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“Scared to reveal the skeletons in the closet, Colonel Benjamin Hao?” Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general said in response to Army Spokesperson Col. Hao’s threat to deport the foreigners who joined the International Fact Finding Mission (IFFM) held in Surigao del Sur, where the September 1 massacre and other military and paramilitary atrocities were committed.

Held on October 26 to October 30, the IFFM teams went to different villages in Lianga and San Miguel, Surigao del Sur  to investigate the extent of human rights violations perpetrated by both the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary group and the 75th and 36th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army. Initial results of the mission indicated that rights violations were committed even after Lumad evacuated as a result of the massacre of school executive Emerito Samarca and Lumad leaders Dionel Campos and Juvello Sinzo.

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In at least two communities, houses and farm equipment were burned down. The majority of the houses were ransacked and defaced, including the schools. The pigs and chickens raised by individual households, as well as those in Alcadev demo farms, were stolen. Farm tools, personal belongings and household utensils were stolen.

“By showing its claws to the international observers, the Philippine Army is preempting the full disclosure of the abuses and violations they committed against the Lumad. The AFP is again trying to divert the issue,” Palabay said. (PR)

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