WHERE IS CHR’s FAIRNESS?

The Commission on Human Rights, must immediately look into the despicable killing of Indigenous Peoples leaders by New Peoples Army hitmen in Mindanao. For this month alone, a fifteen tribal leaders have fallen prey to the claws of New People’s Army hitmen in the provinces of Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Agusan del Sur and Davao del Sur. These are being denounced by members of the Davao-based Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Conference for Peace and Development or MIPCPD during an IP Summit on Human Rights Violations in Davao City. The victims of the NPAs’ most recent killing spree include:

a. Mandaya Tribe leader Datu Florillo “Liling” Andersan who was ambushed and peppered with bullets while already bleeding to death on the ground by five armed rebels in Brgy Salvacion, Monkayo, ComVal Province on July 7;

b. Tribal leader Datu Dado Piag who was publicly killed inside a billiard hall at Brgy Pasian, Monkayo without any provocation on July 9;

c. Tribal leaders Datu Luzmindo Behing and Datu Gonzalo Quillano who were ambushed by rebels on July 20 in Poblacion Sibagat in Agusan del Norte with the former succumbing to death and Quillano still in critical condition at the MJ Hospital in Butuan City;

d. Tribal Chieftain Feliciano “Datu Oloy” Ador who was strafed with bullets by motorcycle-riding men at Brgy Cabaywa, Poblacion Asuncion in Davao del Norte on July 20;

e. Tribal leader and former Barangay Chairman Datu Canuto Lumbayon together with four other companions were ambushed by more than 20 fully armed rebels at Sitio Pamagtingon, Brgy Salaysay, Marilog District, Davao City on July 24. Datu Lumbayon together with two other civilians were killed while another is still fighting for his life at the Davao Medical Center;

f. Tribal leader and also La Paz Municipal Administrator Datu Lauro Mordeno together with five others were attacked by fully armed rebels at Crossing Mabuya, Km 6, La Paz. Two of the tribal leader’s companions were critically wounded during said ambuscade.

Because of these recent atrocities, leaders from the different tribes in Mindanao are now waiting for human rights groups, particularly Karapatan, to investigate and condemn to the fullest degree the cruelty of local NPA rebels who carried out said extrajudicial killings in Mindanao.

The leaders are afraid that these recent attacks perpetrated by the local NPAs would be a repeat of the Sarano Massacre which happened on June 25, 1989 in Davao del Sur, where a church was attacked by NPA rebels, killing forty Lumads in one strike.

Where is CHR’s fairness? Is justice due only for the bandits and killers masquerading as NPA guerillas, or do our lowly tribesmen deserve more of the CHR’s attention?

STOP THE NPA RAMPAGE ON THE KILLING OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES LEADERS!