. SICA-1, a four-storey detention facility, is cramped and unventilated. A detainee will have to share a small cell with 12 or more other inmates.

Last year, after more than 11 years in detention, the Court of Appeals finally ordered the QC RTC Branch 98 to first resolve the identity of Eduardo Serrano—whether he is truly Rogelio Villanueva. On October 22, Judge Marilou Runes-Tapang of QC RTC Branch 98 ruled that Serrano is NOT Villanueva and must be immediately released.

After a month, on November 26, QC RTC Branch 100 acquitted Serrano from charges of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder saying the case is trumped-up. Serrano left two trumped-up criminal charges of multiple frustrated murder at QC RTC Branch 215 and kidnapping at Branch 97, both as ‘Rogelio Villanueva’.

On December 16, Serrano was rushed to Taguig General Hospital from SICA-1 due to heart attack. He was later on transferred to Philippine Heart Center where he underwent angioplasty.

Ka Eddik was a gentle and loving person. He gifted his friends, colleagues, and supporters both here and abroad cross-stitched crafts. He made greeting cards and sent them to friends to let them know he thought of them. Ka Eddik’s heart may have failed due to his sufferings in jail, but his principles and convictions remained steadfast to his last breath.

With high respect, Karapatan salutes Ka Eddik for standing up for the rights of the farmers and Mangyan tribe in Southern Tagalog, specifically in the island of Mindoro and in the Quezon-Bicol regions. The Government of the Philippines robbed 11 years of Eduardo Serrano’s life with them.

The GPH should answer for the injustice committed against Eduardo Serrano—for the warrantless arrest, for violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), for the trumped-up charges that kept him in jail for 11 years, for refusing to release political prisoners, and stalling the peace talks with the NDFP.

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

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

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Telefax: (+63 2) 4354146
Web: http://www.karapatan.org

2016: Aquino’s final chance for action on killings and political prisoners

ICHRP Secretariat
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2016: Aquino’s final chance for action on killings and political prisoners

Earlier this week Auckland Philippines Solidarity sent the following letter to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Sadly political prisoner Eduardo Serrano died yesterday at 8:10am Philippine time, while receiving treatment following a heart attack. The tragic death of Mr Serrano, after being aquitted by several courts of trumped up charges, simply reiterates the need for the Philippine government to free all political prisoners.

The Aquino Administration risks being remembered as a failure on the issues of human rights, peace and development unless action is taken to end Lumad killings and free political prisoners.

In recent months the horrific murder of Lumads by state backed paramilitary groups in Mindanao has received international condemnation.   Last September 1st the Magahat-Bagani Group, a state backed paramilitary group, murdered Emerito Samarca, director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development; Dionel Campos, a leader of a Lumad organisation and his cousin Datu Juvillo Sinzo.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) uses brutal groups like the Magahat-Bagani as part of their counter-insurgency programme.  Aquino should use his final months in power to ensure state backed paramilitaries, including Magahat-Bagani, are finally disbanded and no longer given state support.

Furthermore, we call on President Aquino to grant amnesty to political prisoners languishing on trumped up charges in jails around the country.  Of particular concern is the case of Eduardo Serrano, a consultant to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.  Mr Serrano has been detained in Camp Crame since 2004, on multiple charges of murder, frustrated murder and kidnapping.  Recently the Quezon City Regional Trial Court ordered his immediate release noting he was originally arrested on a warrant intended for the arrest of another man wanted on those charges.

Sadly Serrano is yet to be released.  He faces outstanding trumped up charges filed in other regional trial courts.  On December 16th he suffered a heart attack while in custody.  For the sake of both justice and his health Mr Serrano should be released.

During his Administration, human rights advocates from Australia and New Zealand have continuously appealed to President Aquino for the release of political prisoners and an end to extrajudicial killings.   Now in his final months in office there is still time for action on these important issues.

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