Maguindanao Massacre Reflective of Arroyo Government’s Eight-Year Rule of Plunder, Terror, Deception – Indigenous and Moro Peoples

Maguindanao Massacre Reflective of Arroyo Government’s Eight-Year Rule of Plunder, Terror, Deception – Indigenous and Moro Peoples

By LYN V. RAMO
Bulatlat.com
(Originally published 12 Dec. 2009)

QUEZON CITY – Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared Martial Law in Maguindanao to conceal the pieces of evidence that she cheated her way to the presidency in the May 2004 polls, according to indigenous peoples and the Bangsa Moro peoples of Mindanao.
“She could not admit the fact that it was GMA [Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] who created the berdugo (henchman) that is Ampatuan,” Amirah Ali Lidasan, secretary-general of the Suara Bangsa Moro party list said during a December 9 forum at the Cathedral of St. Mary and St. John, which was organized by the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayang Pilipino (KAMP) and attended by indigenous peoples, indigenous peoples’ rights advocates from among students, seminarians and professionals; and Bangsamoro people from Taguig and Culiat communities.
The forum titled “GMA Presidency: a rule of plunder, state terror and deception” is an assessment by indigenous and Moro peoples of the eight-year reign of the Arroyo government.
Lidasan also recalled that it was in 2001 when the Ampatuans rose to power as local warlords. It coincided with the installation of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as president after then Pres. Joseph Estrada was forced to step down by a people power uprising. Maguindanao delivered a landslide victory for Arroyo when she ran for president in 2004. It also delivered the votes for administration senators in 2007.
Earlier, Lidasan speaking at a rally in Mendiola said Arroyo always pre-tests her policies of terror in Mindanao. She asked the group of protesting journalists that the Malacañang resident should not be allowed to hold any position in government.
“Where are the ballot boxes and arms confiscated from the Ampatuan mansion after the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao? Arroyo needs these because Ampatuan may use these against her the moment she allows the Ampatuans to suffer for their crimes,” Lidasan surmised.
Lidasan said it is an insult to the struggling masses in the countryside to equate the Ampatuan massacre to a “rebellion in the offing” that warranted the issuance of Proclamation No.1959.
KAMP National Coordinator Joan Jaime enumerated the various human rights violations committed by the Arroyo government against the Lumads and Moro peoples of Mindanao, the Igorots of the Cordillera, the Mangyans of Mindoro, the Aetas of Central Luzon, among others, which included 57 incidents of “bakwit” (evacuation) due to intense militarization in Mindanao alone; several cases of indiscriminate bombings that resulted in the destruction of forests and rice fields; and the summary execution of hundreds of peasants and indigenous peoples, including known IP peasant leaders.
“Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL) and the National Internal Security Plan for Indigenous Peoples provide the direction for all these military atrocities against the indigenous peoples and the Bangsa Moro,” said Jaime. She added that Arroyo only has a few months left in her self-imposed deadline to “crush the insurgency”, and people could expect an intensification of the reign of terror in the countryside.
Both Lidasan and Jaime pointed out that underlying this counter-insurgency program is the government’s thrust of exploiting the rich mineral and agricultural resources within the ancestral land of indigenous peoples.
“They sow terror to drive away residents from mineral-rich mountains to freely open these sites for foreign investors,” Lidasan said.
Katribu Partylist Secretary-general Nelson Mallari said all these fit within the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan of the Arroyo government, which pushed the country towards the globalization policies of deregulation, liberalization of trade, and privatization of government assets and services.
Mallari cited that besides mining, the government’s energy projects like the building of large hydroelectric dams encroached into the indigenous peoples’ ancestral domain.
“Naturally, indigenous peoples would rise up against these encroachments and the government response is intensified military deployment and operations,” Mallari said.
Mallari said the indigenous and Moro peoples need to forge tighter unity with the rest of the suffering Filipino masses to reach a decisive solution to all these woes. He called for a concerted action by the people to frustrate Arroyo’s bid to maintain herself in power by grabbing a congressional seat.
Katribu is seeking to represent indigenous and Moro peoples in Congress through the partylist elections. Its nominees are Beverly Longid of Bontok, who has Kankanaey ancestry from Mountain Province, as first nominee, Genasque Enriquez, a Manobo from Lianga Surigao del Sur, second nominee, Kaerlan Fanagel, a B’laan from Sarangani Province, fourth nominee; and Vergil Aniceto, another Igorot from Benguet, fifth nominee. Mallari, an aeta from Pampanga, is the third nominee.

(Reprinted with permission from Bulatlat.com)