Santiago seeks probe of harassment of Manobo in Davao shelter

POLICEMEN, believed to be acting on orders of Rep. Nancy Catamco, use truncheons on a group of Manobo people who sought shelter in a Protestant church compound in Davao City to escape what they said was increasing military presence in their communities in the provinces of Davao del Norte and Bukidnon. KARLOS MANLUPIG/INQUIRER MINDANAO

DAVAO CITY—Sen. Miriam Santiago, who is on medical leave, has called on her colleagues at the Senate to investigate reports about the continued harassment of a group of tribal people who fled their communities because of military presence and are being forced to return home by soldiers believed to be heeding orders from a legislator belonging to the ruling Liberal Party.

The Senate, Santiago said, “should not ignore the plight of indigenous peoples, who are the ultimate victims” of the ongoing war between communist guerrillas and government soldiers.

“What is more alarming is that now we are being told that the military or their operatives are the ones terrorizing these communities,” said Santiago in a statement issued on Thursday.

She said the investigation should also delve into the military practice of supporting militias “whose activities displace and destroy communities not only in Mindanao but also in other parts of the country.”

The Manobo evacuees here identified the militia that is taking part in harassing them as the Alamara.

Hundreds of members of the Manobo tribe fled their homes in the towns of Talaingod in Davao del Norte province and San Fernando in Bukidnon amid the increasing presence of soldiers in their communities.

Rep. Nancy Catamco, who heads the House committee on indigenous peoples, had accused militant groups of manipulating the evacuees and initiated a raid to force the tribal people’s return to their homes that turned violent and wounded 18 of the evacuees.

Santiago said the investigation, however, should also look into claims being made by the military that the evacuees are being manipulated by militant groups.

The feisty senator also took potshots at the military for attributing a false statement to a United Nations official who recently visited the Manobo people in their evacuation site in Haran inside the compound of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines here.

“The military is in bad faith if, indeed, it is twisting the report of the UN special rapporteur to spread false information about the situation in Davao City,” she said. Allan Nawal and Karlos Manlupig, Inquirer Mindanao