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

MEDIA RELEASE


IN CELEBRATION OF THE TRIBAL FILIPINO WEEK

Indigenous People & Advocates Form KATRIBU PARYTLIST


DAVAO CITY-- Land, Life,and Rights. These were the words significant for the indigenous people and advocates who were gathered today (Oct. 9) to launch the newly-formed partylist group KATRIBU. The launching was also timed for the annual observance of the Tribal Filipino Week.


"Amidst the threats to our ancestral lands brought by development aggression and relentless militarization, the danger of climate change due to the plunder of our land and resources, and the obliteration of our identity, our calls to defend our land, life and rights are more urgent than ever," said Kerlan Fanagel, Katribu Partylist Regional Coordinator.


The launching was held at the Salugpongan Hall, UCCP- HARAN, Fr. Selga St., Davao City and attended by some 50 members and supporters. The Katribu Partylist was formed in Metro Manila last August 9, 2008.


The Katribu sees its entry into the mainstream politics as a venue to promote the interest of the IPs through legislative reforms and campaigns.


Fanagel noted that "With the multi-national corporations' greed to loot our lands with their so-called development projects, We Lumads have been displaced and have become squatters in our own land. Projects such as mining, dams, plantations for jathropa, bananas, palm oil, coconuts and pineapple, have only favored the elite and the foreign big businesses."


He also said that "twin to the so-called development is the militarization of our communities." Intensified military operations in the hinterland communities is abetted with the Investment Defense Force and the National Internal Security Program for Indigenous Peoples.


Militarization has resulted to displacement, harassments, threats, forced recruitment for Task Force Gantangan, and physical assault. The worst is the extra-judicial killing Lumads leaders namely Ludenio Monzon and Marcial Latiban of Davao Oriental, Agustin Cumawas in North Cotabato, Datu Dominador Diarog of Kahusayan, Tugbok District, and Datu Aladino Badbaran of Agusan del Sur.


"Instead of protecting the welfare of the indigenous peoples, the Arroyo government has sold our patrimony through the implementation of the Mining Act of 1995 and the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA)," Katribu lamented.


The groups also said that Lumads continue to fall prey to discrimination and are deprived of the much-needed social services by the state.


"Thus, we in KATRIBU Partylist are emboldened to carry on this urgent call to protect our communities, our rights, our resources and patrimony for the welfare of the Lumads and the nation. We carry on this legacy of the indigenous people to defend our ancestral land and the right to self-determination. Furthermore, we believe it is time to put our stake in the political arena, by asserting our rights and voice in the party-list system," Katribu said in their yesterday's declaration.


The Katribu also declared that: "On this significant occasion, we in KATRIBU Partylist strive to unite our collective voice, to pursue our long dream of a just society where the rights of the indigenous peoples along with other basic sectors are realized to the fullest.


We shall draw from the support of our communities, along with those in solidarity with the Lumads and environment, to push for reforms to serve the interests and protect the rights of the poor and marginalized sectors. With that, we particularly call for ways to stop the plunder of our resources, ask for the repeal of laws that tolerate this plunder, and seek repatriation to communities that have been damaged by these activities.


For the defense of our rights, we shall pursue all avenues to attain justice to victims of militarization, especially here in Southern Mindanao where the 10th Infantry Division of the AFP has wreaked havoc to our communities with the implementation of Oplan Bantay Laya 2 and the NISP-IP. We call for the pull out of military troops in communities, and an end to forced recruitment of Lumads to paramilitary forces.


We shall unite the Lumads and other sectors with similar ideals of promoting the rights and welfare of the marginalized. This is a great and formidable task for the indigenous peoples, but we believe that in our unity comes the strength to take on this challenge, guided by our history of struggle and the vision of a just society for us all." ###


For Reference:


KERLAN FANAGEL
Regional Coordinator
Katribu Partylist



DULPING OGAN
National Vice Chairperson
Katribu Partylist

PRESS RELEASE


YOUTH GROUPS SUPPORT KATRIBU PARTYLIST


Davao City-- At least 50 youth leaders vowed to support the newly-launched KATRIBU, a partylist group for indigenous people saying that "it is high time for Congress to hear the voice from the Lumads and other tribes in the country."


Katribu Partylist aims to win three seats in Congress during the the 2010 election to represent and fight for the issues on the preservation and protection of ancestral doman and the environment.


Various youth groups led by Kadumahan Youth, a city-wide school based IP youth and advocates' organization, declared their support to KATRIBU Partylist as one of it's major resolutions in a Mindanao-wide consultation on Indigenous Youth held here today. The youth leaders representing indigenous peoples and advocates' organizations, student councils, and student publications gathered at the Salugpongan Hall of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines for a consultation on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change.


"We believe that the youth as the catalyst for change can voice out our common vision of protecting the Lumads and supporting their right to ancestral domain and the preservation of their culture," said Russ Angelo Ybanez, Kadumahan spokesperson and a delegate to the said consultation.


Ybanez added that "(T)he Katribu will complement in the struggle for justice for the indigenous people who have long been victimized by relentless militarization, evacuation, extra-judicial killing and landgrabbing as a result of development aggression."


Ybanez also said that "Arroyo government's plunder of natural resources poses alarming impact to climate change which will eventually result to more disasters just like what happened in Luzon".


The consultation was held coinciding with the celebration of the Tribal Filipino Week. Advocates and representatives from the different government agencies, peoples organizations, non-government organizations and various schools also participated in the first part of the said event. They expressed concern over the militarization and encroachment of multi-national corporations in lumad areas.


Leaders from PASAKA Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao and KALUMARAN graced the event challenging the indigenous youth and advocates to be involved in solving the pressing issues of our times, stressing on how these problems link each and every sector of the society.


“It is inspiring to see young leaders having the time, commitment and passion to learn from the issues confronting the Lumads and to join in the struggle for the rights of Lumads," said Dulping Ogan, National Vice Chairperson of Katribu Partylist.


During the consultation's solidarity ritual, youth leaders gave soil, seedlings, musical instrument, ballpens and liyang (lumad basket) to the lumad leaders.##





For Reference:


Russ Angelo Ybanez

Spokesperson

Kadumahan Youth

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