‘Weaponizing the law’

When I entered the room, the discussion had already started but what really caught my attention was the presence of journalist-political activist Satur Ocampo or Ka Satur, as the younger generations of activists call him.

One would think that Ka Satur, who turns 87 on Tuesday, had already given up hope on our perennially problematic and deeply divided society and is instead happily retired and quietly enjoying some good reads at home, far from the troubles of the outside world.

But not quite. Ka Satur refuses to give up, despite the injustice he has witnessed while serving his country as a journalist-political activist since the early 1960s. Or perhaps, because of it.

At the roundtable discussion on the so-called Talaingod 13, Ka Satur continues to call for justice.

The Talaingod 13 is composed of 13 activists, teachers and advocates of indigenous people’s rights who were ruled against by the court on child abuse charges in connection with a solidarity mission in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, according to a briefing paper provided during the meeting. “Their action was an urgent humanitarian and rescue mission to save Lumad children and teachers from the threats of militarization and intimidation.”

Among the 13 individuals are Ka Satur, former Bayan Muna representative; France Castro, former ACT Teachers representative; volunteer teachers from Lumad schools and the former administrator of the Salugpongan Learning Center.

What went wrong?

During the discussion, Castro, Ka Satur, Talaingod 13 spokesperson Angelika Moral and their lawyers briefed us on what happened.

On Nov. 18, 2018, they carried out a solidarity and relief mission to assist teachers and students of the Salugpongan Learning Center, in response to the intimidation by a paramilitary group which threatened to burn down the school.

The Lumad teachers were forced to evacuate 16 students to protect them from danger. Castro and Ka Satur, along with other members of the mission, helped ensure that the members reached a safe location.

But what a surprise it was when, on July 22, 2024, the Tagum City Regional Trial Court Branch 2 found the 13 individuals liable for “other forms of child abuse” and imposed a sentence of four to six years of imprisonment. Appeals were subsequently filed.

On Dec. 19, 2025, the Court of Appeals released a decision affirming the decision against the Talaingod 13 in what respondents and their supporters said was a heavy blow to human rights and to solidarity with the struggles of indigenous people.

Where is Talaingod?

Talaingod, a fifth class municipality in Davao del Norte, is located along the Pantaron Mountain Range, the ancestral homeland of the Talaingod Manobo – who are part of the Lumad, a collective political identity adopted in 1986 by 18 ethnolinguistic indigenous communities in Mindanao, according to Save Our Schools Network.

The Lumads have actively defended their land against logging, mining and large-scale land conversion, and it was within this reality of land displacement that Lumad communities in Talaingod chose to educate their children.

Salugpongan Lumad Schools were established in 2007 and since then, 55 Lumad schools across Mindanao were created in response to systematic exclusion from state-provided education.

In these schools, education included land defense, indigenous knowledge systems, culture, history, relationship to land and their responsibility to protect ancestral territory.

The result was stronger community cohesion which also meant sustained resistance against land conversion.

The government has launched a campaign against Lumad communities and their schools as part of a broader counterinsurgency program, which continues to this day.

Part of the state’s fight is to weaponize the law.

The case against the Talaingod 13 is just one example.

“The law was weaponized against those who chose to teach and care for Lumad children while the very conditions that endangered these children – state neglect, militarization and sustained attacks on indigenous communities – remain unaccounted for. This is not an imbalance born of oversight. It reflects a justice system calibrated to discipline the vulnerable while insulating those who exercise power,” according to Save Our Schools.

This is clearly a symptom of a larger, decades-old problem in our society – opaque rules governing the use of land, especially ancestral land. Our rules allow corporations to use land for decades, as if they already own it, displacing those who consider the land their home.

Unfinished

What happens to Castro and Ka Satur is still uncertain, as the case remains pending but their public records of service should speak for themselves.

Ka Satur is not new to such harassment. He is a survivor of political detention and torture under the Marcos dictatorship. His decades of work have been rooted in solidarity with workers, indigenous people and urban poor communities. His presence in Talaingod was consistent with a lifetime of humanitarian missions.

In one of his columns for The STAR on martial law, he wrote: “As a journalist-political activist since the early 1960s, I have developed this philosophical attitude: to steadfastly uphold the principles I have embraced (to serve the people), give my utmost under all circumstances and be prepared for the worst.”

In a season that reminds us of suffering, sacrifice and ultimately renewal, the story of the Talaingod 13 feels unfinished. Easter, after all, is about the triumph of truth over injustice.

*      *      *

Email: [email protected]. Follow her on X 
@eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.