800 ‘lumad’ schoolchildren among evacuees in Tandag City

DAVAO CITY—As the world observed International Literacy Day on Tuesday, more than 800 children attending classes in three “lumad” (indigenous) schools in Surigao del Sur province sought refuge in an evacuation center after paramilitary men shot and killed their school director and two tribal members.

The children are among more than 2,000 Manobo residents who fled their homes in Diatagon village in Lianga town following the killing of Emerito Samarca, executive director of Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (Alcadev), on Sept. 1, by the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary group.

Alcadev is a privately operated but government-regulated learning institution that provides basic and technical education to lumad children.

Members of the Magahat-Bagani, which is said to be created, trained, armed and funded by the military, also killed Dionel Campos, a community leader and chair of the Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (Mapasu), and his cousin, Aurelio Sinzo, and burned the building of a community cooperative not far from the school compound.

Mapasu has taken a staunch advocate of ancestral land protection and has been campaigning against human rights violations against indigenous peoples.

Lumad leaders are worried that the attacks on the schools will further damage the culture, identity, villages and land they have been defending for decades. Ironically, this year’s theme of the International Literacy Day observance was “Literacy and Sustainable Societies.”

Dissolution sought

Surigao del Sur Gov. Johnny Pimentel had earlier said he was aware about the role of the military in the creation of the Magahat-Bagani and urged its immediate dissolution. His appeal apparently fell on deaf ears.

Manobo members in the province said that aside from pushing the counterinsurgency campaign, the militiamen and the military had stepped up

aggression in their communities in order to fast-track the entry of mining and logging operations.

Their supposed rampage has also displaced other families in villages in the towns of Marihatag, San Agustin, San Miguel and Tago. According to human rights groups, the refugees in Tandag City now number 2,786, including at least 700 students of the Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS) in Lianga and San Miguel.

On Wedneday, a militant human rights organization reported that one of the evacuees, a 4-year-old girl, who was suffering from asthma died on arrival at the hospital on Tuesday.

“It was in early in the morning when the child was rushed to the hospital,” said Eliza Pangilinan, secretary general of Karapatan-Caraga.

In a statement, Save Our Schools Network said the paramilitary attack in Lianga “clearly shows its contempt toward self-determined development asserted by indigenous communities,” most especially against Alcadev, which won the National Literacy Award in 2001 and 2005 and was a finalist in 2014.