Hanimay Suazo, secretary general of the group Karapatan-SMR (File photo)
DAVAO CITY — At least 500 human rights advocates joined on Tuesday, February 23, a two-day national fact-finding mission to probe the incidents of alleged military attacks on farmers and small-scale miners in Pantukan, Compostela Valley province.
Hanimay Suazo, spokesperson of Karapatan-Southern Mindanao, said the National Humanitarian and Peace Mission will be held in Barangay Napnapan in Pantukan to trace the link between the series of attacks against communities of small scale miners and the involvement of the military’s 46th Infantry Battalion and 10th Infantry Division
The probe comes after the killings of an anti-activist local official and a small-scale miner, while a 14-year old boy was wounded. However, the military claimed that the boy is a New People’s Army “child warrior” whom they have “rescued”.
The victims include Teresita Navacilla, a purok chair and convener of the Save Pantukan Movement who was shot in her store last January 27 and died at the hospital on January 30; and Ronel Paas, a small-scale miner who was shot in the chest in a case of indiscriminate firing by soldiers in their village last February 9.
The small scale miner was also reported as an NPA member killed in an encounter.
“We would be looking into the links of the entry of a large-scale mining to the deployment of soldiers to the community,” said Suazo. (davaotoday.com)
