Manobo activist victim of enforced disappearance:John Calaba missing, last seen at Consunji Inc.compound

Dear friends,

Please join us in our call to immediately surface Manobo activist John Calaba who was last seen inside the premises of David M. Consunji Inc. (DMCI) compound.

Calaba, 28, is the Public Information Officer of KIDUMA, an organization opposed to the logging and mining projects of DMCI, which displaced peasants and Manobo tribes away from their farms and ancestral land.

In the morning of April 30, 2015, Calaba, was sitting in front of his house at Brgy. Salangsang, Lebak, Sultan Kudarat when members of the Consunji company guards namely, Christopher dela Cruz, Loloy Aquino and Jayjay Cruz approached him. The men invited Calaba to the outpost of Consunji guards at Brgy. Sabanal for a meal. Calaba went with them to the Consunji company compound. Prior to the incident, the guards have been persistent in befriending Calaba.

Dear friends,

Please join us in our call to immediately surface Manobo activist John Calaba who was last seen inside the premises of David M. Consunji Inc. (DMCI) compound.

Calaba, 28, is the Public Information Officer of KIDUMA, an organization opposed to the logging and mining projects of DMCI, which displaced peasants and Manobo tribes away from their farms and ancestral land.

In the morning of April 30, 2015, Calaba, was sitting in front of his house at Brgy. Salangsang, Lebak, Sultan Kudarat when members of the Consunji company guards namely, Christopher dela Cruz, Loloy Aquino and Jayjay Cruz approached him. The men invited Calaba to the outpost of Consunji guards at Brgy. Sabanal for a meal. Calaba went with them to the Consunji company compound. Prior to the incident, the guards have been persistent in befriending Calaba.

Timoteo Asong, a worker at the water reservoir also owned by the Consunji Company saw Calaba eating near the outpost when he passed by. Calaba even invited Asong to eat with them. Some 20 minutes later, Asong heard gunfire coming from the outpost. The sporadic gunfire lasted until around 10:00 am.

When the villagers went to the outpost, the guards shouted at them not to get near; claiming there were “enemies” and they might get caught in the crossfire. The villagers were told to go home. At around 10:30 a.m., when the gunfire subsided, Marcial Usong, also a resident at Sitio Salabantaran saw six company guards near the outpost, carrying something wrapped in canvass and was loaded into an elf truck. The elf truck left a trail of blood.

Residents, however, had the impression there was no real fire fight between the company guards and whomever they considered their enemy. Since April 30, nobody has seen John Calaba come out from said outpost.

A report said a resident from a nearby village saw a corpse being buried at Sitio Socong, Barangay Kudon, Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat. Efforts to confirm the said report and get more details on the incident are hampered by the heavy presence of military and company guards.

The DMCI is known to use the Special Civilian Armed Auxiliary (SCAA) as its private goons. The Armed Forces of the Philippines, specifically the 38th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army, train the members of the SCAA.

As of this writing, Calaba remains missing.

UA Date: June 3, 2015

Recommended Action:

Send letters, emails or fax messages to call for:

• The immediate surfacing of Manobo activist John Calaba and the formation of an independent fact-finding and investigation team composed of representatives from human rights groups, the Church, local government, and the Commission on Human Rights that will look into his abduction and enforced disappearance.