Encounter? Lumad schools network say military ‘massacre’ killed 5 in Davao de Oro

MANILA, Philippines — A network supporting schools for the Lumad refuted the military’s claim that it had an encounter Thursday with communist rebels in New Bataan, Davao de Oro which resulted in the deaths of five, including two volunteer teachers.

Save our Schools Network said locals in the area denied that there was an encounter there between the military and members of the New People’s Army on that day.

Communist Party of the Philippines information officer Marco Valbuena also said in a tweet that the local NPA unit there also denied that there was an encounter between them and the military.

“What the AFP claims as an ‘encounter’ is in fact a massacre of civilians in the area. And in its attempt to justify these gruesome killings, the armed forces once again twist the truth to play into their narrative as they have done many times before,” SOS said Friday in a statement.

The military claimed troops killed five in an encounter late Thursday, identifying three of them as Gelejurain Ngujo II, Chad Booc and a certain Daday.

Breeding grounds?

SOS said Ngujo and Booc are volunteer teachers at Lumad schools.

Booc was one of the seven arrested in February in a police raid on the retreat house of the University of San Carlos in Cebu City where Lumads and their teachers were temporarily taking shelter.

Police accused them of kidnapping, child exploitation and human trafficking — complaints which were later dismissed by the provincial prosecutor of Davao del Norte for lack of jurisdiction, insufficiency of evidence and lack of probable cause.

Booc was also among the dozens who questioned the much-feared anti-terrorism law before the Supreme Court.

For Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III, 1001st Infantry Brigade commander, Booc’s killing proves that Lumad schools have become breeding grounds for communist rebels — a claim that has long been propagated by state forces and repeatedly refuted by students and teachers of these educational institutions.

“The AFP must have been incredibly desperate to exact revenge for its failed narrative of painting out Chad Booc as a child trafficker nor the Lumad schools being breeding grounds of NPA rebels,” SOS said.

Not the first time

SOS recalled other slays that the Lumad had to endure, including the killings of Lumad youth Obello Bay-ao in 2017 and another minor in 2018, both of whom were suspected of being members of the NPA.

“Once again, the same narrative that is continually being proliferated now by the AFP when they brutally killed Chad and Jurain,” SOS said.

Worse, it added, the military “paraded” the bodies of those killed in the alleged encounter as “war trophies.”

“Even to the extent of planting guns and ammunition on the bodies to make it out as if they were combatants who shot at the [Armed Forces of the Philippines,] something that has come straight out of [President Rodrigo] Duterte’s fascist playbook,” SOS said.

It added, “Photos of the deceased are supposed to be taken for the sole purpose of documentation not as trophies released and paraded without the consent of the families.”

‘No life wasted’

SOS said Booc has received death threats from state forces for speaking out on the militarization of the Lumad’s ancestral lands and the closure of their schools.

“Chad is hunted for exercising his democratic rights and for fighting for the rights of the Lumad. This is the kind of culture of impunity and fascism that the Duterte administration wants to leave as its legacy,” it said.

The hashtag #JusticeForChadBooc was flooded with tweets remembering the fallen activist and volunteer teacher, with one user reposting a TikTok of Booc where he pretended to be in heaven, telling his colleagues not to be sad.

Sa totoo lang, noon pa man ay hinanda mo na ako, kami. Sa tindi ba naman ng atake sa mga Lumad. Noong panahon na tayo ay nagpasya, ang sabi natin, buhay man ay ialay. Pero never pala akong magiging handa sa ganito. Hindi ko pa rin matanggap. Mahal kita, Chad.#JusticeForChadBooc pic.twitter.com/MNdagYYbTx

— mayka #JusticeForNewBataan5 (@maykamaykaba) February 26, 2022

“For the past ilang years, naging masaya naman ang pagsisilbi natin sa bayan. Walang buhay na sayang dahil ang mga huling araw na inilaan natin sa mundo ay naibigay natin para sa pagsisilbi sa masang api at siyempre sa pagsusulong ng ating rebolusyon,” he said in the video.

(For the past how many years, we were happy in serving the people. No life was wasted because in our final days here in this world we served oppressed people and pushed for our revolution.)

He continued, “Patuloy lang tayo sa pakikibaka. Huwag mawalan ng pag-asa. Sabi nga nila, ‘Sa bawat dugo na dumadanak, mas madami ang sisibol.’”

(Let us continue to fight. Let us not lose hope. As they say, “From every blood shed, more will sprout.)