Manila based religious leaders visits
Guihulngan over human rights violations
By EDMUND B. SESTOSO
GUIHULNGAN CITY, Negros Oriental - Top religious personalities from Metro Manila are now getting outside the comforts of their church’s enclaves and had lend their physical presence to the peasants and farmers and are now visiting the countryside village known as Linantuyan who are now at the receiving end of the massive human rights violations
Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) Fr. Romeo Tagud, spokesperson of the Negros Regional Ecumenical Council said that concerned pastors and religious personalities from the mainstream Protestant churches are now in Linantuyan to know the real situation of the hamleted village of this city and its people.
The team is composed of Methodist pastors from the California and Nevada USA and from the member-churches of Negros Regional Ecumenical Council.and Amaryllis Hilao-Enriquez, the national secretary-general of KARAPATAN ( Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) joins the team.
“The people of Linantuyan are living in fear and terror since the arrival of the special operation team of the 11th Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army and are now imposing martial rule on the populace and Linantuyan becomes a hamletted village” said Fr. Tagud.
The visit came after a barangay resolution was allegedly passed last May 28 banning / prohibiting KARAPATAN from entering barangay Linantuyan and a second resolution was allegedly approved declaring Fred Caña of KARAPATAN and Zara Alvarez and Felipe Gelle of BAYAN-Negros “persona non-grata”.
“Church people and concerned individuals cannot close its eyes and fall deaf ears to the cries for justice and stoppage of human rights abuses. We have to lend our ears to the plight of the victims and make concrete actions to end the systematic and brazen abuse of rights of the innocent farmers” stressed the IFI priest.
Earlier, militant groups said that the military wants to hide the abuses they committed against the people.
“That is why they are desperate to stop the human rights action team of KARAPATAN to investigate theses cases” said Gelle of BAYAN in one recent media interview
The IFI pastor stressed that the general public now knows what is happening in Barangay Linantuyan and that the local government officials of Guihulngan, the Sanggunian Panlalawigan of Negros Oriental and other government agencies have taken notice of the reported violations committed by elements of the Special Operation Team (SOT’s) of the 11th IBPA in the conduct of their “immersions” in the hinterland villages.
“We are confident that they will make actions to look into the matter”, he said.
After the Linantuyan visit, the team is expected to meet with Mayor Ernesto Reyes and the members of the City Council of Guihulngan to bring again to their attention the human rights abuses in Barangay Linantuyan.
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Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:31 pm