PRESS RELEASE

Reference:

Kerlan Fanagel

Secretary General

PASAKA Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao

MILITARY HAMLETTING OF LUMAD VILLAGES IN NEW BATAAN DENOUNCED

PASAKA lumad confed protested the reported hamletting of Mandaya and Mansaka indigenous communities in New Bataan, an incident which preceded and triggered the evacuation of the more than 260 families (New Bataan Municipal Social Work Department (MSWD)data) who are now staying at the Poblacion gymnasium.

“To be displaced from one's home is already a violation of the right to peace and security. To deny the people access for safe refuge while military elements occupy their villages as it gears for combat is inhumane, indeed a violation of the peoples' very right to life,” said Kerlan Fanagel, secretary general of the PASAKA, a lumad confederation in SMR.

Fanagel said that as early as October 24, the military led by the 66^th Infantry Battalion have started to cordon and hamlet Sitio Taytayan and Sitio Camarin in Brgy. Andap in New Bataan .

The residents left their homes and headed towards the town center for refuge but they were prohibited from leaving their communities even at the insistence of New Bataan Mayor Lorenzo Balbin who personally sent a rescue vehicle for the evacuees but was denied entry by the soldiers hamletting the areas.

Fanagel protested the prevalence of military – led operations in indigenous communities. He attributed this to the military stereotype that indigenous communities are guerilla bases, thus making them targets of RSOT operations. This he said is stipulated in the military counter-insurgency plan called the Oplan Bantay Laya 2.

“This is the second time this year that the lumads of Taytayan were forced to evacuate and subject to such harassment and discrimination. This vicious cycle illustrates the situation in all lumad communities and this has far worsened this year after GMA unleashed an all-out-war policy that victimizes civilians more,” Fanagel said.

PASAKA called for the immediate stop to the military operations in New Bataan and other areas in Mindanao . It said it will forward the gathered documentation and complaints at the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples and other international HR monitoring agencies.

SOLIDARITY MESSAGE for the Asian Religious Youth Leaders Summit

By Kerlan "Lala" Fanagel

PASAKA Secretary General

In behalf of PASAKA, Confederation of Indigenous Peoples (Lumad) Organizations in Southern Mindanao, I wish to convey warmest greeting of solidarity to the Asian Conference on Religions for Peace (ACRP), to the youth leader delegates all over Asia and the world, secretariat and all the guests of the Asian Religious Youth Leaders Summit.

Indeed, with the society's unrest and the continuous war happening not only in our country today but also in other parts of the world, apparently this convergence of the youth is timely and very significant as history have proven that it is the youth that plays a major role in bringing about genuine peace that we have been longing for.

With the theme "Youth As Peacemakers: Gathering in Hope, Pledging Common Action," it is clear that expectations are high among the people that the youth will take its leading role in arousing, organizing, mobilizing and forging alliances in order to advance the peoples' struggle for freedom and democracy.

In the brink of leaving the stage of youth myself, I have seen and realize the importance of our role in building a just and peaceful society. Even as this youth summit is yet about to start, allow me to congratulate you in advance for this historical gathering of hope. Congratulations to the youth present here today! We salute you! Your presence alone already showed that you are ready to face the challenges of being a youth—not only as a peacemaker but also as a change-maker.

Let this youth summit be an occasion not only in forging unity for peace but also a right time for reflection and action to actively participate in our pursuit to achieve a just and peaceful Asian society.

As I stand proudly before you here today representing one of the most marginalized sector in the country, the Indigenous People, I am here not only to inspire you but I am here because I am inspired of you. This gathering of youth, also with our sector's representation, is an inspiration to me, to us lumads, to relentlessly carry on with our struggle for our rights to ancestral lands and right to self-determination.

As we, Indigenous Peoples, continue to defend our rights, I urge you, the youth of today, to strengthen your ranks as we intensify our common efforts to uphold, defend and advance our rights to democracy, social justice, self-reliant development, a healthy environment and the conservation of natural resources for future development independent of the colonizers and imperialists. These are things imperative of just and peaceful society.

With peace initiatives like this, we are one with you in your quest. As you embark with this activity to reflect and act, remember to join us also in our struggle against exploitation and oppression in the most comprehensive and profound way. Recently, we have been facing difficult times especially with the on-going mining plunder and state terrorism. Your support on acting against these evil works will be far reaching significance and consequence.

Even as we suffer, as we are told, let us overcome evil with good (Rom.12:21). Let also this gathering be a gathering for harmony among religious communities and let us work together to build trust and mutual respect among youth, among people.

The hope that you have shown to us is inspirational and tangibly relevant to the struggle of the entire Filipino people and the people of the world for national and social liberation. I am positive that you will actively participate this event in order to share your experiences and concerns and propose resolutions and definite courses of action for carrying forward your struggle in concert with the struggles of the people of the world to achieve justice and genuine peace.

I hope that this message can shed some light on what the youth can do to strike deep roots and strengthen itself in order to advance our rights and interests and to maximize the role of the youth in the people's quest for genuine peace and to carry forward the long-term struggle for freedom and democracy.

May the God of peace/ Magbabaya fill our hearts and minds with love so that we may all strive to establish the reign of peace, justice and life for all. Thank you very much and have a pleasant evening! ###

PASAKA

Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao

PRESS RELEASE

October 5, 2008

Army hit for forcing and using civilians as military guide in Tugbok

The PASAKA Regional Lumad Confederation scored the military soldiers under Task Force Davao and 104th DRC for its abusive military operations and human rights violations such as using civilians as military guide in various villages in Tugbok District.

After the reported clashes between the Task Force Davao together with the Philippine National Police and the New Peoples’ Army last September 26, 2008, counter-insurgency operations of government troops have sown fear and terror among the civilian populace in Tamayong, Calinan District which resulted to hundreds of evacuees.

Nearby villages like Sitio Utan, Tamayong and Sitio Kahusayan, Manuel Guinga, Tugbok District is gravely affected by the counter-insurgency operation since military elements are encamping in the midst of the community and in the barrio centers. “It has only been barely five months since the brutal death of Datu Dominador Diarog and the forcible evacuation of the residents in Kahusayan and now another terror is happening and gravely affecting the lives of the Bagobo-C’lata lumads in the same place, they are not yet even fully rehabilitated from the trauma they had and now they are experiencing fear and terror again. Justice has really been elusive to the lumad victims.” Kerlan “Lala” Fanagel, PASAKA Secretary General said.

Using carrot and stick tactic, residents who refuse to attend the meetings organized by the soldiers were tagged as New People’s Army supporters or members. According to the reports reaching PASAKA office, soldiers coerced some residents in Kahusayan to serve as military guides during their relentless operations in the hinterlands and when they are in the village they would conduct psy-war operations against the civilians. According to the reports of the local lumad organization in the area, soldiers would knock at around 3 o’clock in the morning and force civilians to serve as their guides and the soldiers would even confiscate cell-phones from the residents.

The situation has become so unbearable that some residents have already (again) left their farms and homes and trooped to other Barangays.

Pasaka condemns the ongoing abusive military operations for this will eventually displace the lumads who are being land-grabbed in the area by intimidating them into submission. This is another attempt to quell the local opposition against those who wanted to grab what is left of their ancestral domain.

Pasaka, therefore, calls for an end of the atrocious military operations in the villages of Tamayong, Calinan District and in Tugbok District and an investigation in the human rights violations happening in the area. We also call on the people to support, once and again, the struggle of the Bagobo-C’lata to defend their ancestral domain, their people and their right to self-determination.*

For Reference:

Kerlan “Lala” Fanagel

Secretary General

PASAKA

Contact: 305-0824