DISPLACED residents who have set camp at the Provincial Capitol Park for nearly three months are considering pushing through with the fact-finding mission in their community at Sitio Camansi, Banglay, in Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental in September.
The evacuees were apprehensive to conduct the fact-finding after the Capitol Executives said they could not do anything to help pull out the military detachment in the area.
Datu Jomorito Guaynon, chairperson of the Kalumbay regional lumad organization, said they wanted to assure that the Provincial Government will take action once there will be human rights violations found during the fact-finding mission.
"Sa among tan-aw gusto namo nga ikapaniguro nga kung dunay fact-finding naa bay solusyon nga mahatag ang LGU kung makita didto ang kalapasan sa military (We wanted to be assured for the provincial government to take action if the Fact Finding finds out military abuses)," Guaynon said.
"Kung nibalibad ang LGU sa kahimtang nga wala silay mahimo tungod kay Martial Law, useless ang pagkuha og ebidensya didto kung dili mahatagan sa solusyon (If the LGU said they can’t do anything about it because of Martial law, then it’s useless to seek for evidence if no solution can be given)," he added.
Guaynon said the evacuees have remained dismayed over the inaction of the Provincial Government to address their demands to pull out the military detachment which had forced the residents to flee their homes since June 2018.
However, the group has decided to reconsider conducting the fact-finding mission to personally check the situation in the area.
Guaynon said the activity will focus on looking into whether the detachment was installed inside the natives’ ancestral domain and its distance from the community, including the damages in properties brought by “intense militarization.”
The group leader said they want to pursue the fact-finding activity after they learned that evacuees in Surigao del Sur were able to return home after the local government unit (LGU) acted on the evacuees’ demand to pull out the military detachment.
"Nakaya man gani didto sa LGU sa Surigao del Sur sa Caraga nga mabungkag ang detachment ngano dili man mabuhat kana dinhi sa Misamis Oriental. Napamatud-an nato nga dili tinuod nga walay mahimo ang LGU tungod kay martial law (If the LGU in Caraga was able to take action why can’t they do that here. It is not true that an LGU can’t do anything because of Martial Law)," Guaynon said.
Guaynon said they want other support groups like representatives from the church, women, youth, and other civil society organizations to join the fact finding so they can help pressure the government to act on their demands.
"Wala pay petsa pero basin niining bulana ang fact-finding. Ug naghinaot ta nga human niini matubag na sa LGU ang atong demanda (There is no schedule yet but we hope to have fact-finding this month. And we hope that after this, the LGU can answer our demand)," he added.