Fearing another Marawi
THE Solidarity Action Group for Indigenous Peoples and Peasants (Sagipp) is alarmed with the Duterte administration’s statements which is geared at turning communities in Davao region into its next battleground after Marawi.
President Duterte made pronouncements in an IP summit organized by the military last week, such as selecting investors for IP areas while offering relocation and money for the Lumads to leave their areas.
While Duterte said this, government troops have already spread all over the region, ready to set the stage for such “development”. Lumads have been intimidated by coercion to “surrender as NPA rebels”. There are threats to rain bombs and destroy villages in farms and Lumad community schools, and to attack Lumad and peasant leaders.
This paradigm of development by Duterte implemented by the AFP Eastern Mindanao Command is incongruous to the demands of the Lumads for the preservation and development of their ancestral lands and the peasants’ call for agrarian reform. The government paradigm is repeating the carnage they left in Marawi where over 300,000 people were dislocated. By targetting Lumad and peasant communities through hamletting - it leaves ancestral areas free and ripe for the taking for capitalist plunder.
Military garrison
The government is accomplishing this with the Philippine Army deploying 16 battalions focused in this region, while one battalion is roving around Davao Region. Two Army battalions operate in Davao Oriental: 67th IB and the 28th IB.
In North Cotabato, the 39th IB and the 15th IB have also intensified its military operations.
A total of 6,000 Cafgu or paramilitary forces act as forced multipliers for the regular combat troops in 300 detachments all over the region.
These paramilitary units are known locally as Alamara in Davao City, Davao del Norte, and Bukidnon, Bagani in North Cotabato, Bukidnon, Davao, Loreto, Agusan del Sur and Laak in Compostela Valley, Black fighter in Davao City, Falcon Squad in Veruela, Agusan del Sur, Manado in Caragao, Davao Oriental, and Pulahan in Diwalwal, Compostela Valley.
Constriction in Talaingod and Pantaron
One of the military’s target of operations is Talaingod, Davao del Norte, a frontier protected by Manobos who have guarded the Pantaron Range, one of the remaining biodiversity areas in the country that supplies water for Davao Region and Bukidnon.
Troops have been conducting operations in Talaingod and encamped in the communities of Natulinan, Igang, Kahilawan & Kabadianan, Milyong, Barobo, Angela, and JBL. Meanwhile the Alamara has aided these operations, and has also spread to neighboring Kapalong including five villages (sitios) in Barangay Gupitan and four other communities, and it has also started operations in Sto. Tomas.
Talaingod, Kapalong and Sto. Tomas towns are part of Davao del Norte under the area of operations of the Army’s 1003rd brigade augmented by the recently deployed 56th Infantry Battalion (IB), 68th IB, and Scout Rangers. The same brigade deployed 16th IB, 3rd IB and Task Force Davao which operates in the peasant and Lumad villages of Paquibato, Marilog, Calinan and Toril districts in Davao City.
Valley of Death
Compostela Valley remains a virtual garrison with five Army battalions present in the province, making it the most militarized province in the country.
The province has also tallied the most number of politicallly-related extrajudicial killings under Duterte’s term, making this province earn the name “Valley of Death” similar to the killings that happened under the Macapagal-Arroyo years.
The Army’s 1001st brigade in the province has five battalions: the 25th IB, 66th IB, 71st IB, 46th IB and the 60th IB—all conducting intelligence gathering, harassment and intimidation, and killing civilians in the towns of Laak, Monkayo, Montevista, Compostela, New Bataan, Maco, Mawab, Pantukan, Maragusan, Mabini, and Nabunturan.
It is not surprising that Duterte ensures such heavy concentration of military troops in Comval, where the so-called Davao group has big mining investment. Comval remains a major source of imperialist plunder by corporations such as Agusan Petroleum Corp in Compostela, Apex Mining in Maco, Kingking Mines in Pantukan, Chinese investments covering 8,000 hectares in Diwalwal, and agribusiness companies such as Sumifru and Dole.
Where will the Lumad and peasants go?
The heavy military build-up in Southern Mindanao Region and elsewhere in Mindanao is bolstered by the recent Supreme Court ruling which upholds the extension of Martial Law in Mindanao for 2018.
But beyond the Constitutionality, we raise the question where will the Lumads and peasants go?
Is this government paradigm of peace and development reflective of what the Lumads and peasants want?
It seems for a president who has promised to correct historical injustices, he has unleashed and further scarred the peasants and Lumads from losing their very source of life.
Sagipp believes that the lifeblood of any country is in the protection of its resources and its people who provide us with food, sustenance and cultural identity. The country, our region needs food more than profits and bombs.
Sagipp calls on the Duterte government to stop this onslaught of attacks on the resources, pullout the military and disband the paramilitary from Lumad and peasant communities, and uphold the rights of the Lumads and peasants.