The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) Canada, strongly denounces the verdict issued by Judge Jimmy Boco of the Tagum City Regional Trial Court, Branch 2. The court, convicted Rep. France Castro, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Partylist representative in the Philippine Congress, Satur Ocampo, former Partylist Bayan Muna Representative and 16 other members of a humanitarian mission for “child abuse.”
The trumped-up charges of “child abuse” were filed against Rep. Castro, Satur Ocampo and the other members of the mission including Lumad (indigenous) teachers and church workers, following their response to calls for rescue from a group of Lumad school children in the town of Talaingod in Mindanao. Members of a paramilitary group under the command of the Philippine military had been harassing the school children, teachers and community members and forcibly closed the Lumad schools. The indigenous community in Talaingod had been under ongoing intense militarization that included food blockade and hamleting.
This wrongful conviction highlights the persistent attacks on Lumad (indigenous) communities and schools and the ongoing persecution of those who advocate for indigenous people’s rights and the rights of Lumad children. It is reprehensible that Rep. Castro, whose Partylist Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) was elected to Congress to represent teachers and the education sector, and former representative Satur Ocampo, whose Partylist represent organizations and communities of marginalized sectors including Indigenous Peoples, are convicted for supposed “child abuse” for carrying out their duty to respond to the calls for assistance from their constituencies.
The decision of Judge Boco ignored testimonies regarding the continuous harassment of Lumad schools by military and paramilitary forces and the dangers faced by the students and teachers. The indigenous community in the resource-rich indigenous land in Talaingod had been subjected to ongoing intense militarization. The Lumad school had been red-tagged as a laboratory of the New People’s Army, occupied by the military, its properties destroyed and forcibly closed several times. Even the prosecution’s own witnesses testified that the teachers decided to leave the community out of fear for their safety.
This is a clear miscarriage of justice and demonstrates how courts of law are being weaponized to target the opposition and human rights defenders in the Government’s counter-insurgency/anti-terrorism campaign.
We call on the Government of the Philippines to:
- Review and reverse the conviction of Rep. Castro, former Rep. Satur Ocampo and the other members of the humanitarian mission.
- Bring to justice those who ordered and orchestrated the attacks against the Lumad schools, specifically former President Rodrigo Duterte and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) for endangering the lives of indigenous children.
We reiterate our call to the Canadian Government to:
- Stop funding, programmatic, and technical support and cooperation with the Philippine military to enhance its capacity.
- Halt negotiations with the Philippine Government for a Visiting Forces Agreement until it demonstrates its commitment to respect international human rights and humanitarian laws, including concrete steps to dismantle the NTF-ELCAC and stop weaponizing the law and the court to silence the opposition and human rights defenders.
ICHRP stands in solidarity and supports the collective struggle for truth, justice, and the rights of indigenous schools and communities, who continue to bear the brunt of fascist attacks by the Marcos government.