NGO hits AFP anew
A NON-GOVERNMENT organization hit the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for dismissing only one believed to be a member of the Alamara Group, operating in provinces in Southern Mindanao Region (SMR).
Save Our School (SOS) Network spokesperson Rius Valle said the termination of a Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu) member Rodel "Angangoy" Butanlog from the service does not solve the ongoing attacks on the schools.
Valle said the decision of the Army's 60th and 72nd Infantry Battalions rising from the accused's attempted murder of a Salugpongan teacher is a "cowardly move".
"The military often dared us to file cases, yet now they are dropping their colleagues just to save themselves from the prosecution," Valle said.
Valle said they will still press on with the accountability of the 60th and 72nd Infantry Battalion and all other military battalions in Mindanao who have deployed the paramilitary in the communities.
He added that the paramilitary allegedly caused division among the Lumads and disruption of the lumad schools, depriving Lumad students from their right to be protected from attacks of the state.
The SOS Network called on the government to disband the Alamara, whose existence was earlier denied by the AFP.
He also reiterated that international laws and memorandum issued by the Department of Education (Deped) for the protection of schools should be enforced by the education department and other concerned agencies. ICT