Progressive solons slam police 'rescue' of minors in Cebu

Progressive lawmakers have condemned the operation conducted by policemen in Cebu City supposedly to rescue minors belonging to the Manobo tribe.

Kabataan party-list Representative Sarah Elago said the teenagers, as well as two elders and two teachers, were forcibly taken by police officers and officials from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Elago said schools were supposed to be safe places for students and teachers, far from the harassment of state security forces.  

"Mariing kinokondena ng mga kabataan ang marahas na panghihimasok ng PNP sa bakwit school ng mga lumad sa Cebu," Elago said in a press statement.

"Ang mga guro at estudyante na lumad ay matagal nang nananatili sa USC (University of San Carlos) para maipagpatuloy ang kanilang pag-aaral matapos ipasara ng DepEd (Department of Education) ang mga lumad school at dahil din sa patuloy na militarisasyon sa kanilang komunidad sa Mindanao," she added.

The lawmaker further said the police's operation was not coordinated with the school administration.

"Nararapat na ipagtanggol ang mga pamantasan laban sa panghihimasok at kalupitan ng pulis at militar. Nararapat lamang nating itong kondenahin upang hindi na ito mangyari pa sa kahit anong paaralan," she said.

Philippine National Police chief Police General Debold Sinas said the minors were rescued from communist rebels at the University of San Carlos' retreat house.

"The rescue operation is a manifestation that the Reds have been continuously engaged in recruiting minors to be trained as child warriors which is a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law" Sinas said amid criticism on the operation.

However, the university said the minors were part of the 42-person delegation that participated in a modular schooling activity in March 2020. They were supposed to return to their respective indigenous communities but the COVID-19 lockdowns prevented them from doing so.

ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro, for her part, called for the immediate release of the volunteer teachers, identified as Chad Booc and a certain Mimi, and the 21 students. She described the police operation as "absurd."

Castro said Booc has been repeatedly linked to communist groups as there were accusations that he is allegedly a recruiter of the New People's Army.

"Anong panganib ang nararanasan ng mga kabataang Lumad para kinailangan silang 'irescue' ng mga pulis. Kitang-kita sa video na lalong nakaranas ng panganib ang mga kabataang Lumad noong simulang kunin at arestuhin ng mga pulis ang kanilang mga guro at kapwa mag-aaral," she said.

"Teacher Chad is not a terrorist. He is a volunteer teacher providing services for the Lumad community that the government refuses to give," she added.

Meanwhile, Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate branded the police operation as a "Gestapo-like police abduction."

"This is truly outrageous and condemnable. The Lumad students are there because the military destroyed their schools in Mindanao and now even in their evacuation or bakwit school they are being harassed and abducted," Zarate said.

Zarate urged authorities to allow Lumad students, elders and teachers to freely speak and to express themselves, and that they should not be terrorized in their areas so that they will no longer abandon their ancestral lands.

Zarate said they would seek a congressional probe over the incident. —KBK, GMA News