Mayor Sara Z. Duterte. (PNA file photo)
DAVAO CITY -- Mayor Sara Z. Duterte fired back at Bayan Muna Rep. Eufemia Cullamat after the lawmaker slammed her over the temporary closure of schools run by the controversial Salugpongan Ta'tanu Igkanugon Community Learning Centers, Inc. (STICLCI).
Mayor Sara on Monday called for the immediate closure of 11 STICLCI schools in the city, accusing the management and its backers of "deceptive acts and practices."
She cited the March 19, 2019 City Peace and Order Council (CPOC) resolution asking the Department of Education (DepEd) to terminate the Salugpongan's permit to operate for alleged links with the communist rebel movement.
She also questioned the dubious fund-raising activities of STICLCI's backers, which she noted were using the schoolchildren to generate funds for anti-government activities.
"The Salungpongan learners are being used by its backers to raise funds that never went to the intended beneficiaries, and are instead being used for anti-government propaganda," Mayor Sara said in the statement.
In a news article posted on the ABS-CBN News online portal, Cullamat was quoted as saying, "Instead of helping the Lumads get access to education, as any government official should, she's (Mayor Duterte) wrongly labeling them."
Sara countered and called Cullamat a "mouthpiece" of the Communist Party of the Philippines, its armed wing the New People's Army, and its political arm the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (CPP-NPA-NDFP).
"Apart from being a mouthpiece and defender of the CPP-NPA-NDFP, she is a big empty space. And for the record, the AFP works for me. They only do as much as I allow them because civilian authority is supreme over the military. Siya dapat ang mahiya, di nga siya nagbabasa ng (She should be ashamed. She does not even read the) Philippine Constitution," she was quoted as saying.
Mayor Sara also urged Cullamat to resign for supposedly attacking state agencies, such as the DepEd and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
In an interview Friday, Cullamat told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) that she did not attack any government agency and that she was merely complaining over the supposed unfair treatment of the STICLCI.
She also said that the DepEd and the Salugpongan schools had already established a "good relationship" until the AFP supposedly came into the picture in 2014, accusing the schools of involvement with the NPA.
"We're just telling the truth about what this school is all about. As a high official in Davao you should help them rather than deprive them from having education," Cullamat said.
In an earlier statement, Sara said Salugpongan "clearly failed to give justice to the sacrifices and dreams of the (Indigenous People) students who spent their time with their organization, believing the school will help them better their chances in the future."
She cited the local government's findings that include the persistent problem of Salugpongan students not having academic records and individual learner’s reference numbers. The findings also noted the presence of DepEd schools in areas where the Salugpongan operates, negating the purpose of a Salugpongan school.
DepEd 11 (Davao region) suspended the Salugpongan's permit to operate last July after National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon accused the tribal school system of promoting the CPP-NPA's communist ideology that espouses the violent overthrow of the government.
The suspension affected 55 Salugpongan schools all over Mindanao.
Esperon also accused the school management of training students to hold mass actions against the government and using curriculum not in accordance with DepEd guidelines.
Esperon, who is also the vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, said the allegations were backed by the testimonies of former students and teachers.
In July, Datu Joel Unad, chairman of the Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Council of Elders, said DepEd should close the Salugpongan school system for propagating the "ideology" behind the communist rebellion in the country.
Executive director of the STTICLCI Maria Eugenia Nolasco has denied the allegations.
DepEd-11 has since created a committee to investigate the claims and issue a recommendation whether to lift or make permanent the temporary suspension of the STTICLCI's permit to operate.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)
