Development workers, and indigenous peoples from the Cordillera region are calling for an investigation on the intensifying human rights violations in Northern Luzon that have resulted in the displacement of indigenous peoples communities.
“Pagkalinawan’s statement is a pretext for the speedy extra-judicial killing of [Windel] Bolinget before law and evidence will prove that this is a false charge.”
“It is part of the government’s acts of historical revisionism or distorting and erasing the true history of the people’s resistance and heroism which remain relevant until today.”
Cordillera People’s Alliance and Bolinget’s family fear for his safety, noting that he can be subjected to a “tokhang-style execution” if he gets arrested and transported to Davao Del Norte for his case.
“Human rights make us human. With every violation of human rights, our humanity is diminished.”
“Small-scale miners actually attempted to apply for regulations via an application for a ‘Minahang Bayan.’ But Benguet Corp., as tenement holder of the area, opposed this to maintain their control over the area’s mineral resources.”
CPA sees these awards as deceptive and a cover up for the worst environmental track record of LCMC and Benguet Corporation.
Indigenous peoples answer the Aquino administration’s “deception, dispossession and destruction” with defiance.
Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) chairman Windel Bolinget pointed out that despite the Philippine government’s adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and other human rights treaties, the escalating human rights violations perpetrated against indigenous peoples in the country are alarming
“The people of the region like in other parts of the country are suffering from worsening economic crisis.” — Cordillera Peoples Alliance
James Balao, a member of the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) has been missing since September 17, 2008, the day he was abducted by suspected state security forces in La Trinidad, Benguet. Below is the letter written by his siblings. Dear Manong James, We love you. We remember you everyday and today, April 19, your 51st…