Two years after Pablo: Victims are now in Manila to call for justice MANILA CITY – In commemoration of the typhoon Pablo second year anniversary, some survivors participating in the Manilakbayan ng Mindanao will hold a series of activities in their “Kampuhan” on December 4. Aside from being victims of intensified militarization and incursions of mining corporations and agro-industrial plantations in their regions, some delegates of Manilakbayan ng Mindanao are also survivors of Typhoon Pablo. They left their homes to denounce the Aquino administration’s failure to provide relief and rehabilitation and alleged corruption of relief fund two years after the typhoon swept Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley. More than 300 people coming from various sectors in Mindanao, mostly indigenous people as well as their counterparts from Southern Tagalog and National Capital Region are presently having their “Kampuhan” (People’s Camp) at Liwasang Bonifacio this city after a 14-day journey which started last November 12. Among the activities lined up for the Pablo anniversary are candle lighting, film showing and photo exhibit of the aftermath of Pablo and sharing of stories among survivors. Where’s the P10 B DAP fund for Pablo victims? For Datu Serrano Mambay-an, a Matigsalog leader from Brgy. Mangayon, Compostela, help never came from the government to repair their homes and rehabilitate agricultural fields in their community. “Milabay na lang ang bagyong Pablo, hangtud karon wala gihapon mi kadawat og saktong tabang gikan sa gobyerno, gibuboan hinuon mi og mga military aron hawanon ang dalan sa pagsulod sa APECO sa among lugar (Pablo has passed but we never received any enough help from the government, instead they deployed military to clear the way for the entry of Agusan Petroleum and Minerals Corp. (APECO)-San Miguel Corp. in our area,” lamented Datu Mambay-an. Mambay-an and his community are joining this year’s Manilakbayan ng Mindanao to let the people in the national capital especially President BS Aquino to know about their sufferings after the disaster. Cristina Lantao, an eighteen-year-old Matigsalog and a grade four student at the time Pablo hit their place in Compostela Valley lost her house and school in their place. She is also one of the participants in the Manilakbayan ng Mindanao to demand the government of its responsibility to provide her community with the much needed help like rehabilitation. “Asa naman ang tabang? Nakabalo mi nga naay P10 B nga pundo para sa amoa pero dili namo makita. Nawad-an nami og salig sa gobyerno labi na nga ang nangulo korakot (Where’s the aid? We don’t feel the P10 B fund provided for us. We already lost our trust to a corrupt government),” Lantao said. A different kind of storm worse than Pablo Manilakbayan ng Mindanao considers the deployment of more than half of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the island a far worse disaster than Pablo saying it resulted to a spate of human rights violations like extra-judicial killings, trumped-up charges, forced evacuation of communities and attacks on schools. “It’s appalling that you can see more soldiers than rehabilitated homes and relief in Typhoon Pablo-affected areas. What the survivors need are decent homes, long term education program for their children and food security through genuine agrarian reform where farmers can till their own land,” said Jomorito Guaynon, spokesperson of Manilakabayan ng Mindanao. Manilakbayan ng Mindanao has recorded 55 combat battalions in the island of Mindanao resulting to series of human rights violations. Hanimay Suazo, secretary-general of Karapatan-Southern Mindanao Region said that 30 battalions are deployed in the region and actively operating in typhoon stricken areas like Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental. “It is also the areas where human rights abuses happened under Aquino’s administration including the killing of Marcelo Monterona, one of the Council of Leaders of Indug Kautawan (People’s Uprising), a typhoon Pablo survivors organization,” Suazo said. Monterona has received threats from elements of the Army’s 71st Infantry Battalion “for being active in the defense of human rights, and for being one of the leaders who demanded and won the Apex Mining Co. financial reparation to rehabilitate the damages caused by its operation in Maco, Compostela,” she added. According to Karapatan-SMR, Monterona is the 27th victim of the extra-judicial killings in Southern Mindanao under the Aquino administration and the first victim this year. Manilakbayan ng Mindanao has recorded 103 extra-judicial killings in Mindanao under the Aquino administration alone. “Protecting the interest of multinational corporations which have evicted indigenous people from their ancestral lands, Aquino’s counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan acts like a killing machine, far worse than the Typhoon Pablo,” Goaynon said.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 06:46:19 +0000
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