THE vicious raid and arrest of 26 Lumad students, elders, and volunteer teachers on Feb. 15 at the University of San Carlos (USC)-Talamban Campus in the guise of “rescue operations” came as no surprise.
The state’s armed elements have been overtaxing resources and overriding the Philippine Constitution to thwart the indigenous Lumad’s right to education and other basic services, and to violate their right to exercise their right to self-determination through the Lumad schools.
The so-called rescue operation conducted by the Central Visayas Police, with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), abruptly turned violent, seen from the video uploaded by Save Our Schools Network (SOS).
From the joint statement of SVD Philippines Southern Province and the USC, they were uninformed about the presence of state forces nor their “rescue” narrative. They further rationalized that Lumad students need no rescuing since the venue served as their sanctuary.
According to the recent report of SOS Network, 178 Lumad schools have been shut down by military and paramilitary elements, with the aid of the Department of Education (DepEd), affecting more than 5,000 Lumad students.
The closure order of Lumad schools and heightened militarization of communities came after the President’s pronouncement to bomb Lumad schools and communities during his 2017 State of the Nation Address (SONA).
To impede any form of resistance against fascism and state terrorism, the Duterte regime has implemented IP-centric counterinsurgency campaign that resulted to vilification, criminalization, and killings of Indigenous Peoples human rights defenders (IPHRDs).
Consequently, lobbying or struggle in Lumad communities, they methodically vilified, criminalized and killed indigenous leaders and community members and terrorized ancestral territories to sell out to destructive loan traps and foreign programs.
Bakwit schools were born out of the persistence of the Lumad students and their families to pursue education for the development of their culture and community.
The year 2021 has been bloody for the Indigenous Peoples, starting with the massacre of nine Tumandok leaders and the illegal arrest of 16 others on Dec. 30.
The trumped-up murder charge and shoot-to-kill order against Windel Bolinget and other land and human rights defenders aimed at maligning the l egitimacy of the manipulation and utilization of the government against the Aeta victims who they charged with the Anti-Terror Law. Most recently, the raid and arrest of the Lumad students they Ironically claim to rescue.
KATRIBU condemns the systemic violence and killings against the Indigenous Peoples. We condemn the raid and arrest of the Lumad 26 and call for their immediate release. Duterte’s reign of terror must be put to an end, or else more lives will be compromised. – KALIPUNAN NG KATUTUBONG MAMAMAYAN PN PILIPINAS
