KATRIBU, the indigenous peoples? party-list group, calls on the Arroyo administration and the Philippine National Police to enforce the law to its full extent against the paramilitary group led by Ondo Perez, which kidnapped and held hostage more than 75 innocent civilians in Agusan del Sur.

Even though the PNP and crisis management team were able to quickly resolve the crisis that ensued, we call on them not to handle the perpetrators of the crime with kid gloves. Their action cannot be condoned. They should be made accountable for the crime they committed against innocent civilians.

Katribu likewise reiterates the call for the abolition of all paramilitary groups in all parts of the country, but especially in the indigenous peoples? communities in Mindanao. Unknown to many of us outside Agusan del Sur, the group involved in the hostage-taking was part of a paramilitary group called Lupaka, which was organized in the late 1990s by the military. It was disbanded in 2001 after its mercenary and criminal character was exposed. After its disbandment, most of its member kept their firearms.

The paramilitary group should be punished accordingly under our legal system and indigenous justice system. The PNP has to further investigate the history of this group and reveal the atrocities it has committed against indigenous peoples and peasants in Agusan del Sur. The Arroyo administration and police authorities cannot just pass on the case to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for its resolution.

The Agusan hostage-taking is a classic case showing how paramilitary groups run amok in lumad and peasant communities in Mindanao. The Ampatuan massacre and the hostage-taking in Agusan del Sur clearly show the monstrous character of state-created paramilitary groups. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s Executive Order 546 legitimizing the creation of paramilitary groups should be abolished as this only sows terror among civilian communities.

The policy of the Arroyo government to form paramilitary groups for its counter-insurgency program creates monsters like the Ampatuans and the Lupaka, which the police and the military cannot control.

? NELSON MALLARI,
Secretary General, Katribu,
www.katribu.org