Group calls on UN to probe Lumad killings, displacement

MANILA, Philippines - Rights group Karapatan has brought the issue of killings and displacement of Lumads in Mindanao to the United Nations (UN), calling for the global council to look into such cases.

 

"We want international bodies to know what is happening in Mindanao — that the Lumad, in defense of their land, are being killed and forced to leave their communities," Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.

 

Karapatan brought to the attention of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) the killing of Lumad leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Juvello Sinzo, and Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV) school director Emerito Samarca. 

 

The group wrote the UNHRC, asking for an investigation on the killings and the evacuation of almost 3,000 Lumads in Surigao del Sur.

 

The letters were addressed to Dr. Chaloka Beyani, Special Rapporteur (SR) on the Promotion of the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons; Christof Heyns, SR on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Michel Forst, SR on Situation of Human Rights Defenders and Victoria Lucia Tauli-Corpuz, SR on Rights of the Indigenous Peoples.

 

"We are asking the UNHRC to investigate and recommend actions to the Philippine Government on these issues," Palabay said. 

 

Last September 1, the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary forces under the 36th and 75th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army reportedly gunned down Campos in front of the whole community in Km. 16, Diatago, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. 

 

Karapatan said that Sinzo, who was separated from the crowd, was tortured by hitting his arms and legs with wooden stick before he was shot.

 

Meanwhile, Samarca was found dead inside the classroom of ALCADEV with an ear-to-ear slit on the throat and gunshot wounds to the chest. 

 

"The 36th Infantry Battalion (IB), 74th IB and the Special Forces were at the periphery," Palabay said, recounting the accounts of witnesses.

 

"There is no way the government can deny this as long as it implements counter-insurgency programs like Oplan Bayanihan. The paramilitary groups is one way of tackling this dirty war against the Filipino people. It is no wonder why the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) has not disbanded these groups—because they work together," Palabay said.