DAVAO CITY – The House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights urged the Armed Forces of the Philippines to withdraw its stand that lumads housed inside the Haran compound of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines here are being “manipulated”.
Member of the Committee and Bayan Muna Rep. Karlos Zarate, said during the hearing that this tit for tat on the issue will not stop if the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) will still hold on to its position that United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Dr. Chaloka Beyani “described that the Indigenous People in Haran are manipulated”.
“In the coming days there will be another statement from Dr. Beyani. You apologize but again you continue to attribute to him the statement on the term manipulate means manipulation by some other groups where in fact [it is contrary] to his [Dr. Beyani] statement ,” Zarate said.
On August 13 statement of Dr. Chaloka Beyani’s office, Beyani clarified in his statement that his reference “to their being ‘manipulated’ related to the attempt to forcibly move them out of the UCCP facility without proper and adequate consultation with them.”
Read full statement here: Indigenous peoples / Displacement: UN expert appalled at distortion of his views by Philippines Armed Forces
Beyani’s statement was in response to a press release of the Eastmincom on August 7 where the Army attributed his assessment to the situation of the lumads in Haran as being manipulated.
Dr. Beyani’s statement said that “he considers AFP’s statement by the Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) in its news release of 7 August that the lumads (Indigenous People) in Davao City are victims of human trafficking is incorrect, unacceptable, and represents a gross distortion of my views on this issue.”
The Army in a statement on August 13, apologized to the UN official but “maintains that Dr. Beyani in his exit briefing described that the Indigenous People in Haran are manipulated.”
Zarate said that if the AFP can “misrepresent a UN Official, how much more on the ordinary individuals.”
He added “that we can misrepresent all this things. It’s not a simple transgression. I do not agree that it’s not intentional, it is intentional release by you [Col. Eduardo Gubat] and whoever your companions.”
After being requested by the committee to speak, Col. Gubat said, “the statement I actually mentioned in my apology is about the trafficking, that was the purpose. Even I do not want to say that statement. The trafficking was not mentioned by Dr. Beyani.”
Zarate during the hearing asked the military if there has already been an investigation made after Col. Gubat was removed from his post as the Army’s spokesman of the command.
Col. Harold Cabreros, who represented the Eastmincom during the hearing, said that they will still discuss the matter.
Col. Cabreros said that Eastmincom’s statement “was not approved by our commander. It was delivered by our spokesman [Col. Gubat] without the approval. Thru this we rectify as a result, our spokesman tendered his resignation. He resigned, immediately he was relieved.”
Chair of the House Committee on Human Rights Guillermo Romarate, Jr. denounced the ‘distortion’ made by the Philippine Army.
He said that he “even manifested that he should not just be removed from (being a spokesman). I suggest this officer should not be given what is due to him because of the damage he has done to the incident.”
“The incident is not only a damage on a group of person or certain city but the whole country because the person involved is the (UN) rapporteur,” he added. (davaotoday.com)
