Philippine Army’s 501st Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) launched a series of aerial bombings on an Agta and peasant community in Sitio Bagsang, Brgy. Sta Clara, Gonzaga, Cagayan last January 29, Saturday, according to reports from local mass organizations.
A barrage of lies
Kagimugan, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP)-Cagayan Valley, reported that the military started dropping five bombs at around 4:00 AM until morning while soliders aboarding two to three helicopters indiscriminately fired on the communities.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) belied the claims of 5th Infantry Division spokesperson Capt. Roger Pamittan that they bombed a New People’s Army (NPA) camp saying that 59 families were forced to evacuate their homes for their safety.
Communist guerillas also said that Pamittan’s claims were false. “We denounce the AFP for dropping bombs in proximity of Agta communities which endangered the lives of civilians, terrorized people, and damaged forest resources from which local ethnic communities draw their food, water, and medicine,” said CPP public information officer Marco Valbuena.
Cagayan Valley-based indigenous people’s group Punganay called for an immediate impartial investigation on the lives and livelihoods lost in the area due to the bombing and strafing.
Recipe for counter-insurgency
Other human rights advocates condemned the attack, saying it was another case of the Duterte administration’s heavy-handed anti-insurgency measures.
League of Filipino Students-Cagayan Valley condemned the Duterte administration for prioritizing anti-insurgency efforts while many Filipinos are dying from its poor management of COVID-19.
“Wala na ngang plano, barat pa ang pondo para sa kalusugan. Walang pondo para sa libreng testing at pagpapagamot pero may bilyones na kayang waldasin sa pagbobomba at panraratrat. Malalakas ang kagamitan ng AFP, overkill sa sinasabi nilang ‘kaunti’ pero hindi epektibo laban sa mga gerilya kaya mga sibilyan ang pinakaapektado. Lalo lang tinutulak ni Duterte ang mamamayan na magtayo ng sarili nilang gobyerno,” they said in a statement.
Various organizations and personalities have also been red-tagged in Cagayan such as Taripnong, filmmaker Nonilon Abao, and Philippine Studies professor Joanne Manzano. Illegal arrests of peasant organizers such as Amanda Echanis and her baby Randall, Julie Marcos, and Isabelo Adviento have been the results of counter-insurgency operations in the area.
Even before the bombing, advocate groups have raised alarms over the increasing number of attacks on peasant communities. Tanggol Magsasaka and KMP’s report that there have already been five extra-judicial killings, 14 victims of wounding by gunshot, three indiscriminate firing incidents, three incidents of peasant community bombings, and four incidents of forced entry and intimidation just from December to January.
Notable cases within the period are the abduction of peasant organizer Steve Abua in Pampanga and the wife of political prisoner Joyna Sabanal in Negros Occidental, attempted displacement of a fishing community in Patungan, Maragondon, Cavite and Tungkong Mangga farmers in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, and aerial bombings in South Cotabato and Camarines Sur.
Under Duterte’s rule, at least 360 cases of peasant killings have been reported.
Holding Duterte accountable
Peasant and human rights organizations vowed to hold the Duterte administration accountable for its crimes, especially those committed by its brutal counter-insurgency.
“The Duterte regime is true to its declaration that it is opposed to protection and promotion of human rights in the country, vis-a-vis its indictment for crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court. There is overwhelming manifestation that this regime is violative of the constitution’s Bill of Rights, thus, the human rights crisis, and the present surge of abuses against peasant communities across the country,” said Anakpawis Party-list first nominee Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano.
Karapatan spokesperson Tinay Palabay alerted that more State-sponsored violence is looming as the campaign period begins next week. She calls on the people to “hold responsible only the Duterte regime, as the one that has encouraged and incited such violence, as what it has done in the past six years of its rule.”
Featured image courtesy ofLFS Cagayan Valley.
