Thirty-four indigenous families from Dao, San Fernando, Bukidnon, today started their Hunger Strike in protest of the government’s unresponsiveness to their demands.
Instead of appropriately addressing the root cause of their protests, which is the capture of Alde ‘Butsoy’ Salusad for killing Dao Barangay Captain Jimmy Liguyon, the provincial government of Bukidnon has been insisting that the families settle the problem according to the customary law of the indigenous peoples. The ‘settlement’ that the government-instituted traditional leaders had wanted to reach is for the family of Liguyon to accept the offer of a horse from the family of Salusad.
“Even if we promote the indigenous traditions, we cannot allow this mockery of justice,” said Jomorito Goaynon, chairperson of Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization of which Jimmy Liguyon was a council member being the vice-chairperson of KASILO Lumad Organization. “The husay is not as simple as the exchange of a horse – or any animal for that matter – for the life of a community leader. The decision should be based on the gravity of the situation. Jimmy Liguyon was a community head – both respected as barangay captain and as a principled indigenous leader. His death isn’t just a personal matter – his death affects the welfare of the entire community, endangering everything that he had stood up for. He was against large scale mining, logging, against any form of plunder on their ancestral lands.”
KASILO and Kalumbay both support the grievance of the 34 families that unless the presence of Salusad and his group is permanently removed from their community, they will always be in danger. “Giving a horse or a carabao does not remove this danger,” said Goaynon. “The government is making our traditional systems simple and stupid.”
The groups are also condemning the provincial governor’s continuous support for fake New People’s Army (NPA) surrenderees and the training and arming of such surrenderees as auxiliary members of the Philippine Army.
“They act fast when it is to their personal interests,” said Goaynon referring to the automatic military operations after members of the NPA ambushed them last month. “But in capturing Salusad, they say they could not do anything about Salusad’s group because NIPAR [New Indigenous Peoples Army Reform] is too big. They conduct full operations against the NPA who are all over the country and yet they could not do anything against NIPAR which is only in Bukidnon.”
KASILO and Kalumbay also slam the arrest of Datu Meyanda Minuna from Kisayab, Bonacao, San Fernando, Bukidnon by members of the Philippine Army during their operation. Datu Meyanda was interrogated after he aired on radio their complaints against the rules the military imposed on their community. They were not allowed to gather forest products – abaca, rattan, camote, and others – and work on their farms for more than an hour a day.
Additionally, the military set up their camp in the midst of the community during operations and forces community members to guide them in the forest, all of which place the lives of the residents in danger.
Benjamin ‘Nonong’ Salusad who is under the 8th Infantry Battalion admitted that he ordered the one-hour work policy. It was allegedly for the protection of the community. “What protection are they giving the community when they live in the houses of the residents and make them prone to attacks?” said Datu Meyanda indignantly. “The only effect of this one-hour policy is our hunger. What could we do in an hour?”
Goaynon also lambasts the power accorded to Benjamin Salusad, the father of Alde Salusad and who had also been among those who threatened to kill Jimmy Liguyon for refusing large scale mining. “That is what the government does to criminals – give them power so they could lord over poor people they hold at the end of the barrel of their guns.”
RMP-NMR