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Tribals reap ill wind by Philippine peace talks failure

Renewed conflict between govt, communist rebels dashes hopes of those caught in the middle
Tribals reap ill wind by Philippine peace talks failure

Tribal woman Michelle Campos says she is worried the failure of peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the rebels will bring back violence to their village. (Photo by Mark Saludes)

 

Published: February 21, 2017 03:43 AM GMT
Updated: February 21, 2017 03:43 AM GMT

The sky fell in on Michelle Campos, a 19-year-old Manobo tribeswoman in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao, when she learned that the government and the communist rebels are going back to war.

Campos witnessed firsthand the brutality of war. In 2015, soldiers and militiamen shot and killed her father, Datu Dionel Campos, in the village of Diatagon in Surigao province.

The tribal leader and two others were killed for allegedly siding with communist rebels. Friends and relatives deny these assertions. The three men were instead known locally for opposing mining operations and for condemning alleged violations of human rights by security forces in their region.

The killings further resulted in the displacement of some 4,000 tribal people who fled to the provincial capital and lived in makeshift shelters for a year.

Campos, together with some 700 of her people, traveled to Manila, the country's capital, to lobby for justice for her father and the other slain village leaders. They wanted to go back to their village.

They literally camped in the middle of Manila, sought dialogue with government leaders and civil society groups, and marched in protest.

Campos was even able to go to Geneva, with the help of human rights groups, to present her tribe's situation to the United Nations.

But justice remained elusive, until Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines in June 2016 — or so it seemed.

The new president immediately declared a ceasefire with the rebels. "Let us end decades of ambuscades, we are going nowhere and it is getting bloodier by the day," Duterte said.

He declared a unilateral ceasefire and urged the rebels to do the same. Government and rebel negotiators went back to the negotiating table.

It was a ray of hope for Campos and her tribe even as they continued to lobby for their return to their village.

Duterte heard them. "He told us that we can go back home safely," recalled Campos.

A year and two days after they left their village, Campos' tribe trekked back to their homes where they found the remnants of conflict.

"But we need to move forward," said Campos, adding that the talks were "the best gift we could ever receive."

The tribal people were reunited with their land. Life came back to the village.

"It is nice to see the people getting up again without fear of another displacement, of another death," said the young woman.

Then the talks bogged down. The ceasefire was terminated. The government declared an "all-out war." 

The attacks started over again in several villages of the southern Philippines.

Just before noon on Feb. 3, Renato Anglao, a 42-year-old tribal leader was shot dead in the province of Bukidnon.

Human rights groups called on the government "to immediately rein in the military" and resume the talks with the rebels.

Campos said she now realized that the road to a just and lasting peace "is far and rougher than what I expected."

 

'Linked to mining operations'

Church leaders in the southern Philippines say the killings of tribal leaders and the harassment suffered by indigenous peoples in Mindanao were related to mining operations in the area.

Father Bong Galela, social action director of the Diocese of Tandag, said the indigenous peoples, have been under attack by paramilitary groups in the employ of mining companies.

Human rights groups alleged that the Philippine military trained and funded the group to go after communist rebels in the hinterlands of Mindanao.

A top official at the government's Mines and Geosciences Bureau admitted that some mining companies use military and police personnel to secure mine sites.

The faith-based civil society network Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc has called for an investigation into the possible culpability of mining companies "as more people observe the seeming connection of the killings to mining activities."

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