Solon calls on militant groups to free 700 Lumads from church compound in Davao

DAVAO CITY – North Cotabato Representative and Chairperson of the House Committee on National Cultural Communities Nancy Catamco reiterated her call to militant groups here for them to release the more than 700 Indigenous Peoples (IPs) from Talaingod town in Davao del Norte and San Fernando in Bukidnon, who have been kept inside the Haran Compound at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) under squalid conditions here.

The IPs have been residing at the UCCP-Haran compound for months now due to alleged military abuses they endured in their respective communities.

In a statement dated July 18 sent to the media here, Catamco compared the situation of the IPs inside the compound to that of a concentration camp.

“To me it looks like a concentration camp where IPs are being treated inhumanly,” Catamco said.

She also complained that government line agencies that include the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Education (DepEd), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) were previously barred from entering the compound to check the situation of the IPs.

“I was surprised when officials told me that militant groups did not allow them to get inside the compound hence they cannot come up with a situation report and provide necessary assistance.”

She also questioned the “legitimacy of the militant groups for having custody of the 700 individuals including children inside the UCCP-Haran.”

Last Wednesday, July 15, Catamco together with representatives Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna partylist, Luz Ilagan of Gabriela Women’s party-list, and Brig. General Alexander Baluta of the Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) held a dialogue and negotiation with the IP leaders in Haran.

The dialogue did not succeed despite assurances from the government of the IPs’ safety if they return to their homes and communities.

“If the IPs were really evacuees then they deserved relief interventions, access to government agencies and to the media where they can express their grievances,” the lady solon asserted.

“Everyone in the compound raised their hands when I asked them who wanted to go home,” Catamco said.