In his second State of the Nation Address, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was silent on human rights issues during his administration. Meanwhile, indigenous peoples of Gawaan, Balbalan, Kalinga stressed that their community was bombed twice in March 2023.

By SINAG JOAQUIN
Bulatlat.com

BALBALAN, Kalinga – In his 67 years of living in this quaint inner village roughly 12 hours away from Metro Manila, Cosme Dumag said that it was his first time to hear an intense, defeaning sound.

“The bomb caused our house to shake,” he said as he described how a bombing incident awakened the neighborhood in the wee hours of March 5, 2023.

Bulatlat interviewed Dumag, a coffee farmer, on July 10 (Sunday) during the relief operations led by the Serve the People Brigade-Cordillera for the people of Gawaan.

Dumag said that it took him three hours (or around 5:00 a.m.) before he went outside. While roaming with his neighbors to check where the bomb dropped, Dumag said that they were suddenly held by soldiers who ordered them to keep still until around 2:00 p.m. They were told that an encounter was ongoing. “We had nothing to do [with the bombing], why were we held?” he asked.

According to human rights group Karapatan, they have documented at least 6,931 incidents of counterinsurgency related bombings a year into the Marcos Jr. administration. The group said that indiscriminate bombings and strafing also displaced families as “they are forced to evacuate and leave their crops and farm animals untended for long periods.”

Since that day, Dumag said the farmers in the neighborhood felt so threatened that they were unable to tend to their farms. The frightening mood worsened when four days later (March 9), another bomb was dropped near the Gawaan Elementary School around 3:00 p.m. in the middle of classes.

Dumag, who is also one of the village councilors, said that this incident caused panic among the students and teachers. “The children cried and scampered in all directions. Their parents had to take them home.”

The bombing incident has also caused anxiety among the children, Dumag added. “They would cry at the sound of an airplane or any loud sound. They are frightened even at the sound of any object falling.”

Balbalan Mayor responds

Fear and anxiety have crippled the livelihood in their community four months since the bombings happened. Dumag found it puzzling how the local government can dismiss the incident as a mere “counterinsurgency effort” based on an open letter from Balbalan Mayor Almar Malannag posted on the Banat Balbalan Facebook page on July 10, 7:59 a.m., the morning before the relief mission volunteers reached Gawaan.

The letter was in response to several inquiries regarding a post of the Kabataan Partylist on its official Facebook page that called for donations for the people of Gawaan and Poswoy. According to the post, “the tribes of Salegseg, Gubang and Mabaca were unable to farm due to restrictions imposed on them by Philippine Army troops. Their ancestral lands were also under attack through indiscriminate aerial bombings and artillery firing as their locality, Balbalan, has been declared as a focus state of counterinsurgency operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”

In response, Mayor Malannag in an open letter said, “[A]ll genuine efforts to extend a helping hand to Balbalan communities affected by counterinsurgency efforts are nothing but welcomed, it is important however to do so without spreading inaccurate, bordering false, information.”

The mayor said that the fact-finding report dated April 3, 2023 of the Commission on Human Rights led by lawyer Joecle Dongla concluded that there was no evidence of indiscriminate bombings during the military operations.

According to the mayor, the CHR report allegedly confirmed military claims that “no bomb exploded near the Gawaan Elementary School and nearby residential areas.” What exploded nearby, quoting again the CHR report, was “white phosphorus and not bombs.” The report also cited Lt. Ferdinand Pulalon of the Philippines Army’s 50th Infantry Battalion, who said that the white phosphorus “is used as a military marker which signifies the limit of military operations in a particular area.”

Bulatlat requested a copy of the report from CHR but has not been furnished as of press time.

The mayor added in his response letter: “Plainly looking at the area alone will confirm the absence of bombs or any damage that could have resulted from bombings near schools or the residences.”

Dead carabao

The mayor’s statement and the CHR report only left a blank stare on Rita Calangngao’s face. The 54-year-old farmer from Gawaan lost her carabao due to the explosions. Calangngao told Bulatlat she was not able to tend to her carabao as she feared going out. It was only after a month since March 5 that they were allowed to visit their farms and it was only then that she saw her lifeless carabao. It turned out, she said that one of the bombs exploded on their pasteur land while the carabao was nearby.

Calangngao said the army offered to pay for the carabao but she has not received payment as of July 10.

Meanwhile, village chief Lucina Manao, 66, said that she hardly felt and heard the bombings on March 5 as she was sound asleep. She said that she only knew of the bombings when people started talking during the following day.

Manao, however, confirmed that there was an explosion near the Gawaan Elementary School on March 9 which forced the children to stay away from school for three straight days. Due to the children’s undue stress, Manao requested the municipal health officer, Dr. Rosel Calma, to conduct a debriefing for the students and even the elderly.

Manao said that the military restricted the people’s routines. In fact, she said the farmers have found it obligatory to ask permission from the army’s battalion commander when they go out on field.

Manao said the commanding post when the bombings happened was from the 501st Infantry Brigade which was replaced by the 503rd IB in May 2023.

Mission accomplished

Despite efforts from the 5th Infantry Division (ID) of the Philippine Army to pressure local government to deny the Serve the People Brigade-Cordillera entry to Gawaan, the relief mission organizers reported on their Facebook page on July 17 that the delivery of goods to the people of Gawaan was done.

Lulu Jimenez of the Aliansa dagiti Pesante iti Kordiliera (APIT TAKO) and STPB coordinator for peasant communities said in a statement that the relief mission was completed “only because the communities and farmers’ associations in Gawaan and Poswoy exercised their collective will and secured the cooperation of their local officials.”

The relief mission delivered goods to Poswoy on July 9, a day ahead of Gawaan. Poswoy folk also reported community restrictions due to firefights between government forces and the New People’s Army (NPA).

“The communities were anticipating a shortage of food because they had suffered significant crop losses resulting from restrictions that had been imposed by the soldiers of the 5th ID on their farming activities during its counterinsurgency operations. The battalion commander’s attempt to block our delivery of relief was an added transgression of the communities’ socio-economic rights,” Gimenez said in the statement. (JJE, RVO, DAA)