AFP apologizes for misquoting UN exec on IPs

DAVAO CITY – The Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) apologized yesterday to a representative of the United Nations for misinterpreting his statement on a group of indigenous people.

The incident prompted Col. Eduardo Gubat to resign as spokesperson for the Eastmincom, after admitting that a press release he issued on the supposed trafficking of lumads was wrongfully attributed to UN special rapporteur Chaloka Beyani.

Beyani was in Davao to check on the situation of about 1,200 lumads who sought refuge at the United Church of Christ of the Philippines last month.

The refugees were from Bukidnon and Davao del Norte.

Apparently, Gubat described the lumads as trafficked persons and attributed it to Beyani, who denied making such a statement during his exit report in Manila recently. 

“The description of the lumads as trafficked persons was the assessment of the Eastmincom and not of Beyani. The effects of the statement was not intentional,” Gubat said in a statement. 

Beyani described the misrepresentation as “unacceptable and a gross distortion of my views.”

Gubat said the Eastmincom took the observation constructively as a guide in protecting indigenous peoples from unscrupulous individuals and organizations. – With Pia Lee-Brago, Alexis Romero, Christina Mendez