21/06/2021
STOP THE ATTACKS AGAINST LUMADS,
JUSTICE TO THE VICTIMS OF LIANGA MASSACRES
The Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes, Inc. (PNFSP) joins call for justice for the young lumads brutally murdered in Barangay Diatagon, Lianga Surigao del Sur in Mindanao last June 15, 2021. PNFSP strongly condemns this continuing attack against the lumad people.
The three victims, with other three young lumads were on their way to the Poblacion to buy rice after harvesting abaca when the military from the 3rd Special Forces Battalion of the Philippine Army opened fire at them. Among the victims was Angel Rivas, a 12 years old student. The two other victims were Lenie Rivas, Angel’s 21 years old sister and their cousin W***y Rodriguez who were both members of the Lumad organization Malahutayong Pakigbisog alang sa Sumusunod (MAPASU) or "Persevering the Struggle for the Next Generation".
Angel was an honor student at the Han-ayan Learning Center run by the Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur or TRIFPSS. Due to the forced closure of their lumad school, Angel transferred to the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System program (DepEd-ALS) during this pandemic. Angel participates in abaca harvest to finance her education expenses. Like Angel, her sister Lenie was also a former student of the TRIFPSS school but he was unable to continue his studies because he chose to focus all his time and energy on helping his family. Lenie continued to be involved in the development of their community until his gruesome death.
On June 14, 2021, a day before the massacre, at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, three (3) families or 18 individuals tending to their corn farm in Sitio Marang, Brgy. Mabuhay, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur were startled and in panic run to different directions after soldiers from the 8th Special Forces Company (SFC), Philippine Army opened fire at them wounding two individuals. Of the 18 individuals, 12 were children (3 toddlers). These families are members of MAPASU, a Lumad organization in Caraga Region.
A 15-year old girl lost consciousness due to panic attack and was left in the site of incident without any of the family knowing. The girl (her name withheld due to her age) is also an elementary graduate student of the TRIFPSS school. They were all at that time harvesting corn when they were strafed by soldiers. All of them, except the young girl were able to run for safety.
On June 18, 2021, Maj. Rodolfo S. Cordero, Jr. of the 4ID Public Affairs Division claimed on the news that “a 12-year-old female child warrior was among the fatalities, while another female child warrior was captured in the encounter site which was later turned over to the social welfare and development in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur”.
This is not the first time that a massacre happened in Lianga. Almost six years now, the lumad people haven’t attained justice yet from the brutal killings and injustices perpetrated among the Lumad on the September 1, 2015 Lianga massacre, murdering two Lumad leaders-- Datu Juvello Sinzo and MAPASU Chairperson Dionel Campos, and the Executive Director of ALCADEV Emerito Samarca. This only shows that the attacks on Lumads continue.
The military continues to encamp on Lumad civilian communities to break the unity of the people who strongly oppose the destructive and foreign mines. They sow fear and terror instead of protecting the people and the people’s interests against large mining companies who are causing environmental destruction and impacting the livelihood of the lumads, disrupting their indigenous food system and practices and contributing to food insecurity.
TRIFPSS is one of the regional member organizations of PNFSP in Mindanao established in 1998 providing education to lumad communities in Surigao del Sur. TRIFPSS, like PNFSP’s other regional member organizations, implements a program for Sustainable Agriculture in their schools and communities that they serve but have experienced harassment and intimidation, at worst threat to the safety of their personnel.
It is very ironic that while NGOS like TRIFPSS and PNFSP contribute to development work in marginalized communities, they continuously experience red tagging, threats and harassments from soldiers who vowed to protect the Filipino people. #
Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur
