September 26, 2009
PRESS RELEASE

IP partylist group slams Suerte for lying; reiterates call for troops pull-out in Talaingod

DAVAO CITY - Lying through his teeth is how Katribu Partylist describes Colonel Lysander Suerte of the 10th Infantry Division (10th ID) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The group strongly believes that Suerte's response regarding the recent cases filed by Lumads before the Commission on Human Rights was merely an attempt to conceal the real score in Talaingod, Davao del Norte.

Last week, Ata-Manobo datus from Salugpungan ta tanu Igkanugon pointed to soldiers of the 60th Infantry Batallion stationed in Talaingod as perpetrators of the series of human rights violations.

“Eversince the creation of the 10th ID, military troops in Davao region have been on rampage and have continuously committed massive rights violations against the hapless Lumads and farmers. The mere existence of their troops within the civilian populace is already a violation as it poses danger to the community,” Katribu Party list Regional Coordinator Kerlan Fanagel said.

“Col. Suerte's declaration that more than half of the New People's Army rebels are Lumads only show his twisted perception and the state's discrimination against the indigenous people. The military troops attempt to rule Lumad communities in a climate of impunity,” Fanagel added.

Despite the demands made by the Salugpungan for the 60th IB to pull-out from the area, the soldiers continued to conduct counter-insurgency operations and disrupt the farming activities of the Lumads in such farflung hinterland villages,” Fanagel added. At least 28 lumads have died of sickness and hunger. Ata-Manobo residents could no longer harvest their crops since military troops prevent them from going to their farms.

“Daghan nang mga humay namo ang nangadaot ug di na gyud namo ma-ani tungod kay mahadlok man gyud mi sa mga bahad sa mga military. Usahay na lang gani mi makakaon og bugas ug karon nga ting ani, wa pa gyud mi naka sanggi, daghan kanamo ang nangagutom, daghan naman gani ang namatay sa sakit, sayang gyud ang among hago nga naadto lang sa wala, mao nang kusog ming nanawagan nga unta manghawa na sa among komunidad ang mga military.” (There were many rice crops which have gone to waste and we can no longer harvest out of frear from the military. We were not able to harvest, despite the fact that many of us are hungry. That's why we strongly call for their pull out), Datu Sumpo Taosan of Talaingod said.

For reference:


KERLAN FANAGEL
Regional Coordinator
KATRIBU Partylist

Mission Statement
Fact Finding Mission in Sitio Dulyan, Talaingod, Davao del Norte
September 15-16, 2009

We, Lumad and peace advocates, human rights advocates, students, and health professionals, church people, condemn the acts of harassment and intimidation we have been subject to by the military soldiers of the 60th Infantry Battalion led by Lt. Dennis Ayungo during the Fact Finding Mission held in Sitio Dulyan, Brgy. Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao del Norte on September 15, 2008.

The said military elements interrupted and attempted to join the fact finding mission, and in the process, caused fear and intimidation from among the Lumad residents. The military willfully prevented civilian participants to the FFM from freely relaying the real conditions in the area, particularly as regards to the continued military encampment in their community.

Moreover, the military intentionally held and/or detained the mission team for three hours delaying the team’s departure from the area. Military soldiers accosted the drivers who were supposed to bring the mission team back to the town center on the pretext that the drivers did not have licenses.

The team was only allowed to leave after the soldiers found out that the incident was being aired at a local radio station and that several media people have already been alerted regarding the said incident.

This experience has only further encouraged the fact finding mission team to expose the atrocities committed by the 60th Infantry Battalion against the Ata-manobo communities in Talaingod which started since last July.

The mission team thus presents here the objectives and findings of the fact finding mission.

Objectives of the Fact Finding Mission

The fact-finding mission team consisting of lumad, peace and human rights advocates was formed in response to the recent reports reaching the PASAKA Confederation of Lumad Organizations and Solidarity Action Group for Indigenous Peoples office regarding the human rights violations being perpetrated by the military in various villages in Talaingod.

The invitation from Salupongan ta Tanu Igkanugon (local lumad organization) to attend the B’walawan Festival on September 15, 2009 was an opportune time to hold the fact-finding mission.


Findings of the Mission Team:

While the Mission Team was in Sitio Dulyan, in Brgy. Palma Gil, Talaingod, we have witnessed the ill effects of the counter-insurgency operations perpetrated by the 60th Infantry Battalion led by Lt. Dennis Ayungo under the 10th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The gravity of the militarization in the impoverished communities of the Ata Manobo tribes have been documented. Testimonies from the residents of Sitio Dulyan and of the five tribal leaders from other communities also reveal the following:

1. Hamletting of civilian communities.
Around 22 elements of the 60th IB have been encamping right within the villages of
Sitio Dulyan, Brgy Sto.Nino.

Meanwhile military troops in a Re-engineered Special Operations team (RSOT) who now call themselves as Community Assistance Development (CAD) team under the 60th IB have also encamped within Sitios Banwalay, Bagang, Laboo, Laslasakan, Bugni, Sambolongan, and Nasilaban in Brgy. Palma Gil, Talaingod.

For over a month now, the Ata-Manobos have been suffering from destruction of properties, violation of domicile, illegal search, coercion, harassment, intimidation, threats and curtailment of fundamental civil and political rights to free movement, free association and free speech of civilians in the aforementioned affected areas.

2. Violation on the rights of children in the context of military encampment in schools:

The continued forcible dislocation and trauma wrought by the intermittent militarization of their communities caused the children emotional and psychological trauma.

Their schooling has stopped as the military insists on encamping right within their school grounds/premises and their parents witnessed how the military destroyed the crops and fences of their community farm.

The military soldiers led by Lt. Dennis Ayungo and Sgt. Christopher Oliveros have been going house to house in the community telling the the lumads not to send their children in Salupongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon Community Learning Center and the said military soldiers accused that the teachers as fakes and communists.

The military soldiers have also been intervening in the activities of the school and they launched their own activities and forced the people to join such as forcing the lumad residents to build the military's makeshift puroks and CR.

3. Harassment of community - based lumad teachers:

The teachers of Salupongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon Learning Center, the only functioning school in the area, also expressed their fears about the continued use of their school premises for military purposes since the military started the militarization of Talaingod on August 15, 2009.

The teachers were constantly being intimidated and harassed by the soldiers led by Sgt. Chirstopher Oliveros. They testified how they are constantly interrogated and their credibility is questioned.

4. Forced recruitment of villagers into paramilitary groups, CVO’s and CAFGU’s

The glaring impact of forced recruitment by the military of Talaingod residents into the Barangay Defense System (BDS), CVO or Bagani Force is the disruption of their economic livelihood. Hunger is stalking Lumad communities. On the whole, the military has taken over and transformed the lumad area as a military garrison undermining civilian supremacy in this 5th class municipality.

Conclusion:

Aggravating the ill-effects of the relentless militarization and the human rights violations is the fact that law enforcement, local government unit and prosecution institutions remain largely inutile and are a failure in the attainment of justice for the victims.

The harassment and the attempts to discredit the credibility of the Mission Team in the area last Tuesday September 15 was a glaring indication of how armed elements such as the 60th IB of the 10th ID try to rule remote civilian areas such as Talaingod under a climate of impunity, supplanting local civilian authorities.

Apparently, the latest RSOT or CAD operations of the 60th IB in Dulyan and the other communities in Talaingod is designed to dismantle the Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon which has over the last decade remained strong in its stand against the influx of aggressive capitalist incursions in their ancestral land.

The hardline positioning of Salugpungan against so-called development projects is being undermined through massive psychological warfare and intelligence building in the area.

Despite the LGU and the NCIP’s pronouncement that they oppose encroachment by big plantations in Talaingod, the presence of the military forces in the area is enough proof that the state is dead-set in pursuing the project in the area--in Salugpungan’s history, military operations preceded the IFMA project in Talaingod.

Recent reports have shown that an estimated 40,000 hectares of land in Talaingod, Davao del Norte has been proposed to be the site of the needed expansion of coffee plantations in the country. In fact, a Memorandum of Agreement between the government and the Nestle Philippines, Inc. in terms of coffee production had already been signed two months ago.

Moreover, the RSOT or CAD operations which fall within the framework of the “hamletting” program of the US-Southern Vietnam military strategy, intend to force and intimidate residents to participate in the military’s counter insurgency operations; restrict their economic and political mobility, entice lumad leaders who are facing false charges to surrender; and recruit paramilitary forces from among the residents.

The RSOT operations wreaked havoc on the lives of the civilians and has apparently turned communities as shields in the military’s proxy war.

Evidently, the military troops operating in Sitio Dulyan and in other villages in Brgy. Palma Gil, Talaingod violated the following provisions of the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian law:

- Protocol II, Part IV, Article 13 which provides that “The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against the dangers arising from military operations.”

- Part IV Article 12 of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Laws (CARHRIHL) which cites that “Civilian population shall have the right to be protected against the risks and dangers posed by the presence of military camps in urban centers and other populated areas.”

- The on-going hamletting of the 60th IB in Talaingod is a clear violation of the basic rights of the indigenous people especially their rights to self-determination and ancestral domain.

In the guise of counter-insurgency operations, the military attempts to weaken the unity of the Ata-Manobos. The military tries to reinvent itself by initiating the implementation of projects that are supposedly civilian in nature. Harassment, grave threats and coercion through the pulong-pulong (meetings) belie military’s claim that there were no human rights violations committed in the area.

We are deeply concerned that as the military elements under the 60th IB continue to stay right within the civilian populace in Talaingod in the course of their counter-insurgency operations, more Lumad civilians will be victimized and more cases of human rights abuses will continue.

In view of the foregoing, the team has come up with the following recommendations:

a. Immediate withdrawal of AFP troops specifically the 60th Infantry battalion led by Lt. Dennis Ayungo and Sgt. Oliveros in the affected villages of Talaingod Davao del Norte, most especially in civilian-populated areas, public places and other structures manned by civilian authorities.

b. Stop the encroachment of Nestle Philippines in the ancestral domain of the Ata-Manobos

c. Creation of credible investigative bodies to look into the human rights violation cases against the Ata-Manobo lumads, including the extra-judicial killings of Kapis Butod.

d. Stop the recruitment of the BDS, CVO and Bagani Forces and dismantle their structures.

e. Stop the vilification campaign against leaders and members of Salupongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon and other legal peoples' organizations.

f. Immediate implementation of the planned on-site investigation by the Municipal and Provincial Local Government Unit and Commission on Human Rights on the human rights violations committed against the Ata Manobo civilians in Talaingod.###

For Reference:

MEL ELIO
Chairperson- PASAKA Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao

KERLAN FANAGEL
Regional Coordinator- KATRIBU Partylist

DULPING OGAN
Secretary General- Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao (KALUMARAN)

DATU DOLOMAN DAWSAY
Spokesperson- Salupongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon
Sitio Dulyan Tribal Chieftain

PRESS RELEASE
August 19, 2009


PASAKA denounces AFP's classic scheme of pitting lumad vs lumad, reiterates call to stop militarization in lumad areas and stop assaulting progressive lumad organization

PASAKA Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao denounces the recent attempt of the military under the 10th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to cover up and deny the recent atrocities they have been enforcing in peasant and lumad communities by employing their old tactics of pitting the lumads versus lumads.

“It has been the AFP's classic scheme to use lumads not only during their counter-insurgency operations but also in their witch-hunting campaigns against progressive legal organizations who have been exposing the barbaric acts and massive human rights violations that the military have relentlessly inflict against the hapless lumad civilians in the countrysides,” PASAKA Secretary Kerlan Fanagel said.

“It is not surprising at all that Joel Unad of the Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Conference for Peace and Development (MIPCPD) defended the AFP instead of supporting the calls of the lumads to stop the militarization and human rights abuses in lumad areas since MIPCPD in the first place is an infamous military-backed organization that has been recruiting lumads into paramilitary and vigilante groups,” Fanagel added.

PASAKA recalled that the MIPCPD has a standing Memorandum of Understanding with the Eastern Mindanao Command of the AFP executed last November 28, 2007 which is a defilement of the lumad culture and warned the military that not all lumads are party to the agreements or negotiations entered into by the MIPCPD.

“It is just unfortunate that there are lumads who pretend to be tribal leaders but in fact they are tribal dealers who have given their loyalty and bias to the military, the number one aggressor of the lumads' rights, instead of directing their efforts in serving the interest of the lumads and to find ways into alleviating the dire situation that the hapless lumads have long been suffering,” Fanagel lamented.

Fanagel said, “10th ID Chief Maj. General Reynaldo Mapagu who have recently dared PASAKA to file charges in the proper courts should check the long list of cases and better read the hundreds of affidavits filed against his abusive troops in the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) office and we challenge him to readily face and be accountable for the gross violations perpetrated by his men if he is sincere in his words about wanting fairness, impartiality and justice to reign.”

“We are reverberating our call to immediately pull out military troops who have been terrorizing the lumad communities and to stop targeting the civilians, we are alarmed with the recent reports that military under 60th Infantry Battalion is again terrorizing the Ata Manobo lumads in Talaingod by staying in their houses and in the schools in Sitio Dulyan and Sitio Nasilaban, Brgy. Palma Gil in Talaingod town which started five days ago and until now the said soldiers hamletted their community,” Fanagel said.

PASAKA is also alarmed with the recent report from one of it's local organization that 400 farmers and lumads coming from 7 barangays (Sto. Niño, Tumanding, Mari Caridad, Kinawayan, Kabantian, Duruluman, and Malibatuan) in Arakan Valley North Cotabato left their homes and are now staying in Arakan gym as fears continue to escalate after military soldiers under 57th IB occupied the public halls in Brgy. Sto. Niño and Brgy. Tomanding. The victims are now lobbying to the Sanguniang Bayan to pull out the military troops under 57th IB from their communities.

PASAKA also decries continuing assault on progressive peoples' organizations as lumad members and staff staying in PASAKA office have experienced being tailed and harassed by some armed burly men for 2 consecutive days this week.

“We also noticed surveillance being conducted by suspicious persons and noticed that our office is constantly being monitored. If anything untoward incident happens to any of our members and staff, there is no one to blame but the the military who have labeled our organization as one of the “enemies of the state,” it only proves that the government's offensives against people’s organizations are in accordance with the objectives of Oplan Bantay Laya 2 (OBL), which apparently remains operational,” Fanagel said.#


For reference:

Kerlan Fanagel
Secretary General- PASAKA
Regional Coordinator – KATRIBU Partylist
Contact Number: 09192714767

PRESS RELEASE
August 17, 2009

LUMADS MARK WORLD'S IP MONTH WITH PROTEST ACTIONS AGAINST MILITARIZATION

In commemoration of the World's Indigenous Peoples' Month as declared by the United Nations, lumad leaders representing various tribes in Southern Mindanao came together in a 3-day PASAKA Council meeting and discuss the recent plight of the lumads in the region and reaffirm their vows to continue the lumad struggle for the rights to ancestral lands and to self-determination. “As part of our culmination activity in commemorating IP month, we are conducting protest actions in the form of picket rally to register our call to stop killing lumads and stop militarization in lumad areas,” PASAKA Secretary General Kerla Fanagel said.

On top of the demands and recommendations crafted by the PASAKA council is the immediate pull-out of the military troops holding massive military operations which resulted to massive human rights violations against the lumad civilians in Paquibato in Davao City, Talaingod in Davao del Norte, Laak and Monkayo in Compostela Valley and in the towns of Lupon, Baganga, Cateel, Boston in Davao Oriental and Lianga Surigao Del Sur.

“Lumad communities in Southern Mindanao and its neighboring regions is besieged with military offensives such that civilian communities continue to experience human rights abuses and falls prey to the military’s terrorist war under the counter-insurgency plan Oplan Bantay Laya II (OBL II) and specifically in the National Internal Security Plan on Indigenous Peoples (NISP-IP) being implemented by the AFP in the lumad communities,” Fanagel said.

According to Fanagel, “The long list of indigenous martyrs in Southern Mindanao like Datu Dominador Diarog of Davao City, Ludenio Monzon of Boston, Marcial Latiban of Cateel, Kapis Butod of Talaingod, Agustin Cumawas of Matalam and many others who were slain by the state’s bullets magnifies the fact that the Arroyo government has no respect for indigenous peoples’ rights. The killing of civilians and activists who are resistant to the encroachment of military might and pseudo-development projects in farmer and indigenous communities is also under the AFP's implementation of OBL II.”

PASAKA is alarmed with the recent reports of human rights violations. “We received area reports that several families from 13 barangays in Baganga, Davao Oriental have again experienced military hamletting and abuses. Some victims have already sought assistance in the province as fears continue to escalate in Davao Oriental after military abuses have been committed against the local residents,” Fanagel added.

Meanwhile troubles also hound Davao City’s suburbs as military operations continue unabated in Paquibato District. According to the reports of the local organization, last August 9 , the regular mass in a chapel in Fatima, Paquibato did not take place because the military spread threats that there were bombs around their areas, sowing fear among the people.

Also in time of the 3rd founding anniversary of the 10th ID of the AFP, PASAKA called on the military’s regional command to put the welfare of civilian communities before the military’s target quota of killing and to heed the call of the lumads to pull-out military troops from the peasant and lumad communities since these military soldiers have never protected the civilians and in fact have gone frenzy on abusing the hapless lumads and farmers.

PASAKA also called on the church leaders, local government units, and peace advocates to call for the immediate pull-out of military troops in civilian communities and stop targeting the civilian populace.

“Amidst the dire poverty and hunger aggravated by the grim economic crisis, the most impoverished sectors which are the peasant and lumads are subject to gross military abuses. What the people need is food, jobs and education, not unjust war being launched by the Arroyo government,” Fanagel said.#


For reference:


KERLAN FANAGEL
Secretary General
PASAKA

Contact: 09192714767

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.

Lumad group PASAKA decry harassment, repression!

PASAKA, Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao files complaints against Lt. Col. Ferdinand Buding, commanding officer of the 28th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) today for the malicious power point presentation entitled “The Army” which showed photo of Kerlan “Lala” Fanagel being accused as a rebel communist operating in Compostela Valley and for the wanted posters where photo of Mr. Fanagel appeared which are posted in populated areas such as the bus terminal and restaurants in Compostela, Compostela Valley.

PASAKA has been receiving reports from the local residents in Sitio Valma, Brgy. Ngan, Compostela that the 28th IB, PA who is continuously launching military operations through the Re-enginnered Special Operations Team (RSOT) had been instigating their “pulong-pulong” or meeting with the local officials and residents in Compostela since July this year. According to the reports, it has been a strict policy that nobody must take any minutes or photos from the said pulong-pulong, which is actually part of the counter-insurgency operations of the military.

Last July 27, 2008, the same pulong-pulong was launched by the 28th IB,PA at Brgy. Ngan, Compostela, Compostela Valley .

One of the residents recalled that the main part of the said “pulong-pulong” was the showing of the power-point presentation entitled “The Army.” “Natingala na lang man mi nga anaa man ang dagway ni Lala, ang nailhan namong lider sa organisasyon sa mga lumad sa rehiyon nga PASAKA sa power-point ug matud pa ni Lt. Col. Buding nga mao kuno to ang dagway sa usa ka wanted nga rebeldeng NPA nga ginganlag Nelson Villanueva alyas Kumander Lala nga naga-operate sa Compostela Valley ug si si bisan kinsa kuno nga makakita sa maong dagwaya isumbong dayon sa mga kasundalohan nga anaa sa lugar,” one of the residents recounted.

The military also claimed that the person who appeared in their power-point presentation known as Commander Lala is now seen in Davao City because according to their intelligence report that he is in sick-leave and that their intelligence team has been monitoring him in the city.

On August 11, 2008, Mr. Tony Salubre, spokesperson of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) who personally knows Kerlan “Lala” Fanagel went to Compostela, Compoetela Valley for a speaking engagement. Upon arriving at the Compostela terminal, he noticed several wanted posters posted in the vicinity of the terminal and what he saw was a wanted list with photos of accused leaders of Communist Rebels operating in the region. He was surprised to see that among the photos shown was the face of Kerlan “Lala” Fanagel but his name in the said poster was Minandro Villanueva @ Nelso/ Bos – NMRC Secretary, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley , portion of Agusan del Sur, Davao del Sur and Cotabato.

The texts in the aforementioned wanted poster (where photo of Kerlan “Lala” Fanagel appeared) is in vernacular (Bisaya) when translated reads: “Wanted Rebel Communist, People who are in pretense but big impediment in the development of our economy, brains of poverty and chaos in our country. [Shown: 15 photos with names and areas where they operate]. These people are the brains in making the Filipino people fight. Lazy versus hardworking, poor versus rich, students versus the school owner, workers versus the company owner, but behind the flame they fanned to make the people fight, there is their extortion face against the hard-working people and businessmen, putting in fire the vehicles and the properties of the businessmen, and killing the people who won’t give money every month in the area where the NPA are operating. Whoever helps in arresting these people “DEAD or ALIVE,” will receive a reward-money from the Government. For more information, call or approach the officials of the Barangay, Municipality, Provincial or the Military Soldiers or cell NR: 0921.729.8341”

“It is clear that this is deliberately done and obviously a desperate attempt of the military specifically Lt. Col. Ferdinand Buding of the 28th IB,PA to discredit my credibility as a legal officer of PASAKA and worst tainting my personality by red-baiting thereby creating them a license to kill me anytime, anywhere. This is mind-conditioning the public that it would be fine if I get killed, now if something bad happens to me, you already know who’s to blame, PASAKA Secretary General Kerlan Fanagel said.

Fanagel also said “the military hopes that their dirty old tactic will work and this time against me, but just like what they did to other leaders of progressive groups, I will fail them again especially that their accusation is totally malicious, baseless and unfounded. I have already met with some of the 28th IB,PA elements face to face at the Compostela Gym before, that was during the evacuation of the lumads just this month of May where they took photographs and videos of me and I am willing to face them again to make them answer all these ill intentions and political harassment against me.”

“We are reporting this political repression deliberately done to harass, intimidate and scare us to silence to the office of the CHR as we adhere to the legal remedies and we hope CHR would act on this incident and ensure that our rights will be protected,” Fanagel urge.

Human rights groups and other progressive organizations also denounced this recent accusations against Fanagel as a form of harassment and political repression. “He is being persecuted for having firm commitment to defend the Indigenous peoples rights.” Said Prof. Myfel Paluga, chairperson of the Solidarity Action Group for Indigenous People (SAGIP).

This case is another reflection of the military’s strong effort to demonize progressive organizations. “This is another conscious effort by the elements of the State to demonize legitimate organizations that criticize and oppose the bankrupt policies of the Arroyo administration, particularly in the context of the worsening human rights situation of the country specifically in the province of Compostela Valley,” said Kelly Delgado, Secretary General of Karapatan-Southern Mindanao.###


For Reference:



Kerlan “Lala” Fanagel
Secretary General
PASAKA, Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao



Media Desk: Ms. April Calam (0928.605.9209)