Photo by Kilab Multimedia

The report said that the armed men left after the arrival of the police. However, authorities reportedly continued to bar the people from entering the church compound, including members of the media under the order of Col. Kirby John Kraft.

By ALYSSA MAE CLARIN
Bulatlat.com

MANILA– The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines assailed the barring of journalists in Davao City from covering a press conference by the lumad evacuees on Jan. 25, Saturday.

Photo by Kilab Multimedia

According to the alert, Davao City police blocked the media trying to enter the gates of United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Haran, Davao City. This was after some 50 men wielding bolos, members of the paramilitary group Alamara, began tearing down the fence of the UCCP’s Haran Center on Saturday morning.

The church compound has served as sanctuary for internally displaced indigenous peoples, who were driven from ancestral domains due to heavy militarization.

Photo by Kilab Multimedia

The report said that the armed men left after the arrival of the police. However, authorities reportedly continued to bar the people from entering the church compound, including members of the media under the order of Col. Kirby John Kraft.

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