NEWS RELEASE
October 24, 2009
Talaingod deaths rising --- KATRIBU PARTYLIST
Talaingod, Davao Del Norte --- The Katribu Partylist raised alarm and called for immediate intervention over the rising number of deaths as a result of epidemic and hunger in the militarized hinterlands of this town.
The Katribu Partylist who went with peace advocates in an Interfaith Peace and Mercy Mission in Sitio Nasilaban from October 21 to 22 documented more than 43 deaths that have occurred from August to October this year in various villages in Talaingod. The Mercy Mission provided medical assistance to nearly 300 Ata-Manobo lumads.
KATRIBU partylist coordinator Russ Ybanez said an Ata-Manobo chieftain told them that 17 of his fellow villagers died due to hunger and illness when they were forced to evacuate for two consecutive times, on May and August this year. The Lumads fled from the wartorn areas where the 60th IB soldiers campaigned to have them become members of the Barangay Defense Force or Bagani forces.
“Sukwahi sa kultura sa lumad ang BDS. Makaapekto kana sa amoang pag-uma. Dili mi mosugot niana,” said Datu Ebong Gongotan, village datu in Sitio Bugni.
Acccording to Datu Gongotan, 47 families from Sitio Bugni evacuated on the last week of May this year after some unidentified military elements killed a certain Kopis, a 15 year old Ata-Manobo kid who was accused by the military of being an NPA.
They then sought refuge at Sitio Nasilaban, but the arrival of the 60th IB on August 15 forced the Lumads to go evacuate to the forest without any food supplies or certainty of a shelter just to evade the BDS recruitment.
“A clear act of desperation and cowardice, paramilitary recruitment directly uses civilians as frontliners and pawns in the military’s war,” Ybanez said.
Other areas where residents evacuated due to the September military operations are the villages of Sambulongan (60 families), Labuo ( 47 families), Laslasakan (36 families), Nalubas (37 families), Nabalabag( 12 families), and Sasu ( 20 families). Totaling to 232 families or 1392 individuals.
KATRIBU also said that the creation, maintenance of paramilitary forces or similar groups is categorically prohibited in international humanitarian laws and the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Laws (CARHRIHL) that uphold the protection of the civilian populace from hostilities.
KATRIBU, a lumad sectoral group aiming to represent the indigenous peoples’ concerns in Congress on 2010 called for the immediate intervention of the LGU in the area, particularly for a comprehensive medical assistance for the villagers of Talaingod.
It also urged for the immediate investigation of the military’s policy on paramilitary formation and seeks to dismantle the Barangay Defense System. ###
For Reference:
Russ Ybanez
Youth Coordinator
Katribu Partylist
October 24, 2009
Talaingod deaths rising --- KATRIBU PARTYLIST
Talaingod, Davao Del Norte --- The Katribu Partylist raised alarm and called for immediate intervention over the rising number of deaths as a result of epidemic and hunger in the militarized hinterlands of this town.
The Katribu Partylist who went with peace advocates in an Interfaith Peace and Mercy Mission in Sitio Nasilaban from October 21 to 22 documented more than 43 deaths that have occurred from August to October this year in various villages in Talaingod. The Mercy Mission provided medical assistance to nearly 300 Ata-Manobo lumads.
KATRIBU partylist coordinator Russ Ybanez said an Ata-Manobo chieftain told them that 17 of his fellow villagers died due to hunger and illness when they were forced to evacuate for two consecutive times, on May and August this year. The Lumads fled from the wartorn areas where the 60th IB soldiers campaigned to have them become members of the Barangay Defense Force or Bagani forces.
“Sukwahi sa kultura sa lumad ang BDS. Makaapekto kana sa amoang pag-uma. Dili mi mosugot niana,” said Datu Ebong Gongotan, village datu in Sitio Bugni.
Acccording to Datu Gongotan, 47 families from Sitio Bugni evacuated on the last week of May this year after some unidentified military elements killed a certain Kopis, a 15 year old Ata-Manobo kid who was accused by the military of being an NPA.
They then sought refuge at Sitio Nasilaban, but the arrival of the 60th IB on August 15 forced the Lumads to go evacuate to the forest without any food supplies or certainty of a shelter just to evade the BDS recruitment.
“A clear act of desperation and cowardice, paramilitary recruitment directly uses civilians as frontliners and pawns in the military’s war,” Ybanez said.
Other areas where residents evacuated due to the September military operations are the villages of Sambulongan (60 families), Labuo ( 47 families), Laslasakan (36 families), Nalubas (37 families), Nabalabag( 12 families), and Sasu ( 20 families). Totaling to 232 families or 1392 individuals.
KATRIBU also said that the creation, maintenance of paramilitary forces or similar groups is categorically prohibited in international humanitarian laws and the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Laws (CARHRIHL) that uphold the protection of the civilian populace from hostilities.
KATRIBU, a lumad sectoral group aiming to represent the indigenous peoples’ concerns in Congress on 2010 called for the immediate intervention of the LGU in the area, particularly for a comprehensive medical assistance for the villagers of Talaingod.
It also urged for the immediate investigation of the military’s policy on paramilitary formation and seeks to dismantle the Barangay Defense System. ###
For Reference:
Russ Ybanez
Youth Coordinator
Katribu Partylist
Labels: AFP, civilian, davao, death, displacement, election, evacuattion, hunger, Indigenous People, katribu, Lumad, military, Mindanao, partylist, PASAKA, Philippines, rights, SAGIP, Talaingod
posted by Solidarity Action Group for Indigenous Peoples at 7:39 AM
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