’Keep military out of indigenous communities’

MANILA, Philippines – The government should remove military and paramilitary personnel from indigenous communities in Mindanao, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said yesterday.

Tagle made the call as he met with representatives of the lumads, who have camped out at Liwasang Bonifacio since Nov. 6. He was accompanied by Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Public Affairs Committee, and Anton Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila.

“Let peace prevail. This would mean that the military leave the ancestral lands of our brother lumads... to dismantle and remove their armed paramilitary,” Tagle said.

“I appeal to both the military and the NDF (National Democratic Front) to declare the ancestral lands of the lumads as peace zones,” he added.

Tagle urged the public to provide assistance to the lumads in evacuation centers who are in need of food, water and medicine.

He expressed concern about the situation of indigenous groups in Mindanao, saying many of them have been killed, forced to flee their homes, lost their livelihood and stopped schooling because of violence.

Tagle called on concerned officials to hold dialogues with representatives of lumad communities to address their problems.

“All of us have shortcomings and faults over what happened to the lumads… Like what Pope Francis said when he declared the start of the Year of Mercy, we are given a chance to confess and change,” he said.