LETTER
The Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA)
is extremely concerned over the brazen harassment of its vice chairperson for
Internal Affairs, Xavier Akien, in the morning of April 6, 2016. Akien and his
wife noticed that the car Akien was driving was being followed by at least two
vans and two motorcycles while they were on their way home from a supermart in
Baguio City.
Having observed the
suspicious tailing of the said vans and motorcycles, Akien proceeded to the La
Trinidad Municipal Police Station to report the incident. Following this, on
April 13, 2016, Akien was again tailed by some men riding a van who observably
took photos of him in Abatan, Buguias, Benguet while buying bread on his way to
a funeral wake.
According to Akien,
“On April 6, 2015 before noon, my wife and I went to a grocery mart in Baguio
City to buy needs for our household. After purchasing the goods, we proceeded
to our car which was parked at the basement of the grocery mart. Before pulling
out from the parking space, I observed that a van was parked near us but I
assumed that it was just waiting for us to leave and it can use the vacated
space. But as we were exiting the establishment, the same van started to tail
us.”
“When we were on
the road going to Harrison, I observed again the same van tailing us. I decided
to pull over along the road. The van passed us. But to my surprise, when we
passed before the University of the Cordilleras, I saw the same van parked on
the side of the road and then it followed us. Later on along the road, I
observed two more motorcycles and another van following us on our way to La
Trinidad,” said Akien.
“Sensing danger,
we decided to proceed directly to the La Trinidad Municipal Police to report
and seek assistance. To our surprise, the two vans and two motorcycles followed
us to the police station. The two motorcycle drivers and their back riders were
apprehended by the police. Based from the initial investigation by the police,
the apprehended motorcycle drivers have no identifications at all. They even
gave an unbelievable reason for following me by saying that they were looking
for a job. It is clearly a handiwork of the military,” added Akien.
Because of the
incidents, Akien said that, “Madanaganak unay iti seguridad ko. Dagiti
harassment ken dadduma pay a porma ti panaglabsingiti karbengan tao kontra kadagiti
miembro ken lideres ti peoples organizations ket maisardeng kuman. Saan kami a
kriminal, dakami ket aktibista laeng.Basol aya ti ag-organisa ken agmobilisa kadagi
ti tattao ken komunidad tapno isuda mismo ti mangkita ken mangtulong iti kasasaadda? (I
am very concerned over my security. Harassments and other forms of human rights
violations against members and leaders of peoples’ organizations must be
stopped. We are no criminals, we are just activists. Is it a crime to organize
and mobilize people and communities for them to participate in solving their
own problems and improving their situation?”)
Akien added,
“Pinagiinitan nila ang CPA because of its campaigns and activities for
environmental protection especially against mining and energy, for indigenous
people’s rights, on disaster response and for sustainable development. This kind
of human rights violation is not new to CPA and its leaders. In some cases,
such acts of surveillances and harassment led to extrajudicial killings as in
the case of Markus Bangit in 2006, William Bugatti in 2014 and other martyrs of
the Cordillera peoples’ movement. And this is not the first time that I myself
experienced being subjected to surveillance and harassment over the past years.
Only the State military agents can do this to us, purposely to suppress the
growing people’s resistance against the entry of big and destructive projects
in our communities.”
“But we will not be
cowed by these attempts of the State to stop what we are doing. It is but right
to serve the people and there is nothing wrong with it. CPA since its
establishment in 1984 has been in the forefront of the peoples struggle for the
defense of land, life, and resources. We will always be inspired by our people,
heroes and martyrs to continue this noble task,” ended by Akien.
The CPA strongly
believes that the incident is not an isolated case but a part of the Oplan Bayanihan
of the Aquino regime in his final attempt to silence people’s dissent before
the end of his term. We condemn this act of harassment, and call for an
immediate investigation of the incident.
Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance
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