‘Lumad’ killings not the result of tribal conflict

THIS REFERS to the article titled “Gov’t backs probe of ‘lumad’ killings” (Second Front Page, 9/14/15), specifically, the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ claim that the lumad killings are the result of a “tribal conflict.”

The lumad killings in Mindanao were committed by the AFP and by paramilitary forces under its control. And the killings, even assuming they were done by members of a lumad tribe, were done upon orders from the AFP command, not from tribal leaders. It was done pursuant to Oplan Bayanihan. Therefore, the lumad killings are a form of state terrorism.

There is no tribal war in the communities where the atrocities have taken place, as claimed by the AFP. The killings were done by members of the Magahat-Bagani, a paramilitary group organized, trained and being financed by the AFP supposedly as part of its anti-insurgency campaign. It is clear though that the Magahat-Bagani, which has intensified its attacks on the lumad peoples, lumad organizations and lumad schools, is not a lumad tribe but an AFP creation “operating” with government funds. No less than Maj. Gen. Oscar Lactao, 4th ID commander, has admitted that “the Magahat force has been known to be anticommunist and is perceived to be closely associated with the government or military.”

In the Cordillera, and now in Mindanao, it has been AFP standard operating procedure to cover up with lies military crimes so no one would be held accountable, thus, the culture of impunity persists. Worse, the AFP instigates tribal conflicts as a divide-and-rule tactic. Now, the AFP insinuates that tribal war is the root cause of the killings, when there is no such tribal war. What kind of AFP do we have in the Philippines?

We believe that the AFP, desperate to cover up its responsibility in the killings, is now inventing or imagining tribal conflicts.

We thus call on the lumad tribes victimized by the AFP’s version of terrorism, to seek justice and revenge for our tribes by mobilizing our kind into asserting our right to self-determination.

We raise these concerns bearing in mind a day of historical significance for the world’s indigenous peoples, the anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), to which the Philippine government is a signatory, in hopes of raising public consciousness of our struggles to uphold the rights of the indigenous peoples in the Philippines.

Last Sept. 13 marked eight years of UNDRIP, but the Aquino regime and the AFP have completely failed in, even violated, our country’s international obligation to uphold the rights of indigenous peoples. The UNDRIP is supposed to be implemented in the Philippines—to correct the historic injustice perpetrated by the state against indigenous peoples.

—WINDEL BOLINGET, chair,

Cordillera Peoples Alliance,

windel@cpaphils.org