MORE indigenous people are being killed as the Aquino administration comes to a close, a lumad rights group said Monday, citing the death of a tribal leader allegedly at the hands of the military in Surigao del Norte last week.
“The Aquino administration has no compassion for the people. They continue to kill the lumad…in the mountains that soldiers continue to terrorize,” the group Kahugpungan sa mga Lumadnong Organisasyon sa Caraga (Kasalo-Caraga) said in a statement.
Cristina Palabay of rights group Karapatan, said the administration had a grim track record.
“As of March 2016, there were 318 victims of extrajudicial killings under the BS Aquino presidency, 89 of them are indigenous peoples,” Palabay said. “There were 152 victims from Mindanao, and 64 from the Bicol region,” she added.
The latest victim was identified as Datu Arnel Nayer, a vocal Mamanwa tribal leader who opposed a government plan to award an ancestral land claim by the Manobo tribe in 2013. He was found
dead along the mountain road of Sitio Kalatingga, Brgy. Camam-onan, Gigaquit, Surigao del Norte on April 24.
The day before, Datu Arnel was among the six Mamanwa who went to their farms in Sitio Kalatingga to get some sweet potatoes. At around 1 p.m. however, as they rested, 10 soldiers in full combat gear about 20 meters from them opened fire, witnesses said.
Datu Arnel’s other companions—Lino Mansumay, 25, Anthony Anrique 55, Esmoter Anrique, 55, Ronel Anrique, 27, and Binbin Patusa 26, survived because they were able to run. Mansumay suffered splinter wounds on his back of his left shoulder and arm.
Nayer’s body was found Tuesday in a neighboring sitio, “buried in a small and shallow pit, covered by dirt and dead leaves,” the group Kasalo-Caraga said.
In November 2015, the Mamanwa community in Sitio Kalatingga were evacuated due to aerial bombings of the 36th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army and other augmentation forces from the 4th Infantry Division.
Palabay said that last Tuesday April 26, four farmers from Dagami-Isabela were illegally arrested and detained for allegedly occupying their land being claimed by a landlord, Manuel Tio of Surigao del Sur.
Police dispersed them violently, Palabay said.
“Many of the victims were minors. The next day, farmers Marlon Matusalem, Rogelio Gameng, Dennis Gameng and Renato Gameng were released from detention but are facing charges of trespassing,” she added.
A recent fact-finding mission found that members of the 30th and 29th Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army were responsible for the strafing of civilians and the murder of Nayer, Palabay said.
Narsing Nayer, wife of the late datu, told the mission, “I want justice for my husband.”
Kasalo-Caraga believes that the “plunder of ancestral lands” is the reason behind the lumad killings in the area.
“Gigaquit is targeted for coal mining by Timberwolves Resources Inc. This is the reason for the worsening militarization of our communities,” the group said.
Liberal Party senatorial bet Leila de Lima expressed concern over the investigation of the conflict affecting lumad communities after militant groups voiced their disappointment over her failure to bring to justice the killers of three lumad leaders and the displacement of hundreds of families in Surigao del Sur.