IT was ironic to listen to President Benigno Aquino III last week loudly denounce human rights abuses during Martial Law more than 30 years ago, while he quietly supports the ongoing suppression of indigenous people or lumad in Mindanao.
One day before the 30th anniversary of the Edsa Revolution, while workers were presumably putting the final touches on an “experiential museum” documenting the horrors of Martial Law, unidentified men entered a church compound in Davao City, poured gasoline on the tents in the evacuation center for lumad refugees, and set them ablaze.
The torching of the Haran Mission House run by the United Church of Christ in the Philippines left three people injured, including two children. The camp and dormitories had been a temporary home for more than a year to about 700 lumad who had fled their homes to escape a campaign of terror by anti-communist paramilitary groups with links to the military.
In a speech the next day, the President launched a tirade against the human rights abuses during Martial Law, but was silent on similar crimes being committed under his watch, with his tacit approval.
The military was so emboldened by this that a few days later, they had the temerity to suggest that the lumad themselves had set the fire.
“Perhaps they orchestrated it just to gain more attention and sympathy so their donors would give more because Haran was burned,” Col. Cristobal Zaragoza, commander of the military Task Force Davao, said.
“Those inside Haran are like prisoners,” he continued, repeating the ridiculous notion peddled by right-wing politicians that the Protestant Church was holding the refugees captive.
To anyone who has followed the tragic fate of the lumad, the suggestion is as incredible as it is laughable.
The seven area bishops of the UCCP knew exactly what was going on and held President Aquino accountable for failing to act to stop the abuses against the indigenous people, who are caught in the middle of the government’s war with communist rebels.
In July 2015, police tried to dismantle the refugee camp and forcibly return the lumad to their hinterland communities, which they had fled because of militarization.
A number of lumad were hurt when police broke down the gates of the church and beat the resisting refugees with truncheons.
The pastor of the church dismissed the suggestion of North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catamco that the UCCP was holding the lumad captive, and that they needed to be rescued, asking pointedly: “If it is true that the lumad are here against their will, they would have immediately gone with the police. So, why are they resisting this attempt to send them back?”
The attempt to dislodge the refugees in July failed after the Davao City vice mayor intervened, but the incident clearly identified which parties want to see the evacuation center shut down.
An official from Katribu, a national alliance of indigenous people, disputed the military claim that the lumad had set the fire to get more support from donors.
“We all know that no one would believe them. But just the same, this statement is dangerous. It really goes to show how they would never hold themselves to account for this crime,” said Piya Malayao, Katribu secretary-general.
The National Council of Churches in the Philippines says the lumad have never demanded cash, especially from supporters overseas, and said the “irresponsible” statement by the military proves who the real perpetrators are.
Katribu reports that under President Aquino, there have been 51 cases in which tribal communities were forced to leave their ancestral lands. Some 69 indigenous people have been killed, including 10 children and four women. This January alone, three lumad were killed in the Davao region.
Nothing has been done to improve the situation after the President met with lumad representatives in November.
If all this sounds vaguely familiar, perhaps that is because the Martial Law regime used the same excuse—fighting communism—for a wide array of human rights abuses. How is Mr. Aquino’s dirty war against the lumad any better?