DepEd shuts down 55

‘lumad’ schools
By: Matthew Reysio-Cruz - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 07:27 AM July 15, 2019

RIGHT TO EDUCATION “Lumad” students and their teachers assert their right to education
during a street protest in Quezon City in this photo taken last year.National Security Adviser
Hermogenes Esperon Jr. has charged that indigenous schools deviate from the Department of
Education curriculum, use children in protests, and teach them “ideologies that advocate against
the government.” —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Progressive groups on Sunday condemned the

Department of Education (DepEd) order suspending the permit to operate of 55
schools for indigenous children in the Davao region allegedly for teaching “left-
leaning ideologies.”
Bayan Muna Rep. Eufemia Cullamat denounced the decision taken by Education
Secretary Leonor Briones and DepEd-Davao regional officer in charge Evelyn
Fetalvero, who signed the order, calling it unjust and a denial of “lumad”
(indigenous) children’s right to education.

The nonprofit Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Center Inc.,
the operator of the schools, said it would appeal the order.

Esperon’s allegations

Issued on Wednesday and addressed to Salugpongan executive director Maria

Eugenia Nolasco, the order said the schools were being temporarily shut down
because of accusations by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., a
former military chief of staff, that were “serious enough to warrant immediate
action.”

It cited a report by Esperon alleging that the schools deviated from the DepEd
curriculum, used children in protests and taught them “ideologies that advocate
against the government.”

The order said Esperon, vice chair of a government task force working to end the
communist insurgency at the local level, also submitted a statement from Melvin
Loyod, a former teacher at a Salugpongan school in Talaingod, Davao, who claimed
teaching materials included the anthem of the communist New People’s Army
(NPA), firearm instruction, and ambushing military troops.

“Those acts violate no less than the Constitution,” the order said.

In April, George Mandahay, a tribal leader from Sitio Kahusayan in Calinan, Davao
City, asked the DepEd to shutter the Salugpongan school in his jurisdiction,
echoing long-standing allegations by the government that Salugpongan schools
were linked to the communist insurgency.

Loyod, in his testimony submitted to Esperon, alleged that lumad students in Sitio
Pongpong were being taught to commit actions aimed at “destroying the
government.”
Private schools covered

The DepEd order covered private schools owned and operated by Salugpongan.

The processing of the nonprofit’s applications for renewal of other permits was
also stopped.

The DepEd gave Salugpongan five days to explain why its permit to operate
schools should not be revoked.

In a statement, Salugpongan said it would fight the “fabricated accusations and

Red-tagging to justify the closure of lumad schools.”

“We are saddened that the government’s mandate to recognize and uphold the
right of the lumad to education and self-determination is suppressed by a
militaristic approach that further marginalize the lumad,” it said.

Bayan Muna’s Cullamat said the DepEd, by issuing the order, would deprive lumad
children their right to education.

“[The] DepEd wants the lumad not to wake up to realities and to keep them fooled,
victimized and deprived of their rights so it will be easier to rob them of their
ancestral land, which is their life,” said Cullamat, herself a lumad and a leader of
the Manobo.

Commercial intrusion

The lawmaker said it was only right that indigenous people were taught to resist
intrusion by mining and logging companies on their ancestral land that caused
environmental destruction.

“The lumad have the right to form and govern their own system of education and
language based on their own culture. This is in accordance [with] the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People,” Cullamat said.
“[The] DepEd must immediately rescind its suspension order,” she said.
Cullamat urged the United Nations to investigate the plight of indigenous
communities under the Duterte administration.

Save Our Schools (SOS), a network of children’s rights advocates, called the DepEd
a rubber stamp for the military, which has been accused of myriad rights
violations in indigenous communities.

SOS pilloried the DepEd for anchoring its decision on a report that was “full of
lies.”

“By ordering the closure of schools without even verifying the wild, baseless
claims of Esperon that the Salugpongan schools are teaching students to rebel,
they have neglected their duty to uphold the protection of schools,” SOS said in a
statement on Sunday.

Threats against lumad schools

Threats against lumad schools have escalated since the failure of peace talks
between the government and the communist rebels in 2017, with some of the
gravest threats coming from President Duterte himself.

“Get out of there. I’ll have those bombed, including your structures,” Mr. Duterte
said in 2017. “I will use the Armed Forces, the Philippine Air Force. I’ll really have
those bombed because you are operating illegally and you are teaching the
children to rebel against [the] government.”

Malacañang later issued a tamer warning, but SOS alleged that military and
paramilitary groups had since taken brutal measures to force the closure of lumad
schools, including making lumad destroy schoolbuildings in Davao and
Compostela Valley at gunpoint.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), which counts the Salugpongan group
Alliance of Community Educators as member, accused the DepEd of failing to
safeguard lumad children from “harassment and school closures.”
“We challenge [the] DepEd to stand by its duty to civilians and resist the creeping
takeover of military command over the bureaucracy,” ACT secretary general
Raymond Basilio said. —WITH A REPORT FROM DJ YA

Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1141670/deped-shuts-down-55-lumad-

schools#ixzz5ybvX0Ln1
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LOOK: Lumad students
stage protest as House
hears DepEd’s budget
By: Gabriel Pabico Lalu - Reporter / @GabrielLaluINQ
INQUIRER.net / 12:14 PM September 03, 2019

Lumad students protested outside the House of Representatives, calling for the re-opening of their schools
while Education Secretary Leonor Briones presents DepEd’s budget for 2020. Briones ordered the closure
of 55 Lumad schools in July, upon recommendations from security officials who claimed that students
were being taught revolutionary ideas.

MANILA, Philippines – Several Lumad leaders and students from the Save Our
Schools (SOS) Network staged a protest outside the South Gate of the House of
Representatives on Tuesday as the 2020 budget of the Department of Education
(DepEd) was being discussed.
Photos sent to reporters by party-list group Bayan Muna showed Lumad students
calling on DepEd to allow the schools for indigenous people in Mindanao to
reopen, after the department ordered the closure of 55 schools last July.

“Kasabay ng Budget Hearing ng DepEd […] maglulunsad ang SOS Network kasama
ang mga estudyante at guro ng mga paaralang Lumad upang singilin si Secretary
Briones bilang aktibong kabahagi ng Whole of Nation Approach ng rehimeng
Duterte na nagbubunsod ng matinding pag-atake sa mga paaralang Lumad sa
Mindanao,” a statement from Bayan Muna said.

“Bahagi rin sa kokondenahin ng grupo ang isyu ng korapsyon at iresponsableng

paggamit ng pondo ng ahensya,” they added.

The schools were ordered closed based on recommendations from National

Security Adviser Germogenes Esperon Jr., who claimed that the schools were being
used to teach communist ideology and were encouraging the use of violence
against government.

Photo from Bayan Muna

Photo from Bayan Muna

Photo from Bayan Muna

Read more: https://newasinfo.inquirer.net/1160301/look-lumad-students-stage-
protest-as-house-hears-depeds-budget#ixzz5ybvBeQeE
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