Why were Lumad kids in rallies? Lawmakers counter Sara’s tirades

TWO Makabayan lawmakers defended the participation of Lumad children in a protest rally held in Davao City on Tuesday, October 23, a school day.

Anakpawis Representative Ariel Casilao and ACT Teachers Representative Antonio Tinio, members of the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives, issued separate statements Tuesday night to counter the Instagram posts of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio that criticized them for taking Lumad children out of their classrooms.

The presidential daughter, in one Instagram post, said Casilao does not deserve to be in Congress for taking the children out of their schools to conduct rallies.

In another post, Duterte-Carpio said the ACT Teachers “do not endeavor to put children in schools."

Casilao said the Lumad children joined them in the rally to urge the government to end militarization of Lumad schools and stop tagging their teachers as communists.

He said the children were accompanied by their parents, teachers and community leaders.

"Now, if only Mayor Sara (would) seriously look into the complaints of these children and organization and stop with red baiting, red tagging and vilification efforts then she will know how valid, legitimate the concerns of these groups (are),” Casilao said.

Tinio, for his part, said it seems that the presidential daughter has forgotten that the main reason why Lumad children are not in school is because President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to bomb their schools and ordered a military offensive against them.

Tinio claimed that since martial law was imposed in Mindanao on May 23, 2017, there have been 535 documented cases of attacks against Lumad schools.

He further claimed that 58 schools have shut down, 10 schools displaced, 30 schools used as barracks by the military, 19 schools destroyed or divested of property and two students and eight parents or kin have been murdered.

"The Lumad students were marching in the streets of Davao City today fighting for their right to education, and we were there to support them,” he said.

Duterte-Carpio has been actively campaigning against the Makabayan bloc.

Aside from Casilao and Tinio, members of the bloc are Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, Kabataan Rep. Sarah Elago, ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro and Gabriela Reps. Emmi de Jesus and Arlene Brosas.

Duterte-Carpio recently called for the expulsion of the said coalition from the Congress after she branded them as terrorists.

Her tirades against the left-leaning group at the House of Representatives stemmed from the accusations of the ACT Teachers Party-list that the local government of Davao City is not granting the appeal of Davao teachers for a P2,000 monthly allowance and a quarterly rice subsidy of P2,500.

Duterte-Carpio has disputed such allegations.