The military has accused members of an international fact finding mission (IFFM) of meddling into the country’s internal affairs for conducting inquiry into the Lumad issue in Surigao de Sur.
The IFFM has no mandate nor the authority from the Philippine government or from any international organization to conduct the investigation, according to the military.
“The Philippine Army expresses its objections on the existence of bunch of tourists claiming themselves as legitimate members of an international fact finding mission (IFFM) who are meddling in our internal affairs,” said Army public affairs office (PAO) chief Col. Benjamin L. Hao.
The military identified the members of the group as Gill Boehringer from Australia, Hans Schaap from Netherlands, Philip Calles and Henry Langston from London, and Jonas Straetmans and Dalkiran Metin from Belgium.
“The Philippine Army respects them as tourists, but upon arrival of the members of the IFFM in Mindanao on Oct. 26, a general orientation and a focused group discussion about the Lumad issue were conducted at the Capitol Social Hall, Tandag City, Surigao del Sur,” said Hao.
Hao said the Army has filed a complaint against the group before the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
Col. Isidro L. Purisima, Commander of 402nd Infantry Brigade, earlier said the group “has no right to intervene in our country’s internal affairs,” and added that “they are already making mockery of our laws and disrepute our government institution. They should know their ground.”
The fact-finding group is reportedly conducting an inquiry into the killing of three tribal leaders at the Alcadev compound in Barangay Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. The killing was blamed to the paramilitary group Magahat Bagani, allegedly backed by the military.
However, Hao said the Philippine Army has valid reasons to believe that “these tourists are cohorts of the leftist organizations who just simply wanted to muddle the Lumad issue with propaganda against the government,” thus their (military’s) objection to the IFFM inquiry. (Elena L. Aben)