AFP’s “All-Out War” is a war against IPs and the Filipino people - KATRIBU
KATRIBU Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KATRIBU) denounces the alarming spate of violence taking place in IP communities around the country perpetrated by the AFP, a few days after the declaration of "all-out war" by Department of Defense Secretary Lorenzana agains the New People’s Army (NPA).
Instead of the NPA, indigenous communities are now taking the brunt of the attacks. On February 7, soldiers hit a Tumandok man repeatedly in Barangay Tacayan Tapaz, Capiz (Panay Island). The AFP unit was supposedly conducting military operations against the NPA but was actually harassing the locals for being “NPA sympathizers.”
On February 11, a Kaulo village in Alabel, Sarangani was bombed after an encounter between AFP and NPA fighters. Around 100 families were forced to evacuate as a rain of bombs hit their communities. A school for indigenous peoples set up by the Center for Lumad Advocacy and Services (CLANS) was affected and its students and teachers were among those who fled for safety. Emergency relief and assistance from the local government units and NGOs can't access the area where the evacuees are because they are being blocked by soldiers.
The same day on the 11th, 2 civilians were killed and seven were wounded in a military operation by the 29th Infantry Battalion on February 11. This took place in Sarog, Barangay San Isidro, Santiago, Agusan del Norte. Sitio Sarog is a community of Mamanwa people.
On February 12, a medical mission joined by biology students and Professors of UP Mindanao is being harassed by the nefarious paramilitary group ALAMARA. The mission also aims to investigate a disease outbreak on the area. The 30 participants are currently stuck and staying in Sitio Nasilaban, Barangay
Palma Gil. ALAMARA was also reportedly threatening the habalhabal (motorcycle) drivers who are supposed to pick up the delegates.
These incidents show that the arbitrary withdrawal from the peace talks of the Duterte government and the all-out war declaration of the DND will terrorize indigenous peoples' communities. The violations of our human rights we experienced during the Aquino regime's Oplan Bayanihan are continuing and may get worse with this government's rash decisions and the AFP's militarist stance and actuations.
The government disregards indigenous peoples' collective rights to land and self -determination as communities opposed to large scale mining and other destructive projects are also targeted as NPA hot spots or base areas. These are signs that an allout war against the NPA will not really bring peace and will cause needless violence, killings, harassment and terror against indigenous peoples, especially those who don't belong to armed groups. Pres. Duterte should decisively punish those soldiers who violate human rights under the provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), unless he wants to prove that attacking civilians is indeed the policy of his government.
KATRIBU maintains its position on the resumption of the peace negotiations as it will discuss and forge the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER), which is the meat of the peace talks. Indigenous peoples have strategic interests on the CASER as it will tackle their rights to their ancestral domains and natural resources found therein. It aims to put in place reforms that will bring genuine development to communities contrary to the plunder effected by large scale mining operations, energy projects, dams, plantations, ecotourism projects and economic zones.
The Duterte Administration must return to the negotiating table and sincerely unite with the NDF on concrete steps to address the people's demands and issues.
Stop the all-out war! Justice to victims of atrocities by state security forces! Resume the peace talks and address the roots of the armed conflict!