CHR probes Cebu lumad school raid

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has initiated an investigation on Monday’s raid at an educational center catering to lumad students in Cebu.

CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said their regional office dispatched a team to look into the claims of the police that the lumad children staying at  the University of San Carlos (USC) retreat house in Talamban town were ”rescued” from undergoing combat training.

“Our interest is to pin down the truth. We look forward to the cooperation of all parties concerned as we move forward in our independent investigation,” De Guia said.

The USC and Society of Divine Word (SVD) had earlier said there was no need to rescue the lumad students as they were properly cared for.

They said the schooling program was supposed to last until April last year, but the students were locked down after the declaration of the enhanced community quarantine.

The USC and SVD said there were plans for the return of the students to their homes when quarantine restrictions ease.

Nineteen students, two volunteer teachers and five indigenous group leaders were arrested during the raid.

Several faculty members of the Department of Computer Science at the University of the Philippines-Diliman called for their release.

“One of two teachers arrested was our honor graduate Chad Booc, who teaches Mathematics at the lumad school and is working to improve on the Manobo dictionary, a translation app,” the teachers said in a statement.

In a privilege speech, Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero called for a congressional inquiry into the incident.

Romero said the raid was far from being a rescue, citing video clips and photographs during the police operation.

“There are too many questions wanting to be asked as the incident led to distress, agony and even trauma to the children who were caught in the middle of the police operation,” he said.

Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment sought the release of the detained students and teachers.

The group also called for an independent investigation into human rights abuses committed by the police against the lumad community.

“Lumad schools have long been criminalized by the Duterte government with baseless claims of these indigenous learning systems as child warrior training,” it said. – Delon Porcalla, Rhodina Villanueva