(Part 2 of 2 reports)

MANILA – Suspected state agents attempted to frustrate the fact-finding mission conducted by human rights groups in Oriental Mindoro from Feb. 23 until March 1.

During a press conference on March 5, members of the fact-finding team said they were subjected to harassment. Based on a series of videos posted by Karapatan Southern Tagalog, alleged military intelligence agents interrogated the caretaker of the lodging occupied by the team on February 26. There were also reports of unidentified men on a motorcycle following the humanitarian team as they entered and left Pola. Meanwhile, in Bulalacao, suspected intelligence agents were seen taking pictures of the team without their consent. When confronted, they quickly fled.

On March 1, the last day of their mission, seven military personnel in an L300 rescue vehicle were seen trailing the fact-finding team. Three members of the fact-finding team were also physically harassed, believed to be military intelligence agents. This harassment later escalated to involve the entire team, as they were surveilled by police officers in a vehicle belonging to the Bulalacao Municipal Police Station.

It is the right of the affected communities to access humanitarian aid, Ida Palo, leader of the Oriental Mindoro fact-finding mission, asserted to the local government officials. “The denial of these rights is a denial of human rights.”

The mission commenced after a reported incident of aerial strafing by the 76th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) on Feb. 19 in the town of Pola, Oriental Mindoro. Not long after, it was followed by another aerial strafing incident on March 1 in Mansalay town, Oriental Mindoro. 

Read: Reported aerial bombings in Oriental Mindoro alarm rights groups

These incidents compelled the human rights groups to conduct an investigation. They interviewed local residents, visited barangay and municipal offices for courtesy and endorsement, and even provided basic human rights orientation to the communities. 

“We arrived on the weekend. We were met with close offices. When we started our journey, hopping from one affected community to the other, the fear was apparent among the community and local government units. They were hesitant to share their insights,” said Palo.

The team said they observed widespread paranoia among the residents and government officials. This, they said, has affected the scope of their mission and limited their engagement with the civilians. 

“What we managed to achieve is something worth coming back for,” Palo added.

The affected population documented by the team were in the communities of: 

• Pola: Sitio Bakyaan, Barangay Misong, Barangay Tagumpay
• Mansalay: Sitio Tignoan, Barangay Teresita
• San Jose: Sitio Kalinisan, Barangay Bayotbot
• Bulalacao: Sitio Agong, Barangay San Roque

Disruption of economic activities

The mission confirmed that soldiers conducted aerial strafing, occupied schools, restricted the movement of the residents through curfew and checkpoints, seized supplies of residents and forcibly displaced the communities. 

The mission said that military operations have disrupted the lives of the local population, particularly the indigenous communities.

“It was hard for the farmers and indigenous peoples there because their livelihood is heavily reliant on the farmlands affected by the strafing,” Palo noted, saying that the cultivation of their crops has been severely affected due to the curfews and restrictions imposed by the Philippine military.

The cornerstone of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which both applies to the combatant parties from the Philippine military and the NPA, is the protection of the civilians. It is stated as a basic rule in Article 48 of the Geneva Conventions: “In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.”

The fact-finding team also asserted that the communities of Oriental Mindoro has been consistently militarized not because of the presence of the New People’s Army, but because of the rich biodiversity in the province.

For one, John Erbel Borreta, a human rights defender of Karapatan Southern Tagalog was harassed by the Philippine military. He said that on Jan. 19, weeks before the series of reported encounters between the military and the NPA, two members of the Philippine army visited him in his home.

“They told me that I have to cooperate with the government since they retrieved a document stating that I am a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) – New People’s Army. My family was highly emotional with the pronouncements of the military, but I asserted that I am a human rights defender and a journalist,” said Borreta, who used to write in The Catalyst, the student publication of Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP). 

“The fear-mongering I experienced from the military agents is proof of the wider climate of fear in Mindoro. There is nothing wrong in our aspirations for change. Standing up for what is right is not a crime and providing aid to the people is not terrorism,” Borreta emphasized. 

“The harassment and intimidation I suffered was not an isolated case, it is a systematic tactic of the government to prevent us from speaking up.”

19 bombing incidents under Marcos Jr. 

Since the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration took pwer, Karapatan has documented 19 bombing incidents with over 47,000 victims. The human rights group’s secretary general, Cristina Palabay, urged to Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to conduct independent investigation on alleged human rights abuses and the implementation of the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity.

“We have a domestic law that prohibits these violations of the International Humanitarian Law. Despite this, the violations continue. This is already a de facto martial law. It means that there is a primacy of military rule over civilian authorities, which is not supposed to happen, even in situations of war,” said Palabay. 

She challenged Oriental Mindoro Governor Humerlito “Bonz” Atienza Dolor to assert civilian authority in the province and investigate the alleged rights violations.

The fact-finding team also said the communities should be provided with humanitarian assistance. They also asserted to hold military personnel accountable for IHL violations and the enforcement of free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous peoples to infrastructure projects. (AMU, RVO) 

Read Part 1: Fact-finding mission links military offensives in Oriental Mindoro to big projects