Tribeswoman Hurt in DND Dispersal

A “pattong” (community dance) of indigenous peoples was violently dispersed last August 15 by soldiers guarding the gates of the Department of National Defense (DND) headquarters along EDSA, Quezon City. As a woman from the Kinali tribe of Ilocos Sur is recuperating from a wound in the head suffered during the dispersal, cases are set to be filed against the soldiers involved.

By AUDREY BELTRAN
Bulatlat.com

Tribal leaders perform a symbolic ritual at the Mendiola bridge on August 16. (Photo by Darius Galang)

Women protesters from Cordillera shed tears of rage after Benilda Coplangan, 45, a member of the Kinali tribe of Quirino, Ilocos Sur, was hit hard in the head by truncheon-wielding soldiers at a peaceful picket outside the Department of National Defense (DND) headquarters along EDSA, Quezon City last August 15.  She was shielding Baket Indena, a much older woman from Sagada, Mountain Province when the soldiers attempted to disperse the picket of the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP). 

For indigenous national minorities who have high respects for elders in the community, the violent act of the soldiers under the command of Captain Danga is grave disrespect not just against Benilda but against her tribe and the Cordillera indigenous peoples. 

Benilda was not the only one who was hurt when the soldiers came rushing to stop the ‘pattong’ or the community dance in front of the gates of the DND.  Tribal elders from Kalinga and Itogon, Benguet, who were beating the gongs were also hit and shoved --- “pushed away like animals” --- by the soldiers.  Among those who were hit were Lakay Longan of Kalinga, Lakay Simplico Sikuan of Itogon who suffered bruises at the back of his thighs.  Magno Dumas of Abra was hit in the knee.  Leaders of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) --- Vice Chairperson Joseph Torafing, Jr. and Secretary General Windel Bolinget --- suffered cuts and bruises during the dispersal.

The finger of Robert Laplana was also broken as the protesters were trying to ask the soldiers from shutting the gates of the DND as they wanted to hold a dialog with DND officials.  He was with the Mangyans, Dumagats and Agtas of Southern Tagalog who are directly affected by the military counter-insurgency operation “Habol-Tamaraw.”

When, for a second time, the soldiers moved to push away the national minorities and KAMP decided to end the program, Benilda stood her ground and refused to leave until Danga presented the soldier who hit her. 

“Maagasan daytoy sugat ko ngem haan nga maagasan ti sakit nga inaramidyo.  Dakkayo, nangisit ti puspusoyo. Dakkes kayo. (My wound will heal but the pain that you have inflicted on me will not. You, you have no heart. You are evil.),” she cursed the soldiers. 

Her companions from Innabuyog-Gabriela convinced her to go instead to the hospital to treat her wound with the promise that a case of human rights violation will be filed against the soldiers and that KAMP and other militant groups will move for the indictment of those responsible for the violent dispersal.  The charges will be pursued alongside several other cases of human rights violations already filed at the Commission on Human Rights.

Militarization

Benilda came all the way from Quirino to Quezon City to protest against development aggression and militarization in the countryside. The protest action was part of the Indigenous Peoples’ (IP) week.

According to her, military operations are launched in their area regularly.  Recruitment of members of their tribe into the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) is also aggressive.  Besides sowing fear in their barrios, military operations and CAFGU recruitment have tried to divide their community – like army boots crushing the indigenous people’s ways, she also said.

The 21^st Infantry Battalion (IB) and the 77^th IB of the 501^st Brigade and the 3^rd Special Forces (SF) of the 503^rd Brigade of the AFP are currently deployed in the Cordillera.  In addition are the CAFGUs and the paramilitary Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA) with its 264 integrees to the AFP.

In August last year, the 22^nd Special Forces of the Philippine Army led by a Sergeant Dasalla was allegedly responsible for the summary execution of Johnny Camareg in Betwagan and indiscriminate firing at four school children in Tocucan – both in Mountain Province. Another sergeant of the 22^nd SF Company of the 3^rd SF Battalion allegedly raped an 18-year old coed in Besao, Mountain Province.  The community in Gaogao, Dupag, Tabuk, Kalinga was indiscriminately fired upon by forces of the 21^st IB last April, another report said.

In Baguio City, as in other urban centers of the nation, legitimate and legal people’s organizations are targets of surveillance, harassments and attacks.  The Mining Communities Development Center (MCDC) which is involved in anti-dam and anti-mining campaigns, was raided last January.

Wagner Simon of the Shalupirip Santahnay Indigenous People’s Movement was arrested without a warrant and interrogated last April.  Five members of Gabriela Youth and Anakbayan were arrested last March.  Twice, mass actions against the Balikatan exercises were violently dispersed.

Paramilitary Unit

To step up the military operations in the region, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has integrated the CPLA into the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). This paramilitary group was reportedly responsible for cases of harassment and killing of CPA members.  Among their victims is Ama Daniel Ngayaan, vice chairperson of CPA, who was killed in 1987 and whose body has not been found up to this day.

Meanhile, Bolinget condemned the AFP for the human rights violations and the August 15 violent dispersal. “We came here not with guns but with our gongs to state that the AFP has failed in its duty to serve and protect the people,” he said. “It should answer for the long list of human rights violations it has committed against the Filipino people.  Its military operations, fascist attacks against the people are the very reasons why we will continue to cling on to our spears and our principles in defense of our land and rights.  We will continue to fight.”

Indigenous ways

Benilda hails from a tribe in upland Ilocos Sur whose indienous ways are very much intact. 

Upon returning home, her community will perform a cleansing ritual called “daw-es.” Her case will be brought up in the “ator” or “dap-ay” and the elders will decide on how to defend their tribe members from this kind of violence and harm.

Her tribe, like others in the Cordillera, has a history of struggle to defend their tribal land, rights and resources as national minorities. She says that the tribal elders may have only one answer --- to continue the struggle against state terrorism, militarization and development aggression. Bulatlat.com

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