Panaw Kalinaw

Mahal kita Pilipinas ko!

PANAW KALINAW:

National Peace and Human Rights Mission in Northern Mindanao

29 November-02 December

There is a systematic onslaught against human rights and fundamental freedoms of the rural poor in Northern Mindanao, Philippines.

Being the leader of a local Lumad organization Linundigan in Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, Datu Mampaagi Belayong led the group in denouncing the full-blown military operations launched by the 26^th IB of the Philippine Army’s 4^th Infantry Division against the communist insurgents in their areas, including the nearby municipalities of Lapaz and San Luis. He took care of the 5 children who got lost for eight days in the forest--eating only bananas, raw sweet potatoes and papayas they found along the way—when an aerial bombardment took place on April 30, 2009. On September 02, Belayong was killed. Twenty-six days later, a leader of another Lumad organization Tagdumahan in the adjacent town of San Luis, Datu Aladino Badbaran, was gunned down. The culprit: members of the paramilitary Task Force Gantangan. The deaths were all documented complete with eyewitness testimonies and most of the perpetrators were identified. Thus far, none have been arrested and convicted.

On April 7, 2009, a farmer named Manuel Suarez, his wife and four children were massacred because they refused to listen to orders from the 29^th IB to evacuate in the height of their offensives against the communist insurgents in the hinterlands of Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental. The Suarez family, from Sitio Silangan, Brgy. Kamanikan were last seen alive on April 9. Neighbors said the Suarez family decided to stay in their house considering Jocelyn has only given birth and would have difficulty in evacuating. They narrated how the elements of the savage-ridden Bungkatol Liberation Front (BULIF) sprayed bullets and burned to ashes the house of the Suarez family. However, witnesses refuse to come forward out of fear.

In Bukidnon, 7 leaders of rural poor organizations were slapped with trumped-up charges on May 2009. The north-east hinterlands of Malaybalay, including St. Peters, have been subjected to relentless military operations that wrought havoc to the Lumad communities this year. It is in this place where “minor” human rights violations such as threats and intimidations, illegal arrests and detention, coercion and enforced displacements have become a daily fare, and where the organizing of the Barangay Defense System is most active.

The cases mentioned above are just some of the long list of crimes committed by the 4^th ID against the people of greater Northern Mindanao that encompasses the Provinces of Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte and some parts of Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur.

The systematic attack against the rural poor exemplified by the extra-judicial killings and violations of other fundamental rights, and militarization of rural communities, are all an off-shoot of the National Internal Security Plan (NISP), popularly known as Oplan Bantay Laya, of the present government that seeks to end the insurgency by 2010. However, this program has exacted a heavy toll from the civilian rural poor populace because it has targeted peasant and Lumad communities and people’s organizations operating in broad daylight. The NISP application on the Indigenous Peoples sector (NISP-IP) reinforces the culture of impunity in Northern Mindanao by establishing paramilitary vigilantes in IP communities such as Task Force Gantangan, Wild Dogs, Bungkatol Liberation Front (BULIF), Bagani Force, Mabantag and several others. In the waves of political repression sweeping the country, the culture of impunity is greatest in rural areas owing to their remoteness, the lack of access by the media to highlight attention on human rights violations, their inability to seek redress for grievances from government agencies and the courts.

The incessant militarization is happening while multi-national corporations Unifrutti, Dole, Del Monte and Lapanday are doing expansion in Bukidnon for asparagus, banana and pineapple plantations. A mining highway is in the process of construction that will connect the upland villages of Kalabugao, Manalog and Bulonay of Malaybalay along with its borders in Agusan del Sur. This mining highway will cut across Mt. Tago, Pantaron Range and Saldab in northeast of Malaybalay, where militarization is now at its peak. Sixty-three mining MPSAs have been approved in Bukidnon, with BHP Billiton now on its exploration stage in Malitbog. Additionally, the biggest Dam in Mindanao is to be constructed in Kitaotao and is expected to displace over a thousand IP families. Vast tracts of land allotted to jathropa, rubber trees and cassava plantations have been noted in the Province lately. In West Agusan provinces, Pacific Maunlad Mining Corporation has applied for mining exploration in the towns of Lapaz and Talacogon, Agusan del Sur. To note, CARAGA Region to which these parts of Agusan del Sur and Norte officially belong, have been declared as the “mining capital of Asia” only this year. On the other hand, leaders of Task Force Gantangan are tribal chieftains holding Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claims (CADC) that are geared to host jathropa and palm oil plantations.