US-based and Fil-am delegates who participated in a recent International Solidarity Mission deplored the rights abuses they saw in several areas in Mindanao.
During the day, they shared food and waited amid the sweltering heat outside the gym. At night, they slept on cartons or on the cold floor. They waited for three nights and four days, only to be told they were waitlisted for the next claims board registration.
Filipino-American delegates to the recent International Solidarity Mission in Mindanao were “dismayed” with Philippine government over what they observed as “its negligence to attend to the basic social services of its people”.
“In every area, it’s almost like this. Let’s say it’s a little difficult and we are trying our best to improve it,” said Gascon who also saw “long queues, long lines” in their trips to Baguio, Legazpi and other provinces in Luzon and in Cotabato, Butuan and Cagayan de Oro.
Karadyawan said “the military are using our communities as shields, they are occupying our churches and schools, accusing and forcing some of us to surrender including some of our young children being forced by them to be their guides on their pursuit against NPAs [New People’s Army]”.
A indigenous people’s group leader said they fear for their lives as government troops amass in their far-flung communities in Kapalong town, Davao del Norte.
Exhausted from the heat of the mid-day sun in Bankerohan Gym, 51-year old Leticia Lumakan, collapsed for the second time in two days.
Swiss mining giant Glencore will go on trial before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) in Geneva this month for “troubling human rights violations in the Philippines.”
An organization of tribal communities on Wednesday scored on the Aquino administration over “the escalating deaths and displacements of Lumads in the country because of large-scale mining projects, and of the implementation of counter insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan”.
A media watchdog said it is not expecting a mention of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill during President Benigno Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) next week on July 28.
