A TOTAL of 74 persons including former representative Satur Ocampo and Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) representative France Castro were held by policemen on Wednesday night in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, for questioning after minors were found onboard of their convoy.
Based on the statement of Captain Erick Wynmer Calulot, Public Information Officer of the 1003rd Infantry Brigade, Ocampo and Castro were illegally holding 14 minors based on the report of municipal social welfare and development officer of Talaingod municipality. Their vehicles were stopped at a checkpoint on November 28.
“The group under Ocampo were onboard five vans when they were put to a halt past 9 p.m. Wednesday by the PNP (Philippine National Police) Talaingod after it was found out during a random checkpoint that the convoy of five vans held minor children who came from different parts of Mindanao and was headed to an unknown destination the group would not reveal,” Calulot said.
This prompted the cops to coordinate with the local government’s local social welfare and development officer who profiled the group and rescued the minors.
The group is composed of 10 teachers who belonged to the ACT party-list who are also teachers of the Salugpungan Ta’tanu Igkanugon Learning Center, with main campus located at Sitio Dulyan, Barangay Palma Gil, Talaingod, Davao Del Norte.
“Some of the children who were from the area were already taken by their parents to their homes. As for the others who are not from the area, coordination is already being made by the local government to inform their relatives as to the children’s whereabouts,” he added.
The municipality of Talaingod mayor Basilio A Libayao passed a resolution condemning the group’s activities and presence in their municipality.
He added that earlier, the tribal leaders of the municipality headed by Datu Guibang Apoga, who defected from the communist group, already made a resolution declaring that they do not want the Salugpungan schools in their ancestral domain as the schools served as recruitment centers for the communist NPA terrorists.
Meanwhile, the 14 minors are now under the custody of Municipal Social Welfare and Development office.
Meanwhile, the Makabayan bloc condemned the alleged illegal detention and trumped-up charges filed against the delegates of the National Solidarity Mission (NSM) by the security forces.
“Based on the information that reached us, PNP-Talaingod fabricated the charge of “human trafficking in relation to child abuse law” against them. It would be a blatant and outrageous lie to accuse progressive lawmaker and former public school teacher Castro, former solon and peace advocate Ocampo, as well as the administrators of the Lumad school as child traffickers,” the statement said.
The statement said that NSM team were there to deliver the relief goods to the students and teachers who are victims of the threats, harassments and the eventual forcible closure of Lumad school Salugpongan Ta’Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Center Inc. (STTICLCI) campus at Sitio Dulyan in Talaingod, Davao del Norte on November 28 by the alleged paramilitary group Alamara under the 56th Infantry Batallion (IB) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“On the contrary, these state forces are the ones who should be charged and tried in court for their criminal acts against the communities in Talaingod. The trumped up charges filed against the members of the NSM team were clearly fabricated to indefinitely detain them,” it added.
As of 4:17 p.m., Thursday, Karapatan said on their Facebook page that 19 of the 74 who were held by the police have undergone a medical check-up at Kapalong District Hospital and proceeded to the Hall of Justice in Tagum city for the inquest proceedings.