Press Statement

September 21, 2015

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan – Southern Mindanao

For reference: Sheena Duazo, Secretary General – BAYAN-SMR

0947-344-1625

It's still Martial Law with attacks on Lumads

It was 43 years ago that Martial Law was declared by Ferdinand Marcos that plunged the country into a state ran by the military with a high count of killings, tortures, arrests and disappearances.

The people ousted Marcos in 1986 with the calls, “Sobra Na, Tama Na” and “Never again” to the repression of the people and barbarity of militarism. Yet, the recent spate of killings of the Lumads and displacements of Lumad communities all over Mindanao in recent months, makes us wonder is it really never again?

We have seen in the recent months the bloodiest events in Mindanao under the Aquino administration including:

·         The Pangantucan, Bukidnon Massacre on August 18 where a 15-year old and a blind 78-year old were among five lumads shot dead by the military on an allegation that these lumads were NPA rebels

·         The killing of Alcadev school director Emerito Samarca, community leader Dionel Campos and Bello Sinzo last September 1 in Han-ayan, Surigao del Sur by the paramilitary Magahat-Bagani Force.

·         The Paquibato incident last June 14 where soldiers strafed the house of lumad leader Aida Seisa, which resulted to the death of Datu Ruben Enlog.

·         The assassination of peasant leader and former barangay kagawas Joel Gulmatico shot dead in front of his house in Arakan, North Cotabato on August 18

·         The illegal arrests and detention of 15 lumads including a minor in White Culaman, Bukidnon who were brought to a military headquarters in Cagayan de Oro via helicopter.

It's not only the horror of killings that have gripped Lumad communities. Soldiers and paramilitaries place communities under their vise-like grip, such as in the above-mentioned barangays where they threaten families, community school teachers, tagging them as NPA supporters, and the schools as funded by rebels.

What is more enraging is the Aquino administration's refusal to even acknowledge and act on the killings of Lumads and the attacks of Lumad communities and schools. President Aquino's mere response is to declare that is no government policy to kill lumads. While soldiers and their spawn from the lumad paramilitary go on with their twisted tales that it is the NPA who killed the teacher and leaders in Han-ayan, and that the victims are NPA rebels or sympathizers.

This is the administration that promises to be the opposite of the previous administration. This is the president whose father was a victim of the dictatorship. Their actions and inaction show only that they continue the impunity of Martial Law on the marginalized communities.

But why is this happening? The lumads themselves know the answer. "The people in power do not want the Lumad to prosper, to become educated so that they will further their capacity to protect their ancestral land. They do not want this to happen, because if this happens, their mining conglomerates will never be allowed," says Michelle Campos, daughter of Dionel Campos.

What is happening here is the government deliberately attacking Lumads and its institutions including schools and groups supporting the Lumads. It is their counter-insurgency Oplan Bayanihan that perpetrates the state of fear not only to silence the rights of the Lumads, but also to clear out communities which lie on bio-diversity areas and rich mineral deposits favorable to large-scale mining and agribusiness.

But it is through persistence through what we see in the Lumads now to continue their resistance against those who kill their people and plunder their lands. We stand with the Lumads, farmers and other people in resisting the undeclared Martial Law gripping the communities in Mindanao. The calls for justice and protection of Lumads continue to swell as seen in the public clamor online and in various forms of protest actions from Davao, Butuan to Manila.

We continue with our stand with the Lumads to save their community schools. We urge for justice by dismantling paramilitary groups, pullout military in Lumad communities, and bring the perpetrators of Lumad killings to justice.

Let us put our collective strength to stand with Lumads and other oppressed sectors to say enough and never again to Martial rule and impunity in the country.