A month has passed since Benedictine Sister Stella Matutina had filed a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) 11 against the Philippine Army based in Davao Oriental for harassment and for branding her as member of the New People’s Army (NPA).
But no word has come out of CHR on the progress of its probe, if any, according to the Sisters’ Association in Mindanao (SAMIN) of which Sr. Matutina is a member.
In a press statement yesterday, SAMIN asked the CHR 11 what has happened to its probe on the military’s harassment to Matutina, saying it is urgent that CHR act on the threat.
“The presence of the 67th and 28th Infantry Battalions in Davao Oriental has placed Sr. Stella and other farmers and environment defenders in grave danger,” the sisters’ group said.
They also questioned the soldiers’ “agenda in vilifying church people who are merely defending God’s creation and protecting people from socio-economic impacts and environmental destructions due to large-scale mining and logging in Davao Oriental.”
SAMIN cited “martyrs for the environment” Fr. Pops Tentorio in Arakan, Lumad leaders Jimmy Liguyon and Margarto Cabal in Bukidnon, farmer Eliezer Billanes of South Cotabato and Gerry Ortega in Palawan.
The group also urged President Benigno Aquino III and his administration “not to turn a blind eye to the obvious dangers of mining as it is now turning our land to the plunder of greed and the people are victims of impunity.” [lorie a. cascaro]
