Kalinga folks want army out due to rights abuses

By Aldwin Quitasol

LUBUAGAN, Kalinga -- An indigenous community in this town urged abusive army soldiers who encamped on their homes to leave even as they rejected the proposed setting up of a Citizens' Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) detachment inside their village.

An elder of Barangay Western Uma, Benito Sugao said the 50th IB and 77th IB of the Philippine Army plan to build a detachment in Sitio Ag-agama in Western Uma.

They urged concerned government authorities to make the soldiers leave as they have been committing human rights violations against them.   

He said the army called for a community meeting on Sept. 4 and talked about this plan. Sugao said the village folk did not agree.

“The setting up of a detachment inside our village will further put us in danger because they might attack. We will be living in fear,” he said.

The Kalinga elder added that government troopers who came and went their village left a long list of human rights violations that include harassment, physical injury and extrajudicial killings among others.

Sugao said that the proposed area for the detachment is right in the middle of the village surrounded by their houses and rice fields.

He said that with such set up, they fear that they will serve as shield for the detachment because whoever will attack them must pass through their houses and rice fields.

At present there are seven to eight soldiers encamped in civilian houses in Western Uma since Oct. 15.

The community folk recently signed a petition asking for the pull out of these government soldiers from their village saying that their presence poses danger to the community.

The community folk also cited various human right violations these soldiers perpetrated against them.

Among these violations included a soldier pointing a gun to a teenager early morning of last August 17 when he was on his way to their school.

The victim was traumatized that he said his vision went blurred due to extreme fear at the time.