Human rights watch
In the Line of Fire
The Philippine
military has been using the Lumads in a village in Compostela Valley
Province as human shields as it pursues its campaign against the communist
New People’s Army.
By Marilou M. Aguirre
davaotoday.com
Posted by Bulatlat
NABOC, Compostela
Valley Province
-
From Davao City, one has to travel for three hours to reach Monkayo town, Compostela Valley province. Five
kilometers from there, a small village called Naboc sits right at the foot
of Mount Diwata.
The Lumads
(indigenous peoples) in Naboc are from the tribes of Ata Manobo and Ata
Matigsalog who depend on farming. With neither electricity nor potable
water, the least they aspire for is food on their table and peace in their
community.
They used to enjoy
normal lives in their humble haven
-
until some 50 soldiers from the 28th Infantry Battalion of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP) arrived in mid-August.
|
FATC-FINDING: A human
rights worker interviews a victim in Naboc, Compostela Valley
DAVAOTODAY.COM PHOTO
|
“We were frightened
when they came to our place,” said Nang Lolita, a resident who spoke on
condition of anonymity out of fear. “We even stopped our classes because
they were staying inside the school premises.”
Nang Lolita, a Lumad,
is one of the three teachers in the daycare center, which is a project of
a nongovernment organization. The center serves as the only school for the
60-household barrio. She taught both children and women how to read,
write and count. She spoke to journalists and members of a recent
fact-finding mission to this village.
Fearing for the
children, Nang Lolita opted to suspend the classes while the soldiers were
in their community. “We did not hold classes because we were afraid that
an encounter might happen while the children were here, God forbid,” she
said.
The Lumads feared
that they might get caught in the crossfire in the conflict between the
military soldiers and the communist New People’s Army (NPA), which has a
strong presence in the province.
The soldiers did not
just stay at the daycare center. “They were everywhere. Some stayed at the
lowland, others at the big houses,” Nang Lolita said. “They went from one
house to another and took what they called was a census. They asked for
the residents’ names. They also took pictures of the residents.”
During the soldiers’
stay, a man who identified himself as Sgt. Gener called for a town
meeting. The peasants, who could hardly read, did not recognize the
soldiers since the latter did not wear nameplates during their military
operations.
In the meeting, the
soldiers said they would issue safe-conduct passes to the residents for
security purpose. The pass was meant to protect the bearer; any one who
has it means he had been cleared of any involvement with the NPA, the
soldiers said.
The soldiers also
asked about the presence of the NPA in the area. They also asked the
extent of the Lumads’ involvement in the underground movement.
“They will call you
an ‘NPA supporter’ even if you only give either water or food,” recalled
Nang Lolita. They were told not to support the Communists. Nang Lolita
said that, with their dire conditions, it was impossible for the villagers
to support or give food to the communist rebels.
During the meeting,
one of the residents told the soldiers that “we cannot just ignore them (NPA).
What if they asked for water, for instance? Of course we will give them
water.” Nang Lolita said that water is the most that they can offer the
communist rebels.
The soldiers said
those who give water or food to the NPA are already involved in the
underground movement. They also said that there were residents in the area
who were holding certain positions in the NPA. When asked by a certain
male resident if they had a list of the said NPA members, the soldiers
said they could not just show the list.
It was not clear to
the Lumads why the soldiers had to photograph them or issue them the
safe-conduct pass. Nang Lolita and her husband did not submit to the
soldiers’ orders, believing that it was unreasonable.
But those who feared
for their own and their families’ lives said they had no choice but to
submit to the soldiers’ demands.
According to the
report of the human rights’ group Karapatan, residents of Mangayon,
Compostela, Compostela Valley Province, suffered the same fate as the
Naboc residents.
But the Mangayon
residents had it worse because some 50 residents were ordered by the
soldiers from the 28th IB to report to the
Barangay
Health
Center, which had been the soldiers’
temporary camp. The soldiers took their names, investigated them and took
pictures of them holding a placard that read “I am an NPA supporter.”
Karapatan said the
incident was a clear violation of the rights of the civilians wherein they
were forced to surrender, which is an act of coercion. The group added
that the residents in Mangayon suffered trauma.
The rights’ group
also recorded a number of human rights violations perpetrated by the
elements of the 67th IB and 60th IB in the different areas of Compostela
Valley Province. Among the violations recorded were fake or forced
surrender, grave threats, physical assault, torture and political
repression.
The 28th IB is one of
the AFP units that adopted the Re-engineered Special Operations Team (RSOT)
in line with the government’s counter-insurgency program. In RSOT,
soldiers occupy public facilities and use these as camps for their
operations. They also deposit weapons and ammunitions in populated
areas.
Though the Lumads in
Naboc said that the soldiers did not inflict physical harm on them, their
mere presence caused the villagers apprehension and terror. They were in
constant fear that the AFP soldiers might come across Communist rebels and
they, the Lumads, might become “human shields.”
The Philippine
government has intensified its campaign against the CPP-NPA after it was
branded as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States
government. After the collapse of the peace talks between the Government
of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the CPP’s political wing, the
National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), military operations
in the hinterlands intensified.
But the government’s
counter-insurgency program has taken its toll on the poor civilians, even
those who only fight for their ancestral lands. According to the
residents in Naboc, their tribal leader, Datu Dyanggo, was put in the most
wanted list of the AFP for defending such right.
They believe that the
soldiers are continuously harassing them to allow multinational companies
to get into there ancestral lands for large-scale mining operations and
banana expansion project.
The military has
always maintained that the New People’s Army is the one terrorizing
villagers in the hinterlands of Southern Mindanao. It has also accused
villagers in the past of protecting the communists, particularly during
military operations. (With reports from Grace Uddin and Barry Ohaylan)
davaotoday.com/Posted by Bulatlat
BACK TO
TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2005 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.