DAVAO CITY —A mural depicting three Lumad leaders killed in Lianga town, Surigao del Sur was unveiled during the human rights caravan, Manilakbayan in Bonifacio Shrine in Manila.
Workers led by national labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno welcomed the protest caravan of Lumad people from Mindanao this morning with a mural of Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (Alcadev), Inc. Emerito Samarca, Lumad leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Jovello Sinzo who were killed last September 1.
The mural was created by a team led by University of the Philippines Fine Arts student Melvin Pollero, who is also an organizer of KMU, and was accompanied with a cloth streamer containing the slogans “Stop Lumad killings! Military pullout now! Junk Oplan Bayanihan! Stop the plunder in Mindanao!”
“Samarca, Campos and Sinzo have become the symbols of the Lumad people who are being targeted with massacres and other human-rights violations. Their massacre at the hands of paramilitary groups backed up by the military awakened many people about the plight of the Lumad,” said Roger Soluta, KMU vice-chairperson.
“They are not only symbols of the victimization of the Lumad. They have become symbols, and at the same time catalysts, of the Lumad’s resistance and the unity being extended by workers and all Filipinos to that resistance,” he added.
KMU said that despite the Aquino government’s efforts to mislead the public about the perpetrators of the Lianga massacre, it cannot erase the popular belief that the military and its paramilitary groups were responsible for the crime.
“Aside from the testimony of the witnesses, the Aquino government’s Oplan Bayanihan clearly points to the military as the perpetrator of the crime. The counter-insurgency program clearly states that the Lumad is a target of the military,” Soluta said.(davaotoday.com)
