Today—August 9—a day set aside by the international community as Universal Day for Indigenous Peoples throughout the world—is replete with significance and meaningfulness for the Lumads who have sought refuge at Haran Mission House of the UCCP.
Looking back to the deplorable incident at the UCCP Haran Mission House, the facts point to Rep. Nancy Catamco, the DSWD, the Military and the Police, including the paramilitary group Alamara, as the prima facie guilty parties.
Wave upon wave the Lumad peoples of Mindanao have expressed their indignant response to the deplorable incident at the Haran Compound of the UCCP in Davao City.
The poor Lumad evacuees, victims of military fascism in the countryside, have had to taste the tentacles of State fascism here in the city. One Lumad Datu expressed his dismay succinctly, “I thought we were safe here in the city, but the police are no different from the 68th IB soldiers in the mountains!”
Rep. Nancy Catamco of North Cotabato, if we recalled, has been declared “persona non grata” by the Lumad organizations — namely Salugpongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon, PASAKA Confederation of Lumads, Karadyawan and Kasilo — for her unbecoming conduct and uncalled for acts against the Lumad evacuees earlier this week.