In behalf of our organizations
UMANGAT-MIGRANTE and ICHRP-Rome, Italy and other fellow overseas Filipino
Workers in Italy, we express our full support to the ongoing struggles of the
Lumad against the closures of their
schools, militarization of their villages and the unbaiting Human Rights
In behalf of our organizations
UMANGAT-MIGRANTE and ICHRP-Rome, Italy and other fellow overseas Filipino
Workers in Italy, we express our full support to the ongoing struggles of the
Lumad against the closures of their
schools, militarization of their villages and the unbaiting Human Rights
violations and Extrajudicial killings being perpetrated by the AFP-run
paramilitary groups.
From October 2014 to June this year, already
23 indigenous leaders have been killed in Northern Mindanao Region – 20 of them
from the province of Bukidnon alone and the three from the neighboring Misamis
Oriental. That is almost three lives mercilessly put out every month. And Also
Since May 2015, there have been more than 4,000 internally displaced people who
have fled to the urban areas. From
Agusan, Sarangani, Davao Del Norte, Bukidnon, and Surigao del Sur, the Lumad
have been forcibly displaced. Taking
shelter in public plazas or finding safety in Church sanctuaries, Lumad
families suffer all the hardships of internally displaced persons.
These human rights violations against our
indigenous people, particularly the Lumad has been historical, from the very
beginning of the colonial history of Mindanao until the present day, the Lumad of Mindanao have been taken advantage of, their lands have been grabbed, and
their labor has been exploited; more so, when the Lumad have resisted invaders
or defended their lands and life, they have been driven out, economically
marginalized, and even massacred.
As far as we know, the Lumad communities who
are being subjected to violence are only resisting the entry and operations of
foreign mining, logging and agro-corporations because these corporations are
displacing them from their ancestral lands which are the source of their
livelihood and where their ancestors are buried. They consider these lands as sacred because
they are the source of life and the burial grounds of their people. Taking these lands away from them is practically
killing them as a people.
We recall the killing of Fr. Fausto Tentorio,
PIME in Arakan on October 25, 2011, He
did not only serve and deepen the spiritual lives of the people but
lived with them in the real sense of the word. He did not only preach about
justice and God’s love for the poor in a vacuum. Fr. Fausto journeyed with the
poor and marginalized peasants and lumad in their daily struggle for a better
life and future for their children. He supported and joined the peasants and
indigenous people’s struggle for land and right to self-determination, against
exploitation and oppression, against militarization and human rights
violations. Fr. Fausto was a staunch defender of the peasants and lumad rights and welfare.
The murder of Fr. Fausto deserves strong
condemnation and indignation. It speaks so much about the Aquino
administration; about his human rights-coated national security plan, Oplan
Bayanihan. The strong and visible presence of the 57th Infantry Battalion in
Arakan was not able to prevent the threat on Fr. Fausto’s life and security. It
has unmasked the hypocrisy of the Aquino soldiers’ claim as human rights
defenders. Fr. Fausto’s assassin killed him in broad daylight in his parish
grounds without fear.
The Filipino migrant workers in Rome are
dismayed of the failure of government to protect them from these rabid
paramilitary groups. Why is this so? The people have become the enemy of the
state. The state forces turned into investment defense forces. Working under
the framework of the Internal Peace and Security Plan—or more popularly called
‘Oplan Bayanihan’, they try to dupe the public by reasoning that the people
they have harassed, arbitrarily arrested and slapped with trumped-up charges,
or even killed, are supporters of the New People’s Army (NPA). However, how can
they justify their presence in areas where there are no NPAs? Clearly,
militarization and paramilitarism are designed to protect investments such as
corporate plantations and large mining.
There were also reports of soldiers bribing
paramilitary men and even Lumad leaders to destroy IP schools, especially in
Talaingod with the continuous
threat by soldiers of the Philippine Army’s 68th Infantry Battalion and the
paramilitary group Alamara to the staff of Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon
Community Learning Center (STTICLC) at sitio Tibukag in Talaingod, there is a
bleak chance for the school to open on June 1. Soldiers’ orders: kill and burn.
The
latest episode on these dark records on the Indigenous killings, once again, in
Mindanao was the cold blooded murder of
a Lumad School Principal (Head Teacher) in Surigao indicates the end to this
killings is still to be seen.
These brutal slain of IP leaders and innocent
civilians, the displacements of residents, children being rejected by proper
school and continues military operation in Mindanao that aggravate more of
these violence and more human rights violations should be denounce and STOP. We
will continue to expose the brutality of the military and para-militaries against
the Lumad and their children and we plan to further our campaigns even to the
highest leader of the catholic church, to Pope Francis of the Vatican City to
appeal to him and to encourage the whole church in Philippines to take action
and and be compassionate because the lumad are not just Filipinos but also
children of God.
United
with the Lumad we raise our voice in calling for the end of crimes against our
Indigenous people the Lumad in Particular.
STOP THE CLOSURE OF LUMAD SSCHOOLS!
STOP LUMAD KILLINGS!
PULL OUT MILITARY FORCES FROM LUMAD
COMMUNITIES!
DISBAND PARAMILITARY FORCES!
RESPECT THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’S RIGHT
TO EDUCATION, LIVELIHOOD AND SELF DETERMINATION!
JUSTICE FOR ALL VICTIMS OF HUMAN
RIGHTS VIOLATIONS!
JUNK OPLAN BAYANIHAN!