Republic of the Philippines HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Quezon City FIFTEENTH CONGRESS Second Regular Session HOUSE RESOLUTION No.

1857 ______________________________________________________________________________ Introduced by Rep. TEDDY A. CASIO ______________________________________________________________________________ RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL CULTURAL COMMUNITIES TO CONDUCT AN INQUIRY, IN AID OF LEGISLATION, INTO THE PRACTICE OF GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS OF SETTING UP CAMP IN SCHOOLS, BARANGAY CENTERS AND OTHER PUBLIC CIVILIAN FACILITIES AS WELL AS LIVING IN THE HOMES AND CIVILIAN COMMUNITIES IN ANCESTRAL DOMAINS DURING COUNTER-INSURGENCY OPERATIONS AS EXEMPLIFIED BY THE RECENT ACTIONS OF THE PHILIPPINE ARMY'S 29TH INFANTRY BATTALION IN BARANGAY DIATAGON, LIANGA, SURIGAO DEL SUR WHEREAS, on October 23, 2011, more than 50 Philippine Army soldiers of the 29th Infantry Battalion (IB) under its commander, Lt. Col. Henry Robinson, Jr. and junior officers namely 1Lt. Michael Collado, 1Lt. Gomez and 2Lt. Pamplona occupied the communities of Han-ayan and Kilometer 16, Barangay Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur and entered houses of resident indigenous peoples belonging to the Manobo tribe to implement the so-called Community Organizing for Peace and Development (COPD) that is part of the governments counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan (OPB), wherein military troops occupy communities and conduct military operations thinly masked with peace and development activities; WHEREAS, according to the Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod, or Persevere in the Struggle for the Next Generation (MAPASU), an organization of indigenous peoples in Surigao del Sur, on October 25, 2011, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representative Caroline Khoubesserian witnessed the occupation and told the military that what they were doing violated international laws on war and humanitarian law; WHEREAS, despite the opposition of the indigenous peoples and the ICRC, the military insists on staying in the area. In a community meeting on October 26, 2011 called by the Alpha Company of the 29th IB, Lt. Collado said that the COPD will be conducted in the indigenous communities in Kilometer 16, Kilometer 15 and Kilometer 9, all sub-villages of Brgy. Diatagon and that the military would stay in the area for a long period of time; WHEREAS, the local Manobo people, through their organization MAPASU, has appealed to the military officials that they do not want to have anything to do with COPD and want the military forces to leave their areas since their lives and livelihood are put at risk by the presence of the army in the area;

WHEREAS, the people have borne the brunt of previous military initiatives in occupying their ancestral domain that resulted in the arming of paramilitary groups, the establishment of detachments and various violations of the rights of indigenous peoples as enshrined in the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) and the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP); WHEREAS, the sub-villages of Mike, Han-ayan, Kilometer 15, Kilometer 9, 14 and 16, Kabulohan, New Kabulohan, and Yadawan of Barangay Diatagon all sprawling upland villages of Lianga town have been the subject of military operations since 2005 including previous variations of the COPD; WHEREAS, on October 29, 2011, due to the militarys ignorance of the law and insistent stay in the area, 154 Manobo families or 804 individuals were forced to evacuate from the sub-villages of Han-ayan, Kilometer 15, Kilometer 14 and 16, Kabulohan, New Kabulohan, and Yadawan and are now temporarily housed at Barangay Diatagon Gym, Lianga town; WHEREAS, Maj. Eugenio Julio C. Osias IV, 4th Infantry Division spokesman announced to media on November 2, 2011 that the Peace and Development Teams (PDTs) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) started their COPD at the foot of this towns Andap Valley Complex, believed to be the guerilla base of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army (CPP-NPA), to implement farm-to-market roads, water system, construction of day-care and health centers, electrification projects, and other peace and development programs; WHEREAS, the MAPASU asserts that these military initiatives are to make way for governments plan to put the entire ancestral domain of these Andap Valley communities as recommended areas for the mining of coal as stated in the 2009 Philippine Energy Contracting Round of the Department of Energy that closed in June 2009; WHEREAS, such apparent threats to and violations of the rights and interests of our indigenous peoples are a cause for great concern especially for Congress, whose duty, among others, is to ensure that the laws and policies of the country are properly implemented and do not prejudice the rights of its citizens, especially the poor and marginalized like the indigenous peoples; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Committee on National Cultural Communities conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the practice of government soldiers of setting up camp in schools, barangay centers and other public civilian facilities as well as living in the homes and civilian communities in ancestral domains during counter-insurgency operations as exemplified by the recent actions of the Philippine Army's 29th Infantry Battalion IN Barangay Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao Del Sur. Adopted, TEDDY A. CASIO Bayan Muna Party-list