LIANGA, Surigao del Sur -- The Office of the Tribal Council of Elders of indigenous political structure under Mindanao Tribe decried the spate of lumad killings in Surigao del Sur town perpetrated by New People’s Army (NPA) last month despite the current Covid-19 pandemic that the country is facing.
With the current situation, the NPA supported by its legal front organization (Mapasu) situated at Andap Valley in Surigao del Sur, conducted the spate of killings that threatened the indigenous political structure survival in the IP communities in Mindanao.
This resulted in the tribal council filing Resolution 1, Series of 2020 last May 1, 2020. They stated therein their tribal voice pleading the NPA to stop Lumad killings and the continued punishments that the NPA afflicted to the IP communities.
IPMR Jumar Bucales of Lianga, Surigao del Sur asked the NPA to respect the Ipra law and the traditional culture of the Manobo tribe in the area of San Miguel, Marihatag, San Agustin and Lianga Municipalities all of Surigao del Sur.
“We condemn the killings perpetrated by the New People’s Army in our Ancestral domain area and call the Mapasu and Kasalo Caraga to stop manipulating the IP leader, especially these Alcadev and TRIPFS which is the breeding school of NPA and also in the communities in giving verdict and punishments which end lines and cost many lives since the NPA’s front organization establishment in 1990’s (sa halip na ang CPP/NPA ang nagsabi sa Tribu na sila ang tutulon, ngayon sila naman pala ang nagpapahirap at totoong berdugo sa tribu, tama na at itigil nyo na ang paggamit sa amin dahil hindi na naming kayo kailangan, at umalis na kayo sa lupang ninuno nain),” said Bucales.
The NPA is threatening those IP leaders and members who block their path and kill those who dare to challenge their ways and doctrine in the IP communities in Surigao del Sur.
Bucales once again challenges Bayan Muna Representative Eufemia Cullamat to help their tribe, as it is obliterated by NPA and further calls for the CHR to probe the killings of lumad in their own backyard.
“We call on and ask President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to sincerely stop the CPP/NPA/NDF so that our communities will go back to their true tribal Indigenous Political Structure which was destroyed by CPP/NPA/NDF,” said Bucales. (PR)