As the Lumad at Liwasang Bonifacio expect Manila-style dismantling of the Manilakbayan camp tomorrow, November 13, report coming from the Karapatan-Caraga region says that the teachers’ cottage of ALCADEV in Brgy. Padiay, Sibagat, Agusan del Sur was torched at 2 a.m., today by men believed to be under the command of the 23rd Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army.
As the Lumad at Liwasang Bonifacio expect Manila-style dismantling of the Manilakbayan camp tomorrow, November 13, report coming from the Karapatan-Caraga region says that the teachers’ cottage of ALCADEV in Brgy. Padiay, Sibagat, Agusan del Sur was torched at 2 a.m., today by men believed to be under the command of the 23rd Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army.
Aside from the teachers’ cottage, the men also set on fire a nursery of fruit and hardwood trees at the back of the cottage. The 2,500 sq. meters of school demo farm was also destroyed.
The school is the second agricultural learning center for Lumad operated by the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development, Inc. (ALCADEV). Opened two years ago in June 2013, it caters to the needs of the residents of Agusan del Sur. The school has 24 students and 10 teachers.
ALCADEV’s executive director Emerito Samarca was killed on September 1, 2015 with Lumad leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Juvello Sinzo. Two schools were burned at the time—the elementary schools by the Tribal Filipino Program for Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS) in the villages of Han-ayan and in Panukmuan, Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
Killings continue
“This is the height of impudence. The BS Aquino regime continues to ignore the public uproar on the Lumad killings and the resounding call to pull-out the military troops from the Lumad communities in Mindanao and to dismantle the AFP-backed paramilitary groups. It has instead given the military carte blanche to go on a rampage against the people in remote villages," said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.
Palabay said incidents of extrajudicial killing in Talaingod, Davao del Norte and in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon were reported and are now being investigated by Karapatan chapters and church groups.
Killed on November 7 was Datu Manliro Landahay, a council member of the Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon, the same organization that runs the Lumad schools in Davao provinces. The armed men were identified as Donato Salangani and Maninggo Salangani, members of the Alamara paramilitary group of Alambi Salangani, under the command of the 68th IB-PA.
On October 27, in Bukidnon, Mankombete Mariano, 48, was shot and then hacked to death by Manlumakad Bocalas, a member of Dela Mance group attached to the 8th IB-PA. Mariano’s 10-year-old grandchild survived the shooting, but saw how his grandfather was hacked in the head, in the left shoulder and left thigh.
“All these fascist attacks happened as ManiLakbayan 2015 continues to be ignored by a regime that is more concerned with how to show the heads of States and other foreign visitors coming for the APEC Summit that it is ‘more fun in the Philippines’, despite poverty, landlessness, and unabated human rights violations,” Palabay ended.###