WATCH: AFP blasts protesters with water cannons in Camp Aguinaldo
Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) blasted water cannons at militant groups and indigenous peoples staging a protest at Camp Aguinaldo on Tuesday morning.
About 300 protesters were rallying against military operations in lumad communities.
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Karapatan in a statement said the latest victim of political killing was Anoy Pasaporte, 28, a member of Panalipdan youth in Compostela Valley. On Oct. 10, Jimmy Saypan, chairperson of Compostela Farmers’ Association, was shot and died the next day at a hospital.
Both were active residents against the entry of mining companies in Compostela Valley, the militant group said.
Sandugo, a movement of Moro and indigenous peoples, accused the military of “sabotaging the peace talks.”
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“The AFP has been violating the ceasefire with their continuing military operations and harassment tactics. Paramilitary groups protected by the AFP continue to persist and wreak havoc in lumad communities. Human rights violators and killers of indigenous and Moro leaders are still not brought to justice,” Kerlan Fanagel, a Blaan Sandugo convenor, said in a separate statement.
Most of the protesters were part of the Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya currently staying at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
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AFP camp commander Brig. Gen. Alan Martin told reporters that they dispersed the protesters because they were throwing objects and vandalizing the gates of the camp.
“They were a threat to the civilians passing through the gate because they were throwing objects already,” he said./rga
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