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

LUMADS: The fight against HEDCOR’s hydro-powerplant is never over

Tagabawa Lumads under the Sinūb-badan ka mga Lumad Bagobo Mekatanod (SILUBAME) are not giving up the fight against the Tudaya Hydro-Powerplant, a multi-million project of the Hydroelectric Power Plant (HEDCOR) in Sitio Tudaya, Brgy. Sibulan, Sta. Cruz Davao del Sur.

“We have brought our opposition against HEDCOR’s hydro-power plant before the local government of Davao del Sur. We hope that they would heed our just demands. All we want is for our inherent rights over our ancestral lands to be respected,” said Roger Limokon, SILUBAME Chairperson.

On February 2, 2008, the Peoples’ Consultation, a dialogue with the provincial board of Davao Del Sur was initiated by SILUBAME. Provincial Board Members Molina and Bello of the province’s Committee on Environmental Concerns and Committee on Tribal Affairs attended the consultation. Strangely, the military soldiers also showed interest in joining the event, in fact together with more than a hundred military soldiers, a certain Lt. Renin of the 39^th Infantry Battalion actively participated in the consultation.

In the said consultation Hon. Bello promised that committee hearings will be aptly conducted based on SILUBAME’s complaint that HEDCOR violated genuine consultation processes when it did not disclose to the whole community the adverse impacts of the project. The local officials also said they will review the memorandum of agreement between the community and HEDCOR.

The board members were toured around the almost 10- hectare head-pond being constructed above the Tudaya Elementary School . They cited the experience of Ormoc, Marinduque among others as tragedies wrought by private companies’ interest for profit.

According to the PASAKA Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao , the construction of a hydro-power plant, within Tudaya falls, a sacred ground for the Bagobo -Tagabawa lumads violates their cultural and ancestral land rights. The project also violates environmental preservation since it is located in Mt. Apo , a declared protected area.

Mel Elio, PASAKA Chairperson said that according to the Technical Working Group which initiated the feasibility study of the project, water shortage after 20 years may arise. Other environmental impacts include the possibility of flash floods, endangering the school children and the communities below. The hydro-power plant will also affect land and water biodiversity and resources, contributed by the wastes from the plant.

During the consultation, more than 100 military elements from the 39^th and 72^nd Infantry Battalion have assembled in Sitio Tudaya. Lt. Renin of the 39^th IB said a detachment of the 72^nd IB will be built a kilometer away from the Tudaya Falls . According to local residents, additional elements of military soldiers were deployed and arrive in their area the day before the scheduled consultation. SILUBAME strongly believe the soldiers’ presence in the area was deliberately done to intimidate the people.

“The militarization of Tudaya at the height of the Tagabawa lumads’ assertion of their ancestral land rights over capitalist interests shows clearly which master the military serves. Instead of siding with the people, they are used as instruments of violence in order to protect the profits of capitalists,” Elio said.

Board Member Bello also challenged the presence of the AFP, saying it should not get in the way of the people’s political affairs. He encouraged the people to report instances of military abuse in the area.*

For Reference:

ROGER LIMOKON MEL ELIO

SILUBAME Chairperson PASAKA Chairperson

Media Officer: 0929-265-8967