MANILA, Philippines—The controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac), which has a P19 billion budget for 2021, on Wednesday (May 19) said it’s not done yet with seven individuals, who had been ordered freed by a court which found charges related to their work in helping young lumad evacuees to be baseless.
The NTF-Elcac, in a statement, said it would file a new set of criminal complaints against the seven individuals, known now as “Bakwit School 7” in Cebu City, for violating Republic Act No. 8371, or the Indigenous People’s Rights Act of 1997.
The new complaints, according to the task force, will “amplify the case” against the seven individuals, who were arrested and detained by police for helping shelter, give food and continue the education of lumad children who fled their communities in Mindanao for fear of getting caught in the crossfire during military offensives against communist guerrillas.
The case that NTF-Elcac said it wanted to “amplify” was the one discussed by parents of the lumad children and their tribe leaders at an online press conference organized by the task force.
“This is a separate and distinct offense,” said lawyer Marlon Basantog, task force spokesperson for legal affairs and Indigenous People’s concern.
“Separate special offense from the (original) criminal case,” Basantog said.
Complaints of kidnapping, human trafficking and serious illegal detention had been dropped against the seven individuals, who were either evacuees themselves or volunteer teachers.
They are Chad Errol Booc, Segundo Lagatos Melong, Benito Dalim Bay-ao, Moddie Langayed Mansimoy-at, Esmelito Oribawan, Roshelle Mae Porcadilla and Jomar Benag.
The court that dismissed the complaints for lack of evidence also ordered their release from jail.
Last February, police arrested more than a dozen minors being sheltered by a Davao del Norte-based IP group and arrested the seven individuals at a retreat house run by the University of San Carlos in its Talamban campus in Cebu City. Police described the arrests as part of a “rescue mission” for the lumad children.
The seven individuals, or Bakwit 7 School Cebu, had been red-tagged by police and military. In its statement, the NTF-Elcac said the lumad minors were being trained as New People’s Army combatants. School officials denied the claims.