DAVAO CITY – Members of Bagong Alysansang Makabayan here picketed the Department of Social Welfare and Development Region 11 Office in Davao City on Thursday, September 15 to remind the agency of their promise to help the Lumad evacuees staying inside a church compound here.
“We call on the DSWD Region 11 to sincerely address the concerns of our Lumad brothers and sisters regarding their safe return to their ancestral domains,” BAYAN SMR Secretary General Sheena Duazo said in an interview. They were joined by the Lumad group PASAKA Confederation of Lumad Organizations .
The groups went on picket after Davao del Norte after Mayor Maria Theresa Timbol said that she cannot ensure the safety of the Lumad evacuees when they would go back home.
“Mayor Timbol did not vouch for the safety of our Lumad brothers and sisters who wished to go home. They still wanted to consult the other tribes, including those who are members of the Alamara,” Duazo said.
She said the Mayor even proposed that the military escort the Lumad.
Hundreds of Lumad from communities in Kapalong and Talaingod towns in Davao del Norte province have been staying inside the evacuation center at the Haran compound of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Father Selga Street here for more than a year now due to threats they receive from the paramilitary group, Alamara and the Army.
The Lumads have called on the disarming of the Alamara, allegedly armed by the Army to help quell the communist insurgency in the countryside.
They also demanded for the pullout of government troops from their communities. (davaotoday.com)
