Wanted: human rights agenda

The news article “RP had most war evacuees in 2008, says Norway group” (Inquirer, 6/20/09) should serve as a strong reminder to all 2010 electoral candidates of the grave importance of a peace and human rights agenda amid the worsening civil war in the country, which has caused death and displacement and violence, thus effectively placing the country under an undeclared martial law.

The news article reported that the number of internally displaced persons in the southern part of the country reached 600,000 last year. But this figure taken from a Norwegian Refugee Council study (which already puts the country atop the list), documented only those displaced by the fighting between the Moro liberation groups and the government forces.

Forcible displacement also happens in other parts of Mindanao due to militarization (a.k.a “Oplan Bantay Laya”) and the “investment defense force policy” being enforced by the Arroyo administration, both of which are much-maligned, futile attempts to counter the rising insurgency in the country.

Being with an organization working with indigenous peoples in Mindanao, our experiences alone have shown us the brutal and inhumane face of these government polices. For instance, in southern Mindanao alone, we together with rights groups documented in 2008 (something validated by media reports) a series of internal displacements that victimized around 150 families of Ata-Manobo lumads or indigenous peoples; 400 families of Mandaya lumads in Baganga, Davao Oriental; 100 families of Mansaka and Mandaya lumads in New Bataan, Compostela Valley Province; 70 families of Dbbawon-Manobo lumads in Compostela-Monkayo towns, Compostela Valley Province; and 50 Dbabawon families from Montevista.

Focusing on these figures would blind us to the terror that these victims suffered. Internal displacement is but the result of horrifying crimes. Behind each instance of displacement is a crime against humanity—aerial bombardments, hamletting, strafing, torture, summary executions, all done with impunity and abuse of authority at the behest of the powers-that-be acting to protect foreign and big local mining and hydropower and monocrop investors, at the cost of lives and in violation of the rights and culture of our indigenous brothers and sisters who are the genuine stewards of these mineral-rich lands.

As early as now, we are hearing presidential wannabes and other 2010 hopefuls enumerate their platforms on health, education, employment, globalization, and graft and corruption. But we hardly hear anyone addressing the cries for justice in the war-torn and neglected villages of the Moro people, lumads and farmers.

We enjoin voters, all those who stand for peace and human rights, to put a candidates’ human rights and justice agenda as a priority qualification or basis for their choice of candidate in the coming 2010 elections.–Philippine Daily Inquirer

—KERLAN FANAGEL,
Pasaka Confederation of Lumad
Organizations in Southern Mindanao,
Doña Juna Subd., Davao City