Karapatan-Socsksargends, however, said Bravo was lying. What happened, he said, was an attack by Philippine Army troops against hapless lumads who are opposed to the operation of foreign and large-scale mining SMI-Xstrata, in their ancestral land.
By ALEX D. LOPEZ
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — A wife of anti-mining leader of the Blaan tribe in Tampakan town in South Cotabato, including their two children were murdered by elements believed to be members of the Philippine Army, Thursday morning.
Secretary General of Karapatan-South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, General Santos, Davao del Sur (Karapatan-Socsksargends), Pastor Sadrach Sabella said the victims are identified as Juvy Capion and her children, Pop, 13 and John, 8.
Sabella said Capion and her children went to their farm at around 6 AM, and were shot at by men belonging to the Philippine Army’s 27th Infantry Battalion who were seen arriving at the area.
The incident took place in Sitio Datal Alyong, Danlag village, an area within the mining claim of Sagittarius Mines Incorporated-Xstrata (SMI-Xtrata) in South Cotabato.
Capion’s 10-year old child, according to Sabella, was also wounded and is still being held by the Philippine Army’s 27th IB.
Philippine Army 27th IB commander Lt. Col. Alexis Noel Bravo, in a statement, however, denied this saying there was an encounter between his troops and the New People’s Army in the area.
Karapatan-Socsksargends, however, said Bravo was lying. What happened, he said, was an attack by Philippine Army troops against hapless lumads who are opposed to the operation of foreign and large-scale mining SMI-Xtrata in their ancestral land.
The Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, Inc. (LRC-KSK) has also posted in its Facebook account details about the Capion family.
Capion’s husband, B’laan leader Daguil Capion, according to the group, is a staunch dissenter to the SMI-Xstrata mining in the area who was accused of leading an ambush against the said company in 2010, in an attempt to stop their mining operations. He was said to have been driven into the forests of Tampakan due to grave threats to his life.
Daguil is also said to be the nephew of Gorelmin Malid who strongly opposed the presence of another foreign-owned large-scale mining company, the Western Mining Corporation. Malid was murdered in 2002.
LRC-KSK added that Daquil’s ancestral domain is part of the areas covered by the Tampakan mining project of SMI Xstrata. The site covers the towns of Tampakan in South Cotabato and Columbio in Sultan Kudarat. The mining site stands to affect at least five communities of indigenous peoples in the area. (Alex D. Lopez/davaotoday.com)
Indigenous Peoples, large-scale mining, World
