BAGUIO CITY—A report submitted to the United Nations said the Philippine government has failed to “decisively” address abuses against indigenous Filipinos, including murders of tribal leaders in Mindanao.
The report, prepared by party-list group Katribu and other human rights organizations, said abuses against tribal people continued under the Aquino administration, which projects itself as the antithesis of its predecessor, the highly unpopular Arroyo administration.
Beverly Longid, Katribu president, said among the cases of abuse documented against tribal Filipinos are the recent murders of tribal leaders in Mindanao, including the killing of Jimmy Liguyon of San Fernando, Bukidnon.
Under the Aquino administration, Longid also said the practice of branding tribal people’s schools as communist fronts continued.
The report, published by the Ateneo Human Rights Center (AHRC) last month, cited a specific example of this.
It said two schools built for the Manobos in Mindanao—Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development and Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur—were branded by the military as communist fronts.
“Consequently, the children are regarded as members of the communist New People’s Army,” said the report.
“These schools,” it said, “are intermittently used by the Armed Forces of the Philippines as military camps.”
Longid said the report was submitted in January to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, an undertaking made every four years which requires UN member-states to report how much each country has improved the rights and lives of their indigenous communities.
The next phase of this year’s UN review will be held in Geneva in June.
Longid said the joint report is an alternative summary of current events. The government is mandated by the UN to submit its own report.
The report compiles research and results of fact-finding missions of Katribu, AHRC and several other human rights groups in the Philippines and abroad.
The report said the Philippines has been a forerunner in legal work to protect human rights through a Constitution that guarantees these rights.
The Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Kamp) sent to the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights a separate report, which takes the government to task for allowing paramilitary groups to protect private firms at the expense of tribal communities living on lands marked for development.
Kamp said 13 indigenous Filipinos have been killed under the Aquino administration, adding to the 151 extrajudicial killings that involved IPs under the administration of ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from 2001 to 2010. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon