A year ago today, the military massacred the New Bataan 5: Drivers Tirso Añar and Robert Aragon, Lumad community health worker Elegyn Balonga, and Lumad school volunteer teachers Chad Booc and Jurain Ngujo II. But for the victims – as well as for the communities they served – justice is nowhere to be found.
As various indigenous people’s rights groups came together in front of Vinzons Hall in UP Diliman, they sought accountability from the state for the massacre. “A year without justice is justice denied,” they said as they amplified their calls.
They also sought freedom for the 14 Lumad and Environmental Defenders still under state custody because of trumped-up charges.
No justice for the New Bataan 5
Since the massacre, the military has been hellbent on depicting Chad Booc – the most well known of the New Bataan 5 – as a terrorist, using him as a propaganda piece to intimidate students and keep them away from activism. But the facts tell a different story.
Contrary to the military’s claim that Booc “died as an NPA crading the M16 he used in fighting government troops in a legitimate encounter,” local reports said that no such encounter occurred on that day. It was murder, they said – plain and simple.
“What the AFP claims as an ‘encounter’ is in fact a massacre of civilians in the area. And in its attempt to justify these gruesome killings, the armed forces once again twist the truth to play into their narrative as they have done many times before,” said the Save Our Schools Network.
READ: https://sinag.press/news/2022/03/14/chad-booc-and-kevin-castro-are-not-terrorists/
USC Councilor Katkat Dalon, a Lumad school graduate herself, hopes that people will see past the military propaganda and actually get to know the New Bataan 5.
“Hindi ko tiyak kung kilala niyo sila sir Jurain kung paano namin sila kilala. Kung kilala niyo sila bilang NPA o terorista, kung nabasa niyo sa ibang balita, tanungin niyo kami. Handa kaming magkwento,” she said.
READ: https://sinag.press/news/2022/02/26/how-i-met-the-lumad-the-story-of-how-a-terror-law-petitioner-got-arrested-for-teaching-lumad-evacuees-2/
Dalon painted an image of Booc and Ngujo far from the military’s – as excellent students who, instead of using their education for personal gain, chose to go to the countryside and serve the people.
“Handa kaming magkwento hanggang maikwento namin sa inyo ang kanilang kabayanihan. Hangga’t maintindihan niyo ang tunay na esensiya ng pagmamahal ng bayan at pagsisilbi sa sambayanan, dahil iyon ang itinuro sa amin nila sir Jurain, iyon ang pinakita at ginawa sa amin nila sir Jurain.
No justice for the Lumad
Just as the calls for state accountability for the New Bataan 5 massacre have been left unanswered, the communities lament that their needs have also remained unmet after centuries of oppression.
Indigenous People’s Leader and former Bayan Muna Representative Eufemia Culiamat, for example, lamented the state’s long history of dismissing national minorities.
“Sa matagal na panahon na kami ay nagtitiis sa pambansang pang-aapi at pandarambong sa lupang ninuno naming mga katutubo, ang aming karapatan sa sariling pagpasya ay hindi kinilala,”
She recalled how, instead of recognizing their right to self-determination, the state has only answered them with more and more violence. In particular, she recalled the Lianga massacre which she witnessed personally.
“Nakita ko kung paano nabasag ang ulo ng aking pinsan, paano binali-bali ang buto ng aking tiyuhin, at paano ginilitan ng leeg ang aming guro,”
Alongside the rampant state violence, the speakers also lamented how many Lumad children are still deprived of education.
“Sa katunayan, hindi kailangan magkaroon ng mga paaralang Lumad. Hindi kailangan magkaroon ng volunteer teachers kung inaabot ng gobyerno ang mga kabataang Lumad sa Mindanao. Ngunit napakalaki ng patlang sa edukasyon ng ating mga kabataan,” argued former Lumad school volunteer Jose Monfred Sy, Vice Chairperson of the Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND).
Nine out of every ten Lumad children, Sy reported, are unable to read and write.
But instead of embracing initiatives such as Lumad Schools – and, in doing so, heralding people like Teacher Chad and Teacher Jurain as heroes – the state has relentlessly red-tagged these institutions, and has closed several down.
“Sadyang mailap ang hustisya para sa atin – para sa mamamayang Lumad, para sa sambayanang Pilipino,” said Dalon.
READ: https://sinag.press/news/2021/07/05/lumad-schools-national-minorities-in-grave-danger-under-anti-terror-law/
No justice until victory
But as they demanded justice for the New Bataan 5, the progressive groups knew that true justice would not come from the courts – it would only come by fundamentally changing the structures that have bred these injustices in the first place.
“Itinuro sa amin nila sir Chad, nila sir Jurain, at ng buong sambayanang Pilipino na ang tunay na ibig sabihin ng hustisya ay ang pagkakaroon ng lipunang malaya,, ang pagkakaroon ng estado na responsable, at pagkakaroon ng komunidad na ligtas.”
Thus, the speakers underscored the need for students to join this struggle and use their education – just like those that served these communities before them – in service of the Lumad and all of the nation’s oppressed sectors.
“Bilang mga Iskolar ng Bayan, ang ating tungkulin ay tumungo sa kanayunan, magsilbi sa mga hindi pinagsisilbihan ng estado, at maging tunay na pag-asa ng bayan,” said Sy.
UP Diliman University Student Council Chairperson Latrell Felix agreed, saying that the New Bataan 5 were murdered because they were heroes of the people who fought for the Lumad communities’ rights to education, native land, and self-determination.
“Ang pinakamataas na pagpupugay natin sa kanila ay ang pagpapatuloy sa pakikibakang kanilang tinanganan at pinamana,” she said.
Despite the long struggle moving forward, the Lumad community has not lost hope.
“Hindi kami nawawalan ng pag-asa na tiyak ang tagumpay sa aming pakikibaka, na tiyak na sa aming pagkilos makakamit namin ang hustisya dahil ang ating pakikibaka ay nakasandal sa pakikibaka ng sambayanang Pilipinong api at pinagsasamantalahan,” said Dalon.
