By Marvyn N. Benaning / Correspondent
THE Makabayan Bloc in the House of Representatives on Saturday assailed a partymate of President Aquino in the Liberal Party (LP) for allegedly insulting lumad evacuees housed in a church-operated sanctuary in Davao City.
“We, the Makabayan Bloc in the House of Representatives, express utter dismay over how our colleague, [LP] Rep. Nancy A. Catamco [of North Cotabato], chairman of the House Committee on Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Communities, disregarded basic parliamentary courtesy and showed egregious disrespect for the sensitivities of Mindanao’s indigenous people during a supposed dialogue with the latter at their evacuation sanctuary in Davao City recently,” the group of legislators said in a statement.
Former Party-list Rep. Satur C. Ocampo of Bayan Muna issued the statement on behalf of the coalition.
Ocampo said that Catamco, Party-list Reps. Luzviminda C. Ilagan of Gabriela, Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna and Terry L. Ridon of Kabataan were invited by the Save our Schools Network to join a National Fact Finding Mission to investigate the alleged harassment and other human-rights violations perpetrated by the military and paramilitary groups against the lumads in Southern Mindanao.
On July 13 the mission went to Cateel, Davao Oriental, and visited a school established by the lumads.
The following day, the four legislators met with the lumad evacuees and their datus and leaders at the United Church of Christ Philippines (UCCP) Haran compound in Davao City, during which the evacuees presented several concerns to them, including the military and paramilitary harassments and vilification campaign against the lumads, volunteer teachers and their support groups.
At that meeting, Catamco suggested that they meet again the following morning along with officials of the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). The lumad leaders welcomed her suggestion.
“Instead of facilitating the dialogue and evincing empathy toward the lumads, Representative Catamco made derogatory and humiliating statements against the evacuees, their tribal leaders and support groups. She gruffly stopped Representative Zarate when he tried to raise a point, telling him, ‘I’m not talking to you.’ That prompted him to walk out of the dialogue, followed by the lumads and their supporters,” Makabayan said in a statement.
“We also decry Representative Catamco’s unilateral decision to invite to the dialogue officers of the Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command’s 1003rd [Infantry] Brigade under the 10th Infantry “Agila” Division, when she fully knew that these military officers, along with their underlings and paramilitary groups, have been denounced by the lumads for harassing, intimidating and subjecting them to immeasurable hardship, repeatedly impelling them to leave their communities and seek sanctuary in Davao City and elsewhere,” the legislators said in the satement.
“Instead of the NCIP officials, Catamco invited the military and other government agencies and proceeded to strong-arm the evacuees into returning to their homes. She manipulated the whole dialogue and dominated the discussions. She tried to stop the evacuees from expressing their real sentiments and narrating the violations committed against them by the military,” Makabayan claimed in the statement.
“Catamco further humiliated the evacuees when she uttered, “Panguli na mo kay baho na kayo mo diri. [You should go back to your homes because you are already stinky here].” She tried to entice the evacuees to go home by telling them that packed lunch and buses had been prepared for them,” the statement added.
“Worse, Catamco went on questioning the datus if they were really tribal leaders, because according to her myopic view, ‘leaders should not leave their communities.’ And she maliciously asked several participants in the dialogue if they were members of the New People’s Army or of non-governmental organizations,” Makabayan added.
“Thus the so-called dialogue turned into a mockery. Ultimately, it failed to address the issues of militarization being raised by the evacuees. Her words and deeds were no different in effect from what the military have been inflicting on the lumads—threats, intimidation, harassment and ridicule,” the bloc also said.
The evacuees from Talaingod, Kapalong, Davao del Norte, and from San Fernando, Bukidnon, sought refuge at the UCCP Haran compound owing to alleged repeated threats, harassments and varied forms of abuses by members of the 68th Infantry Battalion.
Worse, soldiers forced them to join the paramilitary group Alamara or the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit.
“By inviting the military to the supposed dialogue, Catamco practically deceived the lumads who had been complaining against military atrocities and abuses. What she did was not only uncalled for—it was insensitive, insulting to the very people her legislative committee is supposed to look after,” Makabayan also said in the statement.
“We view Catamco’s mockery of the dialogue as part of the orchestrated state repression sanctioned by the Aquino administration, which uses the entire state machinery against the people Mr. Aquino calls ‘my bosses.’ Surely the lumads are part of the Filipino people,” the lawmakers said.