DIFFERENT
IPs from Caraga, Normin express their thanks to gov’t through ‘peace rally’ in CDO
tribal groups from Bukidnon and Caraga regions expressed their thanks to the government through the conduct of a ‘peace rally’ held at the Provincial Capitol grounds on Wednesday.
HUNDREDS of indigenous peoples (IPs) from all over Bukidnon converged at the Provincial Capitol grounds here on Wednesday to express their support to the government and condemn the alleged atrocities being perpetrated by armed Communist rebels.
The “peace rally” was attended by different tribes from Bukidnon and some areas in the Caraga region, some of whom called out the New People’s Army (NPA) for killing their family members.
The event was organized by the Lumad Mindanao Movement for Peace and Development Inc. (LMMPDI) based in Kidapawan City.
LMMPDI founder and executive director Datu Armando Bravo said the rally was a way of showing gratitude to the government for its various programs and projects that also benefited the “lumad” people (IPs) in the countryside.
In fact, Bravo said, the government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), is giving out P5,000 to every IP family nationwide, intended to help them, especially for the education of their children.
But a DSWD-10 official, in a separate interview, said that the agency has no such financial assistance to lumad family.
Oliver Inodeo, of the DSWD-10, said they have no program aimed at granting financial aid to the IP families, except for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps.
“We don’t have that kind of dole-out program,” Inodeo, DSWD-10 4Ps focal person, said, in response to Bravo’s claim.
He said the DWSD can give 4Ps beneficiary-families as much as P2,000 for education assistance and health improvement, provided they have complied with all the conditions. Appeal to ‘bakwit’ Bravo has also appealed to evacuees from Barangay Banglay, Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental now camping out at the Provincial Capitol grounds to talk to the NPA instead so their problem could be resolved.
The internally displaced persons said they fled their homes for fear that they will get caught in a cross fire between the NPA and government troops.
He said the military will not enter an area if there is no NPA presence there.
“They (evacuees) must tell the NPA to get out of their communities so the soldiers will not go there. If there are no NPAs there, the soldiers won’t be there,” Bravo said. Testimonies Ricardo Aceta from Kitcharao in Agusan del Norte told the crowd how the NPA rebels killed his uncle and grandfather in 2015 as he claimed they were innocent of any wrongdoing.
“They’re killers, bandits. Do not be deceived by them. Do not believe what they say,” Aceta said, referring to the NPA fighters.
Ramil Bernaldez from Surigao City said his brother was gunned down by the insurgents on July 28.
“They shot my brother like a dog. They (NPA) orphaned his four children. I demand justice for him. He was innocent,” Bernaldez said.
A woman from a city in Bukidnon, who only identified herself as “Apple,” also recounted how at age 13 she was recruited by the NPA, but spent most of her involvement in the revolutionary movement as a campaign officer for the group.
In 2017, she surrendered to the government and eventually joined the Phil. Army under the “IP quota” system.
Apple now holds the rank of Private and is currently deployed in one of the Army battalions in the region.
“The NPA has no program for the people, like PhilHealth,” she said, adding that it is still the government which provides the services and benefits of the people.