GWP to President Aquino: No to Militarization, Deliver Basic Social Services to the Remotest Areas in the Philippines

“Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) demands the Aquino government to immediately pull-out the military troops of 73rd IB in Sitio Dlumay and other communities in Barangay Upper Suyyan. The military presence within the community, and the harassments and threats to the Blaan community and teachers, is an outright violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Human Rights Law (CARHRIHL) which the Philippines is a signatory.”

This is the statement issued by Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Emmi De Jesus on the intense militarization of the Blaan communities in Sitio Dlumay and five other nearby communities in Upper Suyyan, Malapatan, Saranggani Province.

GWP joined the Alayon Mission on August 10-15, 2011 after the Center for Lumad Advocacy and Services, Inc. (CLANS) reported that the teachers of Blaan Literacy School and Learning Services (BLSLS) were forced to leave Sitio Dlumay and to close the alternative learning school of the Blaan because of military harassments and threats. CLANS is the only non-government organization who is serving these remote villages where poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and the total absence of government services is very­­ evident. Amid the complete absence of basic social services, military presence is very prominent and constant.

“Why does the government fail to recognize that it should be delivering basic social services most especially to the remotest areas, but it does not forget to send military to harass the people and dub them as enemies of the state. Sitio Dlumay and the other five nearby sitios, which can be reached after 8 to 10 hours trek up to the other side of the Lunkan Range, are part of the hinterland barangay of Upper Suyyan. The Blaan's ancestral lands are target for operations of a more than 16,000-hectare mine by Tandem Mining Company and Shamrock ­­Mining Company,” added the Gabriela solon.

“Instead of opening our lands to plunder by the mining companies, instead of window-dressing by reporting that the government will increase the CCT budget to reach the 3 million poor families, the government should prioritize the delivery of basic social services and other support services especially to the remotest areas of the Philippines. And most importantly, the vilification of community and NGO-initiated projects should be stopped because they give service to the people whom the government seemingly neglect,” ended the De Jesus. #