Probe on alleged maltreatment of lumads sought

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives is set to investigate reports that hundreds of lumads or indigenous people (IP) are being held in inhumane conditions by militant groups that use them as fodder in their anti-government protest actions.

The inquiry was prompted by the privilege speech of North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catamco, chair of the House committee on indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples.

Catamco said that around 700 IPs are being held in a walled compound in Davao City called Haran. The compound is reportedly owned and operated by the United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) and run by militant groups. Since 2014, large groups of IPs, including the Manobos to which Catamco belongs, have been staying there.

Catamco said militant groups have forced the IPs to live in makeshift tents that lack sanitation facilities. Militant groups have also used IPs as “unwitting actors” to justify their claims that tribal groups are evacuees or “bakwits” of militarized ancestral lands in Mindanao.

“I think this is one bad example and a wrong way of waging propaganda: to use the IPs and taking advantage of their innate trusting nature and lack of education to relay their plight to the concerned government agencies,” Catamco said in Filipino.

“But instead of showing them the available remedies under our system of government, they (militant groups) have put our lumads and IPs in harm’s way. From the frying pan into the fire,” she added.

Catamco also showed videotaped interviews of several members of the Matigsalug tribe of San Fernando, Bukidnon who recounted how they were deceived to go to Haran.