Two suspicious individuals were reported to attempt intrusion to the Bakwit School in the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) searching for Lumad Bakwit School teacher Rius Valle and Manobo chieftain Bai Bibyaon last October 11, Monday, a source from the Save Our Schools (SOS) Network confirms.
Certain Aisha Noreen B. Verano and Don Antonio S. De Nieve, suspected to be intelligence agents, were reported to have arrived within the campus between 12:05 to 12:15 pm in a six-seater white van. Reports state that both Verano and De Nieve were accompanied by other individuals.
The guard inquired about Verano and De Nieve’s identities, and was vaguely told that they are donors from a Cebu-based organization.
Meanwhile, upon another query from SOS Network, Verano said that she is allegedly a staff of the International Maharlika, an indigenous peoples (IP) organization from General Santos City. This is contrary to their prior introduction as coming from an organization in Cebu.
Based on both Verano and De Nieve’s identification cards, however, both are from the Senior Citizens and Elderly Welfare Club (SECAP), a Social Welfare Developments Agency (SWDA).
The suspected intelligence agents were reported to have asked for Valle’s and Bai Bibyaon’s whereabouts.
Manobo chieftain Bibyaon has been subject to state surveillance by the 56th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and the military-headed National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
Last September 18, Bibyaon’s relatives were coerced by state forces to sign an “affidavit” on the false joint rescue operations as the chieftain is said to be “exploited by communist terrorist groups” which she conclusively denied.
Bibyaon has been actively campaigning and fighting for their rights to ancestral lands in the Pantaron mountain range since 1994.
“We are then more resolved to call for NCIP and NTF-ELCAC’s defunding and accountability considering their heinous actions against us indigenous peoples,” Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), an organization of indigenous peoples in Cordillera, asserted in their statement of condemnation of state forces’ attacks on Bai Bibyaon.
The IPs have been targets of state repression and violence due to corporations’ intrusion to their lands, forcing them to evacuate and seek sanctuary elsewhere, like UP Diliman and the University of San Carlos in Cebu, where another false rescue operation was also conducted last February.
This led to the arrests of 26 individuals, including 22 Lumad students, two teachers, and two Lumad elders.
Meanwhile, despite developments in the passage of the UP-DND accord or House Bill (HB) 10171, state forces continue to obstruct campus premises, posing security threats to the communities residing within the university.
October marks the commemoration of IP month. SOS Network continuously calls for support from the people to join them in their struggle in defending their ancestral lands and in fighting against the abusive state and their attempts to silence them.
UP Anthropology Society released a statement for the IP Month saying: “Ang tunay na paggunita ng IP month ay nakasalalay sa pagpapaabot ng maayos na serbisyo sa mga IP, sa pagkilala at paggalang sa kanilang karapatan, at higit sa lahat, sa pagpapanagot sa mga institusyong naglalayong paghinain ang pwersa ng pambansang minorya.”
Featured image courtesy of Joe Torres.
