Jail Aquino not lumad rights defenders

A statement of the Haran 15

For defending the rights of the lumads, for supporting their calls whether in the halls of congress, or in the streets, for joining hands with them in barricades, we, leaders of various progressive and advocacy groups have been subjected to criminal trumped-up charges and other forms of threat, harassment and vilification by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to the detriment of our safety and liberty including that of our loved ones.

On May 13, 2016, a Warrant of Arrest (WOA) has been issued by Judge Retrina Fuentes of Branch 10, Regional Trial Court XI in Davao City, against 15 mass leaders and personalities from Mindanao and the National Capital Region. The WOA falsely charges us with contemptible crimes of kidnapping and serious illegal detention of more than one thousand lumads who have sought refuge in Davao City since February 2015.

The WOA was maliciously circulated by the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP on June 28, at the time of a historic peace mobilization of nearly 40,000 people in Davao City which aimed to show the people’s clamor and support for the resumption of the peace talks between the Duterte administration and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

We condemn this brazen attack in the strongest terms and demand the immediate dismissal of these false charges while reaffirming our unwavering commitment to stand alongside our lumad brothers and sisters in the defense of their people, communities, and schools against militarization and plunder.

Such dastardly act by the fascists AFP and US BSA regime has no other objective but to sabotage the peace endeavor of the majority of the Filipino people who aspire for genuine and lasting peace.

It attempts to demonize organizations and individuals who have been unwavering their resolve and are persevering in the fight for social justice, in addressing the root cause of the armed conflict.

In fact, it is not human rights defenders who should be arrested and prosecuted, but Benigno S. Aquino, for his bloody record of heinous crimes and gross human rights abuses against the lumads and the people.

Moreover, this act is a flagrant violation of our civil and political liberties and is a clear fabricated charges or trumped-up charges. It is a shameful use of the justice system to create legal obstacles to neutralize and deter activists from continuing their work in promoting and advancing people’s rights and welfare. In this particular case, the AFP attempts to stop lumad rights defenders from supporting the victorious resistance of the lumads against the intense militarization in their ancestral lands, the encroachment of imperialist plunder, and perpetration of gross human rights violations.

This calculated ploy and retaliatory attack against lumad rights defenders and activists is implemented under the Oplan Bayanihan of the US-Aquino regime which has wreaked havoc on the Mindanao people, forcibly displaced thousands of lumads from their communities, attacked alternative lumad schools and destroyed the farms and livelihood of the people.

As they attempt to paralyze the strong peoples movement which has effectively unmasked the sheer brutality of the US-Aquino regime, the anti-people and mercenary character of the AFP and other government security forces and paramilitary groups, we remain unafraid, and unwavering in our resolve to serve the Filipino people, most especially the lumads and peasants; all the marginalized and oppressed sectors.

No amount nor gravity of attack, no matter how monstrous, that the AFP can muster with all its weapons and resources, can pacify the lumads struggle for their rights to land and self-determination, the irrepressible growth of the peasant struggle for genuine land reform and the ever growing peoples movement for national democracy. #