Backsliding

If not for the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) condemning the killing of lumads (indigenous people) in Surigao del Sur, the government may not have ordered an inter-agency investigation into the bloody incidents.

Three lumad leaders were killed last Sept. 1, but there have also been reports of other lumads, including a whole family, being slain allegedly by a paramilitary group.

The perpetrators were tagged as members of the Magahat-Bagani Force, a paramilitary group reportedly formed to operate against rebel leaders and their sympathizers.

The lumads were alleged to be sympathizers of the New People’s Army (NPA), an allegation they have vehemently denied in news reports.

Para-military groups are vestiges of the dark, dark days of martial rule in the 70s and 80s during which they were used in terrorizing and in killing or torturing villagers suspected of being sympathetic to communists or Muslims.

The groups, which included religious-cultist organizations like the Tadtads, were trained and armed by the military to serve as force multipliers or community defense forces in rural villages.

However, the paramilitary groups like Manero’s Tadtad responsible for the murder of Italian priest Tulio Favali in 1985, had been known to terrorize and murder state enemies while insulating their military handlers from culpability.

Paramilitary units have no more place in a democratic Philippine society. The government must not only ensure that justice is served in the Suriagao killings, but must also disband all paramilitary units still existing. Otherwise, we would be backsliding into our dark past. -End-

Image by: Interaksyon