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UN special envoys call on military to abide by PH deals

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TWO Filipino special rapporteurs for the United Nations have warned that the militarization of Mindanao could have a massive and irreversible impact on the human rights of the island’s lumad.

“This includes killings and attacks allegedly carried out by members of the Armed Forces against the indigenous communities,” they said, noting that the indigenous people were being forced from their ancestral homes.

“The very culture and ways of life of indigenous peoples are intimately entwined with their ancestral lands and environments,” they said.
“Forcing indigenous peoples to leave their homes has an incalculable impact on their very lives and ways of living—one that risks erasing their culture and existence from the heritage of the Philippines, eventually forever.”

Tauli-Corpuz and Jimenez-Damary said they were particularly concerned over the safety of lumad threatened by bombings and military attacks, amid reports suggesting that 2,500 lumad had been displaced since October, during the implementation of martial law in Mindanao.

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Congress this month voted to allow the extension of martial law for one more year.

The special rapporteurs expressed alarm that lumad famers were killed on Dec. 3 in South Cotabato.

“Thousands of lumads have already been forcibly displaced by the conflict and have seen their houses and livelihoods destroyed,”
“They are suffering massive abuses of their human rights, some of which are potentially irreversible. We fear the situation could deteriorate further if the extension of martial law until the end of 2018 results in even greater militarization,” they said.

The UN rapporteurs said the government “must ensure that military personnel do not engage in violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples.”

“We fear that some of these attacks are based on unfounded suspicions that lumad are involved with militant groups or in view of their resistance to mining activities on their ancestral lands,” they added.

On Thursday, the Palace said it is ready to defend the legality of the martial law extension before the Supreme Court, after opposition lawmakers claimed it was unconstitutional.

In a statement, Palace spokesman Harry Roque denied claims that the martial law declaration in Mindanao, effective until Dec. 31, 2018 may lead to “extension in perpetuity.”

“The legal and factual bases of the martial law extension have been clearly established based on the security assessment by our ground commanders,” Roque said.

“We are thus, prepared to defend our position before the High Court,” Roque added.

Opposition lawmakers led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to reject the Senate and House of Representatives’ approval of President Rodrigo Duterte’s request for a one-year extension of martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao.

They urged the justices to issue a temporary restraining order or writ of preliminary injunction to stop the extension of martial law in MIndanao, saying that there “was no actual rebellion” to justify it.

The petitioners said the claims of President Rodrigo Duterte and his defense, military and police advisers that the “remnants” of terrorist groups that had been monitored “recruiting” new fighters and “regrouping” to launch new attacks, did not justify the extension.

They added that martial law could not be extended in Mindanao simply to subdue “residual phantoms.”

Roque, however, dismissed the petitioners’ claims, saying that the allegations “are mere surmises and conjectures and not supported by law and the Constitution.”

“Martial law in perpetuity is a scenario that neither the President, Congress or the Supreme Court will allow as it is patently unconstitutional,” he said.

Roque said the legislative and executive departments had already decided that the further extension of martial law in Mindanao “was necessary to quell the remaining terrorists who brought destruction to Marawi and its neighboring communities.”

In a 240-27 vote, the Congress approved on Dec. 13 the one-year extension of the proclamation of martial law in Mindanao.

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