Redemptorists join call for end to harassment of Lumads in Mindanao

The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (C.Ss.R.) has added its voice to the growing multi-sectoral clamor to end what it decried as the military-backed harassment and extrajudicial killing of Indigenous Peoples (IP) in Mindanao.

“In the name of God, the author of all life, the Redemptorist ViceProvince of Manila, is moved by the demand of justice and Christian moral ethics for the defense and protection of the weak and powerless, issues this strongest opposition and denunciation for this continuing and escalating senseless killings,” the Redemptorist Church’s Permanent Commission on Social Mission Apostolate said in a Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) News post.

The Redemptorist priests and brothers were referring to the killing of Lumad leaders Dionel “Onel” Campos, Aurello “Bello” Sinzo, and Emerito “Emok” Samarca in Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur on Sept. 1, 2015 allegedly by Magahat/Bagani Forces, a paramilitary the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) itself had trained.

“We hold the government of the Philippines responsible for these crimes, and we demand for the immediate and total end of these killings,” said the group.

“We urgently appeal to all Christians, other denominations, and people of moral principle and good will, to rally with us in support of our call to stop the killings of indigenous peoples in the Philippines!” the Redemptorists added.

On Friday, the CBCP called on the government to urgently investigate the killings of the three Lumad leaders.

“The CBCP asks the government for an honest, thorough, impartial, and speedy investigation so that the guilty may be held to account for their wrong-doing,” CBCP president Lingayen Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in a statement.

The CBCP chief also said the use of militia groups for the government’s counter-insurgency campaign is already “troubling.”

“If militia groups cannot fit within a structure of clear authority and command by legitimate state authority, they should not be tolerated, much less employed as mercenaries by the State,” said Villegas.

The bishops said indigenous peoples are already disadvantaged in a number of ways and the government’s failure to protect their rights “only underscores their plight as marginalized.”

“This cannot be just. This cannot be the will of God,” Villegas said.