Karapatan pushes for zero AFP budget over lumad killings

Photo from Karapatan

A militant human rights group called for a zero budget for the military which it blamed for a spike in lumad killings.

Karapatan held a protest at the South Wing of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, the same day that the Department of National Defense presented its proposed budget for 2016.

“Sila itong dapat magbayad sa mga krimen nila. The AFP should pay for their crimes against the people and deserves not a single cent from the people’s money,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said.

Palabay also alleged that more lumad killings have happened under the leadership of Eastern Mindanao commander Lt. Gen. Aurelio Baladad.

“Gen. Aurelio Baladad, chief of EastMinCom, has no right to take a single cent from the nation’s coffers,” she said.

Claiming that Baladad was responsible for the killings, Palabay said the general should be relieved from his post.

“The taxpayers’ money has been used to fund the paramilitary Magahat/Bagani forces, enabling them to kill Emerito Samarca, director of Alternative learning Center for Agricultural and livelihood Development (ALCADEV), Dionel Campos, chairperson of MAPASU, a local Lumad organization and Datu Juvello Sinzo in Lianga, Surigao Sur,” Palabay said.

She said the military also killed brothers Crisanto and Ely Tabugol in San Miguel, Surigao Sur.

Under Baladad’s term, the lumad schools have been increasingly attacked as the military branded them as NPA schools, Palabay said.

Sheina Campos and five other individuals who witnessed the recent killings in their communities in Barangay Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur are in Manila to share their stories of grief and hardships.

Data from Karapatan said that there are 2,658 individuals from 22 communities in five towns who are in evacuation at the Provincial Sports Complex, Tandag City.

Nine tribal schools were also closed down supposedly due to military operations.

“Battalions and forces under the EastMinCom, geared as if to wipe out the Lumad, should not be given any budget but should instead be pulled out from communities and Baladad should be relieved from his post and be charged with crimes against humanity. The blood-stained Daang Matuwid of BS Aquino should be put to an end,” Palabay said.

Eastmincom spokesperson Captain Alberto Caber, meanwhile, denied the allegations on the involvement of the military in the killings in Surigao del Sur.

“Karapatan is misleading the public in order to divert the attention of our soldiers on peace outreach in the communities,” he said.

The lumad make up 70 percent of the NPA strength in Eastern Mindanao, he also said.

“The lumads are abused and deceived by the NPA with their support groups here. NPA bandits are occupying or operating within the ancestral lands,” Caber said.

He also said that more communist rebels have returned to the government fold under the term of Baladad compared to previous years.