DAVAO CITY — Youth group Anakbayan has accused government troops as behind the series of killings in Compostela Valley and Davao provinces in the southern Philippines.
It said the murders were allegedly perpetrated by the 71st Infantry Battalion and blamed the government’s anti-insurgency campaign called Oplan Bayanihan.
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines are not just brutal killers, but are protectors of large-scale mining corporations and foreign companies operating particularly in Pantukan, Maco and Mabini towns, who aim to occupy the lands of our fellow farmers and lumads for their selfish interests. And that would only be materialized thru armed men and guns,” Anakbayan Southern Mindanao Region spokesperson Angelynne Alapag said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
She said the military has been deploying troops near schools and churches and other areas where there are large civilian communities and civilians fear for their safety.
“Militarization isn’t just a problem of peasants and workers. We can’t just isolate ourselves just because we can’t directly feel the effect of Oplan Bayanihan. The youth must see this as a serious problem that they have to be aware of,” she said.
“Instead of resolving the chronic poverty and crisis that the people had been experiencing due to extreme exploitation, Aquino intensified suppression thru militarization in country sides and AFP deployment in communities, usually near houses, schools and barangay halls,” she added.
Alapag also cited a report by the human rights group Karapatan that showed victims of extrajudicial killings had already reached to 152 nationwide — 27 of which were from southern Mindanao — from 2010 to 2013. Most of the victims were leaders and active members of progressive organizations and groups.
The Philippine Army has strongly denied Anakbayan and Karapatan’s allegations and branded it as mere propaganda by leftist groups.
It also urged both Anakbayan and Karapatan to condemn the atrocities committed against civilians by the communist rebel group New People’s Army.
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