by Karen Ann Macalalad
Within the first month of President Benigno Aquino III’s last year in power, another five victims have been added to cases of extrajudicial killings recorded under his administration, according to reports from human rights organization Karapatan.
The latest victims include 60-year old Teresita Navacilla, a small-scale miner who actively participated in protests against large-scale mining in Compostela Valley (CV), and 43-year old peasant leader Christopher Matibay, who was one of the 700 Lumad who travelled to UP Diliman in 2015 as part of the protest-caravan Manilakbayan.
Navacilla died three days after sustaining gunshots in the head on January 27 in Pantukan, CV, while an alleged intelligence officer fired three gunshots at Matibay in Baganga, Davao Oriental on January 18, according to Karapatan-Southern Mindanao Region (SMR).
The killing spree started on January 9, when peasant-rights advocate Benjie Sustento was found dead a day after being abducted from his home in Murcia, Negros Occidental.
Two days later, unidentified men on motorcycles shot peasant leader Ricky Peñaranda on January 11 in Mati City, Davao Oriental. Six days after, alleged members of paramilitary group Alamara gunned down 15-year old Lumad student Alibando Tingkas in Talaingod, Davao del Norte.
“With three deaths in a week, this shows that the Aquino regime is hell-bent [on] attack[ing] leaders of progressive groups with legitimate cries against his government’s ineptness,” said Karapatan-SMR Secretary-General Hanimay Suazo.
Progressive leaders targeted
Matibay, Peñaranda, Sustento, and Navacilla were all members of progressive groups campaigning against the government’s public-private partnerships in their respective hometowns.
Karapatan-SMR earlier condemned the killings of the peasant activists and said these were part of Aquino’s counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, which already perpetrated 294 extrajudicial killings from July 2010 to September 2015.
Oplan Bayanihan is an extension of former President Gloria Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya program, responsible for a total of 1,205 extrajudicial killings and 206 enforced disappearances, including UPD students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño in 2006.
Navacilla’s killers could be agents or members of the military’s 46th Infantry Battalion (IB) which has been arresting innocent civilians and tagging them as members of rebel group New People’s Army, Suazo said in a statement. The 46th IB was originally operating in Northern Samar and Maguindanao before being deployed in Pantukan, CV in 2014.
“The presence of the 46th IB in Pantukan is yet another manifestation of economic plunder, resulting to militarization of otherwise peaceful civilian communities,” Suazo said. The military have been targeting the small-scale miners and farmers opposing the full-operation and businesses of large-scale and foreign mining companies in the area, she added.
Continuing threats
Meanwhile, four Lumad schools in Talaingod have already suspended classes following the death of Tingkas, a Grade 3 student of Salugpongan Ta ‘Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Center.
The class suspensions have affected around 243 students, according to children’s rights advocate Save Our Schools Network (SOS).
“Sa lagay nila, inaatake pa ‘yung schools na kalakhan ay alternative schools [na] nagbibigay sa kanila ng basic literacy program para mag-advance sa mas mataas na lebel na pag-aaral,” said Sarah Jane Elago, president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines. Elago also cited that nine out of 10 Lumad children do not have access to formal schooling.
Amid relentless threats to tribal schoolteachers and Lumad community members, the SOS is set to file a case against the paramilitary member who killed Tingkas, said SOS Spokesperson Rius Valle.
“Kung maraming tao ang nakakaintindi at sasali sa kampanya para palakasin ang boses ng mga batang Lumad, it will cripple the [continuing military attacks] against people’s resistance,” Valle added.