Rome, Italy \14/o3/2014
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| Photo: www.gmanetwork.com |
A baranggay captain and an army officer discouraged the
villagers of typhoon Pablo-hit town of Cateel, Davao Oriental from joining a
rally last February that demanded demanded “fair distribution of food
and other relief materials”.
The
said rally was organized by the group Barug Katawhan, an organization formed by
the typhoon Pablo themselves. One of their rallies last year ended in a
forcible taking of relief goods from inside a temporary storage area in the
regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
All of those who attended the rally were invited by their
barangay captain to a meeting in March 2. They have an attendance sheet and all
of us got letters with our names on it.
One
of the villagers who was invited and attended the meeting said the barangay
captain allegedly told them in vernacular “sa pag-adto namo diri, nagpakauwaw
ra daw mi dili lang sa barangay apan sa tibuok Davao Oriental (when we went in
Davao City, we put our barangay and the whole Davao Oriental to shame). They
were also cautioned told us not to join rallies particularly those organized by Barug Katawhan
A
female resident of Baranggay Taytayan told the barangay captain that they
“would not stop our participation in Barug Katawhan until we get our demands.”
However, it was the the soldier, a certain Lieutenat Soquilla who answered with
a warning in vernacular that “siguradaha lang nga sa inyong pag-adto ang inyong
mga anak dili mabutang sa kaalutan, mao na iyang sulti (Just make sure that
your children will not be put in harm’s way, that’s what he (Soquilla) he said).
When
asked how she took the alleged soldier’s statement, she said that “mura kog
gihadlok, nganong moingon siya atimana imong kabataan, kinsa mang inahan dili? “Sa
pagpaniid nako niya, mura man mi niyag giingnan nga naay mahitabo sa among mga
anak (When I observe him, it seems he is warning us that something will happen
to our children),” she added.
Shesaid
she also finds it “suspicious that we are called for a meeting but what
happened was not a meeting but they were telling us not to join Barug Katawhan
anymore.”
What
the army lieutenant has clearly implied was that they have to bring their
children to a place out of reach by the military before they decide to join any
manifestation because something ma happen to them otherwise.
More
than being told not to go to rallies anymore, one of the the villagers claimed
he was also hit by a village leader, where he named him when he filed a
complaint with the police in the area. He said former Purok Leader Joseph
Juanillo hit him in the stomach last March 11”. Juanillo “was particularly
angry because I was one of those who complained about the favoritism in the
distribution of relief goods in the purok.”
He
showed the interviewer a request by the Cateel Police Station to the Rural
Health Unit of Cattel for a “medico-legal certification”. The request said that
he was “boxed several times hitting the left abdominal part of his body by a
person known as Joseph Juanillo.” The police office request that they be
provided with a copy of the result as they will use it for their investigation.
He claimed that relatives, friends and those close to the barangay officials
were often given priority to receive first the relief goods and other
assistance from the government.” She said that “from the DSWD, the relief goods
are given to barangay level officials then to purok level for distributions”.
The
system worsened during the election in 2013 with a “color coding” scheme.
“Green
means you are for the incumbent, yellow is neutral and red is opposing party.
The green gets favored in terms of relief,” she said.
Barug
Katawhan spokesperson Karlos Trangia said that “such system of inefficiency,
favoritism and militarization of relief has been the problem of the Typhoon Pablo
victims of Davao Oriental. Two years after, we are still very short of food and
our homes are still in tent which drips even during light rains.”
“These
are the legitimate calls which Barug members carry with them when they go to
rallies in the first place, to demand that a more sincere and realistic system
be put in place. It’s the government’s role but it failed,” said Trangia.
Trangia
said that government agencies “should not wait or respond only because victims
rally.”
Source:
http://davaotoday.com/main/2014/03/14/davao-oriental-typhoon-victims-discouraged-from-joining-protest-rallies/
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