THE Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Northern Mindanao is mulling over on probing reports that the rights of the indigenous people displaced by the armed clashes between the military and the New People’s Army (NPA) in a mountain village in Claveria town, Misamis Oriental, have been violated.
Victorio Aleria Jr., CHR-Northern Miindanao supervisor investigator, said Monday that the commission will be investigating if the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRHIL) has not been respected during the encounters between the troops and insurgents last week.
In the most recent conflict, more than 300 lumad residents from the sitios of Lakbangan, Kalhaan and Impadiding in Barangay Minalwang, Claveria left their homes, properties and livelihood for fear of being caught in the crossfire.
In its latest report from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) of Misamis Oriental, it shows there are at least 300 villagers who have abandoned their communities due to the fighting.
In an article published in Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro on Monday, Rogelio Plana, secretary-general of the lumad group Kalumbay, said his group is worried that the ongoing rescue operation conducted by various units of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division (4ID) to free two soldiers captured by the NPA in Impasug-ong, Bukidnon, last August 22, would continue to displace more villagers in the coming days.
However, in an earlier interview with Sun.Star, First Lieutenant Patrick Martinez, acting 4ID spokesman, made it clear that troops are engaging the Maoist rebels in the outskirts of the residential areas to avoid hitting civilians.
Martinez has also accused the NPA of violating the CARHRIL when the insurgents allegedly buried landmines in some spots in some sitios of Minalwang that endanger the lives of the villagers.
He added the detonation of the landmines could also be the reason why the lumad residents fled their homes last week.
Recruitment by the NPAs
Aleria said they will check if both sides have violated the CARHRIL, but added they will focus their investigation on reports that the NPA has recruited some of the hinterland communities’ young people.
He said someone informed the CHR when a team went to Minalwang a few weeks back to monitor the situation of the residents from the village last September.
“We still have to verify if the NPA indeed recruited minors into their force, and in which area in Minalwang the recruitment took place,” Aleria said in a telephone interview with Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro on Monday.
He added that based on the CARHRIL, the NPA is not allowed to recruit minors and train them as guerrilla fighters.
The informant told CHR-Northern Mindanao that the rebels succeeded in luring the young from Minalwang proper to join the armed struggle.
“Kung nakaya nila mang-recruit sa sentro sa Minalwang, sa Lakbangan o sa uban pang sitio pa kaha (If they had managed to recruit in the Minalwang proper, there’s no reason they could not do it in Lakbangan or in other far-flung sitios),” Aleria said.
When the PDRRMC went to deliver relief goods to the evacuation center in Minalwang last Friday and Saturday, it was noticed that most of the displaced were women, children and the elderly. There were hardly any young men among the evacuees.