Gov’t tags ‘left-oriented’ lumad schools but Palace qualifies Duterte’s remarks on bombings
By Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral, Reporter
Malacañang and the military on Friday, July 28, said President Rodrigo R. Duterte did not intend to bomb schools of indigenous peoples (IP) or lumad when he threatened to do so after he accused the schools of teaching children to rebel against the state. But the Palace nevertheless identified the said schools.
Mr. Duterte issued the warning in a press conference early this week following his second State of the Nation Address. “You are perpetuating the violence in this country and I have to stop it,” he warned.
But he later clarified that he would not attack the schools with lumad children inside.
In a press briefing, Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Ana Maria Paz R. Banaag echoed Mr. Duterte’s explanation and said the President was “referring to structures and not to children.”
She then identified three lumad schools tagged by the Department of Education (DepEd) as “left-oriented.” The schools operated without permit, she said.
“These are the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development, Inc. or the Alcadev; second, the Center for Lumad Advocacy and Services, Inc. or the Clans; and third, the Salugpungan Community Learning Center,” Ms. Banaag disclosed.
Mr. Duterte’s pronouncement came after he terminated the peace talks with communist rebels.
He also drew flak for his plan to bomb schools allegedly being run by communists, with New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) urging him to retract his statement that the group qualified as a directive to the military to “commit war crimes.”
“International humanitarian law — the laws of war — prohibits attacks on schools and other civilian structures unless they are being used for military purposes,” HRW said.
For his part, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Spokesperson Brigadier-General Restituto F. Padilla, Jr., said people should “understand” the way the firebrand leader speaks, adding that Mr. Duterte was just sending out a “strong message.”
“It was just a matter of strongly communicating a strong position on behalf of government to warn these illegal educational centers who are not complying with government regulation,” Mr. Padilla said.
“Why would you want to brainwash a child just because you want them to perpetuate what you want them to do. It is not good from the perspective of pedagogical approaches,” he added.
“So kung ano man ang hakbang na kailangan gawin ng ating Armed Forces, gagawin natin ‘to pero hindi sa ganun klaseng paraan (So whatever measures that the Armed Forces are going to undertake, we will do them but not in that way),”
Joining the communist movement has not been a crime since 1992 after the Ramos administration repealed the Anti-Subversion Law, which punishes mere affiliation with the underground Left and all its fronts.
In 2015, reports of human-rights violations, including killings of lumad in different parts of Mr. Duterte’s home region of Mindanao, were brought to attention. Not a few of them were forced to flee their homes.
The lumad leaders had said they did not want to go back to their communities until there is full assurance of a pullout by the military which allegedly harassed and accused them of being part of the communist New People’s Army.
Upon Mr. Duterte’s election victory last year, lumad groups had expressed hope that Mr. Duterte would bring justice for them.
Mr. Duterte earlier said that once state forces defeat the Islamist militants sowing terror in the war-torn Marawi City, he will go after communist guerrilla fighters, who have intensified attacks when Mr. Duterte placed Mindanao under martial law.
