Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay assailed the military’s action as it “shows the government’s desperation to cover up the situation of the victims of typhoon Pablo– the neglect of the victims’ needs, the corruption in its relief and rehabilitation efforts, and worst, the harassment of people who exposed these, leading to the killing of Cristina Jose, the leader of the Pablo victims’ organization.”
By JOHN RIZLE L. SALIGUMBA
Davao Today
Davao City Philippines— Tired, hungry, harassed and soaked from rain, 70 people stranded for a day after a relief mission for Typhoon Pablo victims in a remote village of Baganga, Davao Oriental were finally rescued on Sunday afternoon.
The mission was stranded in Sitio Cabuyao on Saturday night, an interior village after their vehicles were stopped in Sitio Tigbawan by piles of logs on the road allegedly placed by the military. They trekked for four hours and stayed the night with food and water supplies running out, no electricity, and poor cellphone signals.
They were rescued by colleagues in Davao they contacted earlier, who left early dawn Sunday with two Saddam trucks to fetch them in Sitio Cabuyao.
The rescue team was twice delayed by Baganga police and then the 67th Infantry Battalion who insisted in escorting the team.
The team refused escorts, as Reverend Jurie Jayme of the human rights alliance Karapatan who was with the team explained having the military and the police in the convoy would do more harm to the mission.
Unknown to the rescue team, the military arrived earlier in Sitio Cabuyao with their trucks ready to fetch the stranded mission.
But the mission refused to go with the military. A delegate of the mission, Antonio Flores of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said “Ngano mag uban man mi nila nga sila man nagpalisod-lisod sa amoa (Why should we go with the soldiers when they were the ones who made our mission difficult)?”
The mission had encountered harassments from the battalion since day one of their mission on Thursday. They were held several times by military checkpoints.
The rescue group finally made it to Sitio Cabuyao Nursery at 1:30 pm, to the jubilation and relief of the participants.
Davaotoday editor Marilou Aguirre-Tuburan who is one of the five journalists covering the mission, said they left Sitio Cabusao at exactly 2:45pm
The delegates went straight ahead to the Baganga police to file a blotter on the incident.
Human rights advocates lambast the military on the incident.
Atty. Karlos Isagani Zarate, Bayan Muna partylist’s second nominee, in a facebook message to davaotoday said what the military did was “unwarranted” and manifested a “Marcosian act.”
He added that what happened was “a clear violation of human rights and international humanitarian law (that) mandate the respect for the rights of civilians, particularly in this case, where the mission is principally aimed to help the typhoon Pablo victims and to ferret out the truth behind the cowardly assassination of Bayan Muna leader and Barangay Kagawad Cristina Jose.”
Jose was a member of Barug Katawhan, a movement of Pablo victims who staged a protest last month at the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare Department in Davao protesting the government’s negligence and demanding the relief assistance promised.”
Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay assailed the military’s action as it “shows the government’s desperation to cover up the situation of the victims of typhoon Pablo– the neglect of the victims’ needs, the corruption in its relief and rehabilitation efforts, and worst, the harassment of people who exposed these, leading to the killing of Cristina Jose, the leader of the Pablo victims’ organization.”
Palabay also challenged Malacañang to take concrete steps against the elements of the 67th Infantry Battalion in Davao Oriental for the harassment against the mission delegates.
“The Aquino government and the AFP should answer for this action. It should stop harassing and killing the people, who by their collective action, are taking steps to better their situation,” Palabay said. (John Rizle L. Saligumba/davaotoday.com)
