“We live in a society where those who would do good are those who would be put to jail while the real terrorists and killers are free and in government positions.”
By RITCHE T. SALGADO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The church plays a crucial role in the myriad of struggles that the Lumad are facing, particularly in their assertion for their right to education and self determination. But this has also made them subjects of many forms of abuse and harassment.
As simply put by United Church of Christ in the Philippines Bishop Daniel Palicte, “this shows the correctness of the church’s position to help the Lumad achieve their aspirations for their ancestral domain and their identity especially with the entry of large corporations (into their land).”
This was in response to the acquittal of all the church workers involved in the Talaingod 18 case, where 13 of the 18 accused were judged guilty by Judge Jimmy Boco of Tagum City Regional Trial Court Branch 2. According to Judge Boco, the presence of the pastors “was only incidental because of their legitimate calling and part of their prophetic ministry in the Mission of the Lord.”
Read: Church people dismayed over ‘unjust’ conviction of ‘Talaingod 18’
Convicted were Martial Law survivor and former Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo; ACT-Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro; Alliance of Concerned Teachers staff Jesus Modamo and Maryro Poquita; Salugpungan schools Executive Director Ma. Eugenia Victoria Nolasco; and Salugpongan teachers Maria Concepcion Ibarra, Jenevive Paraba, Nerhaya Talledo, Maricel Andagkit, Marcial Rendon, Mariane Aga, Nerfa Awing and Wingwing Dansay.
Acquitted were UCCP Pastors Edgar Ugal, Ryan Magpayo, and Jurie Jaime, and United Methodist Church Pastor Eller Ordeniza. Salugpungan teacher Ariel Ansan, on the other hand, turned into a state witness.
Lumad rights advocacy, a dangerous but integral mission
After the decision was delivered, Bulatlat was able to talk with UCCP pastor, Rev. Irma Balaba, who has been campaigning for the junking of the case since it was filed in November 2018.
Balaba has been involved with the Lumad advocacy, since the government’s crackdown on Lumad schools and more so after then President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to bomb Lumad schools for allegedly teaching “subversion, communism”. She also had her share of trumped up charges slapped against her and experienced various forms of harassment including red-tagging because of her advocacy on lumad rights.
“I was part of the pool of counselors who did psycho-social intervention on the Lumad students when they were housed in the University of the Philippines,” she said.
In 2014, Balaba was slapped with charges of kidnapping for attempting to rescue the Lumads of Kapalong, Davao del Norte.
“The activity was aborted because the Alamara were already in ambush position when we approached the area,” Balaba told Bulatlat.
The Alamara is a paramilitary group composed of Lumad and is used by the military to harass Lumad communities asserting their right to their ancestral domain.
Read: TIMELINE | Alamara’s atrocities in Mindanao
Together with Balaba, the other accused were Rev. Jaime and Catholic nuns, Sr. Stella Matutina and Sr. Restita Miles. Wanted posters with their faces were posted in the local police station. The case was later dismissed.
Balaba revealed that advocating for the rights of the Lumads is an integral part of the ministry of the UCCP.
“Our commitment to be with them in their struggle to defend their ancestral land and their right to self-determination, and right to education reflects a deep sense of caring and faith in action,” she said.
“These are actual expressions of our Christian faith by journeying with them in their collective struggle for liberation from historical oppression towards fullness of life,” she added.
Balaba believes that the mission with Lumad communities is not only for the clergy but extends to the lay faithful of the church.
“The lay people – as they comprise the majority of the churches’ population – are challenged to pursue Christ’s mission in helping the deprived and the oppressed, the Lumad amid the intense persecution. This is our significant contribution in ushering God’s reign of justice and peace,” she said.
Balaba now joins the call for the review of the case believing that the judgment was unjust, and demands accountability for those who are responsible.
“The children and youth of the Talaingod communities are deprived of their basic right to education and to live peacefully and justly,’ said Balaba in a press conference for the Talaingod 18 on July 10, before their conviction. “They built schools, 215 schools. They themselves built these schools because of the neglect of the government, yet they are being repressed and militarized, and in the instance that the different sectors and the church people responded to their call, they were slapped with trumped up cases.”
Church under attack
Despite the acquittal of the church leaders in this particular case, the church remains to be under attack in its decision to stand with the Lumad communities.
For years, the church and its workers have been subject to all forms of harassment and human rights abuses like extrajudicial killings, disappearance, illegal arrest, torture, trumped-up charges, red-tagging, and the freezing of its assets used to fund its mission and advocacy in delivering basic social services to Lumad communities and other poor sectors of society.
On December 26, 2019, the Anti-Money Laundering Council froze the bank accounts of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, effectively hampering the delivery of social services to the communities served by the organization. Formed in 1969, the RMP is the oldest mission partner of the Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines and is manned by priests, nuns, and lay volunteers from different Catholic religious congregations. One of its many projects is the setting up of Salugpungan schools, which it pioneered in 2003 as a literacy-numeracy school for Talaingod Manobo children.
In a statement, they said: “Our hearts are committed to service with the poor. These false charges by the National Investigation Coordinating Agency (NICA) have been a significant burden for us. We long to enjoy the freedom to help the most marginalized and under-served farmers, farmworkers, indigenous peoples, and fisherfolk.”
Read: Progressive groups stand in solidarity with rural missionaries
In July 2019, former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. filed perjury charges against human rights defenders, including the former national coordinator of RMP, 83-year old Sr. Elenita Belardo, RGS. The case was dismissed, but in March of this year, the Office of the Solicitor General revealed that they would appeal the case through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) Legal Cooperation Cluster.
Read: OSG calls on the court anew to reverse the acquittal of 10 human rights defenders
“They (RMP) are victims of state repression, a blatant violation of human rights, as helping the Lumad is not a crime nor an act of terrorism but a concrete expression of our Christian faith. (It is) faith in action,” she said.
“We live in a society where those who would do good are those who would be put to jail while the real terrorists and killers are free and in government positions,” she lamented. (RVO) 
