Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Youth Organization (MIPYO) chair Lipatuan Joel Unad (left) and Mindanao Indigenous Council of Elders and Leaders (MIPCEL) head Albin James Binayao (right) (File photos)
MANILA – Indigenous Peoples (IP) leaders in Mindanao on Sunday said the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the Makabayan bloc should be held responsible for the death of Jevilyn Cullamat, daughter of Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Eufemia Cullamat.
“You are killing us, corrupting our culture, cursing our lands and pitting us with our own brothers and sisters,” the Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Youth Organization (MIPYO) and Mindanao Indigenous Council of Elders and Leaders (MIPCEL) said in a joint statement.
MIPYO chair Lipatuan Joel Unad and MIPCEL head Albin James Binayao lamented that the mother of the slain NPA member, Bayan Muna Rep. Eufemia Cullamat, even said it is her daughter’s decision to join the armed struggle was “justified.”
“Di ako nagtataka kung sumapi sa NPA ang aking anak dahil sa patuloy na nararanasan naming mga katutubo sa mga pagmamalupit at pang-aabuso ng AFP at ng kanilang paramilitary groups. Naranasan mismo ito ng aming pamilya. Naniniwala ako na makatwiran ang kaniyang ipinaglaban pero ibang porma ang kanyang pinili. (I am not shocked that my child has joined the NPA because of the continued harassment that indigenous people experience from the military. My family has experienced this. I believe her fight was reasonable but she followed a different path),” the older Cullamat was quoted as saying in an earlier story.
The IP leaders said the Makabayan bloc, which earlier denied its links to the CPP-NPA-NDF, is deaf and blind to the recruitment of the IP youth into the NPA, where they become “child warriors” in the process.
“It is our responsibility to continue asking the government on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples to secure our rights and lives from the curse of communism,” the IP leaders added.
The Makabayan bloc, they said, is insistent that it is “noble and a personal choice” to join the NPA.
Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (Persevering Struggle for the Next Generation) or Mapasu, Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development, Inc. (Alcadev), and Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (Trifpss), according to the statement, were all created by the CPP-NPA to be their legal fronts to exploit the IPs.
“The recruited IPs and IP youths are later deployed as combatants in the NPA units and cadre for the urban areas or front organizations. That even after the death of a daughter, still willing to be exploited by the CPP,” the statement added.
The leaders called on their brothers and sisters to take the responsibility of ending the communist insurgency in their respective areas.
“If the parents had lost their responsibility to their children because of this communist radicalization and brainwashing, it now becomes the responsibility of the community and the entire sector of the Indigenous Peoples, to take into our hands the responsibility of ending this local communist armed conflict,” the IP leaders said.
Before the death of the young Cullamat, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the killing of Lianga Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Rep. Datu Jumar Bucales in October allegedly by the NPA angered tribal communities in the province.
"We will never stop the fight against these NPA terrorists until none of them roam in our ancestral lands. They have destroyed our culture and tradition and caused divisiveness and corrupted our tribe," said Alexander Bucales, brother of the slain Datu Bucales, and the newly-installed and clan-elected IP Mandatory Representative (IPMR) of Lianga.
In the same statement, the leaders shared that they have learned that the Makabayan bloc will not lift its finger nor condemn the NPA for the killings of the IPs, even if they are “representatives of the people”. “(Just) like what they do in case of Datu Jomar Bocales and many others," it added.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)
