The Indigenous Peoples Rights international (IPRI) raises serious concern at the escalating and brutal attacks against Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines amidst the covid 19 pandemic. It strongly condemns the series of attacks against Indigenous Peoples communities in the Philippines that affected 659 Aeta families, killed a Manobo woman, and destroyed a Lumad school in just a week.
Bombing in an Aeta community in Zambales
On August 21, members of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army allegedly dropped bombs on Aeta communities, at the mountainous part of Barangay Buhawen, San Marcelino, Zambales. Local peasant and Indigenous Peoples organizations reported that soldiers harassed, physically assaulted, and were forcing members of the Aeta community to leave after the bombing incident.
According to a report from Umahon para sa Repormang Agraryo – Gitnang Luzon (Rise for Agrarian Reform – Central Luzon), three Aeta residents－Witi Ramos, Jepoy Ramos, and Nalin Ramos－were physically assaulted and detained. Nalin Ramos was reportedly forced to eat one of the soldiers’ feces. The military however denied committing physical assaults, and instead accused the three Aeta residents of being New People’s Army members.
The report added that the military has been forcing the Aeta residents to evacuate their ancestral lands to give way to the mining explorations of Dizon Copper-Silver Mines; however the residents, particularly the Ramos family, opposed the project and refused to leave as they know the project will destroy the environment and their ancestral lands.
Killing of a Manobo woman leader
On August 23, Manobo tribe leader and staunch defender of ancestral lands, Bae Merlin Ansabo Celis, was gunned down and disfigured by four unknown assailants in Magpet Town, North Cotabato.
Celis was a member of Tagaytay Lumadnong Panaghiusa Farmers Association and was among those who bravely advocated for the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ culture and ancestral domain at her village in the face of continued illegal logging and destructive infrastructure projects.
According to reports, she was gunned down while walking with her pregnant daughter on their way to her farm. After shooting her, the assailants brutally slashed her throat and removed her eyes with a machete.
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