Police raid in UCCP compound in Davao City condemned

DAVAO CITY - Council woman Leah Librado has condemned the violent police raid at the compound United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Davao City and sought an investigation into the incident.

The violent police action came days after North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catamco had insisted that the indigenous Lumads return to their communities, and she claimed that the Makabayan lawmakers and progressive groups had “kidnapped and detained” over 700 evacuees in a “concentration camp,” referring to the United Church of Christ in the Philippines here.

At least 15 Lumads, datus or chieftains, support staff were hurt after policemen forced their way in the barricade put up by the evacuees who were afraid to return home due to alleged harassment by government troops battling communist rebels in the provinces.

The tribesmen fled their homes and sought safe refuge at the church compound.

“This obvious show of brute force is not helping the situation of the lumad evacuees. They fled their homes because of intensified militarization and sought shelter in what is to be a neutral sanctuary (UCCP church) and yet, police were ordered to evict them without resolving first the issue on hand,” Librado said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.

She added: “To force these evacuees to return home without properly addressing their concern is like sending them off to their deaths. The violence that ensued in yesterday’s incident deserves our strongest condemnation and we cannot let the lumad evacuees experience more of the same treatment. They deserve respect and  the worsening attacks on indigenous peoples’ rights are enough cause for alarm.”

“Instead of forcing the Lumad refugees, albeit in a violent manner, to return to their villages, Davao authorities and the national government should first address the issue of militarization that has forced them to flee in the first place then address their demand for the pullout of Army troops reportedly encamping in their communities,” Librado said.

She also called on the Commission on Human Rights to investigate the police raid. “The hundreds of evacuees who are raising that they’re victims of abuses are just in Haran for three months. They are very accessible for the CHR yet we didn’t hear anything from that office.”

I Witnessed It All

Lyndee Bayno, of the Save Our Schools, also claimed to have witnessed the raid, and told the Mindanao Examiner that policemen attacked the tribesmen with truncheons.

In his detailed report, this is what Bayno wrote: "I could not grasp the thought of a congresswoman in pursuing her own agenda of coercing indigenous peoples or IPs to go home without listening to why they evacuated in the first place. The bloody and forcible entry and dispersal of the anti-riot police, military and Alamara among the lumad evacuees last July 23, in UCCP Haran Compound evacuation center in Davao City, was a clear reflection of military abuse and harassment experienced by the IPs in their communities. Furthermore, the brutal means of Nancy Catamco, Alamara - a local paramilitary group - and the police was sugarcoated as a rescue operation.

I was there. I was witnessing the continuation of classes of about 300 lumad children when the police started to cut-off and destroy the gate. Then the police started to swing their truncheons hitting the unarmed lumads who tried to fend off their attacks while trying to block the entrance. As some of the tribesmen were bloodied and bruised, the women and children screamed as they looked on horrified.

 

The children were immediately evacuated to Haran’s main building while their parents tried to stop the police from entering the gates. Visibly anxious and terrified, the children huddled to their mothers who  are trying to appease and comfort the little ones even as they also felt helpless and uncertain of their children’s security, especially after hearing the loud ruckus at the gate and hearing their datus screaming “sagdok” calling for the police to stop  from entering the church compound.

 

The children were all kept safely in a room inside the compound of Haran. A 12-year old student then asked me if he could go help in keeping the police from entering. Of course, I told him not to, adding now is not your time. He then asked me why could they [soldiers and police] not leave them alone in peace? “Didto sa bukid, mahadlok gyud mi kay magkampo sila sa among mga balay ug eskwelahan, karon diri sa ubos, hadlokon na pud mi nila unya pugson nga paulion. Asa na lang man diay mi ani moadto” (In the mountains, we were fearful that soldiers were camping in our homes and our schools, and now here they are, ensnaring us and forcing us to go back where we do not feel safe. Where will we go now?), the child lamented.

 

I wish I could explain it to him how rooted this conflict was. But at that moment I only assured him that this is going to be okay. That we, together with their parents will defend them at all cost. That these children, these lumads don’t deserve this kind of treatment. And that no matter how Nancy Catamco or the police say it, rescue, or anything else, it is apparent who the aggressors are, and certainly it is not the ones who were inside the gate."

 

Who Do You Served?

 

Villager John Glen Salud also said some 80 policemen were involved in the raid. He said the evacuees were traumatized by the raid.

"Over 700 lumad evacuees still traumatized by the atrocities of the military were given refuge by religious group UCCP. The evacuees have stayed in the UCCP grounds for almost three months now. Their lives have been going on well despite being away from home. But then, Rep. Nancy Catamco walks in, struts around like she knows something, and orders police officers under Supt. Lao and Col. Pepino to forcibly take away the lumad bakwits to their homes. Come to think about it. First, a congresswoman giving orders to the police. Who is Nancy Catamco to give order, and who are Superintendent Lao and Colonel Pepino to follow? Second, there were no papers to provide justification for the entry of police force to private property. No warrants, no written orders, nothing at all. This is just damning," he said.

"It is damning because the people expected to enforce the law are now the ones breaking it. And breaking it with truncheons, riot shields, pistols tucked at their waists. It is damning because when troubles like these arise, it is the police that helpless civilians turn to to protect them. But who are the members of the support groups going to call? The police, who at that moment, had just broken their gates and beat up the lumad leaders? It is damning because the weapons used by the police and their salaries are from the taxes of the people similar to the lumads assaulted. It is damning because the lumads were the protectors of the forests and watersheds. These ecosystems provided the clean waters and healthy environment for the families of the police officers involved," Salud said.

He said these turn of events were not uncommon and that anyone who thinks that the incident was the first time that the Davao City police office did something like this is either foolish or unknown to the history of mass movements in Davao.

"Police are always at the forefront of putting down resistance from the urban centers. So who exactly does the DCPO serve? It is the cohorts of the enemies of the people. The big corporations, the corrupt politicians, the very criminals who legitimize their actions by writing the law to their favor," he said.

There was no immediate reactions from Catamco's office and the police about all these allegations. (Mindanao Examiner)

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