SAN JOSE, Occidental Mindoro (PIA) — Protesters shouted for justice on the death of soldier and Indigenous People (IP) Pvt Mayuay Onaw during the rally held at Aroma Beach, San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.
More than 100 IPs from various municipalities in the province gathered together to express their grief and objection the act of the said group for the killing of Pvt Onaw by the New People’s Army (NPA) on April 25, 2023 .
Fausto Novilocio, representative of Tindig and leader of Mangyan Tau-Buhid, pleaded that the IPs be spared of the tension between the government and the communist group, and that the killings of IPs should stop.
“Mula ngayon, sana, hindi na maulit, ‘yung namatay nating katribo na Mangyan. Ayaw nating mangyari na magkaroon ng ganitong sitwasyon…na may katutubong namatay dahil sa hidwaang ito [sa pagitan ng gobyerno at ng NPA]. Ang pakiusap natin sa kanila, huwag nila tayong idamay sa kanilang hidwaan…dapat sila ang mag-ayos ayos (From now on, hopefully, the killings of our Mangyan brothers will not happen again. We do not want this kind of situation where IPs die because of the conflict between the government and the NPA. Our plea to them is not to involve us in their conflict…both parties should be responsible for their reconciliation),” Novilocio shared.
Lerma Bulaklak, a former rebel, exhorted the public to be proactive in the fight against insurgencies.
“Sa halip po na tayo ay matakot…ipaglaban po natin ang ating mga karapatan…huwag po nating katakutan ang ano mang banta ng [NPA], kasi habang tayo ay natatakot, habangbuhay nila tayong tatakutin (Instead of being afraid, we should fight for our rights. We should not fear any threats from the NPA because as long as we are afraid, they will continue to threaten us) Bulaklak stressed,”
One of the protesters shared that government programs helped convince their community not to engage with the communist group as the interventions built the IPs’ trust towards the government.
“Simula ng dumating ang programa ng gobyerno sa amin, malaking pagbabago ang sitio. Saka, ang tiwala kasi namin, nandoon na sa gobyerno. Kung dati man kami ay mga naging biktima, naniwala [sa NPA, dahil] may suporta man ang gobyerno [noon] pero hindi nakakarating sa amin kasi hinaharang nila (There has been a huge change in our sitio when government programs started reaching us. Our trust in the government grew. We fell for the NPA’s schemes because the government’s programs could not reach us as they were blocking it),” the protester said.
Participants signed a withdrawal of support to NPA and burned the communists’ flag as part of the rally.
Representatives from the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) were also present during the activity. (DSG/PIA MIMAROPA-OccMin)
Protesters burned the flag of NPA to show their rejection of the communist group.
