Serving the indigenous peoples is not a crime

The Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) denounces the dangerous accusation against 16 individuals of the non-bailable offense of allegedly providing funds to the Communist Party of the Philippines – New Peoples’ Army (CPP-NPA). The trumped-up and baseless accusations merely based on unvetted testimonies are obviously aimed at suppressing and harassing human rights defenders.

The UPLM and its Cagayan de Oro City Chapter has been a staunch ally of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) and its chapter in the Northern Mindanao Region (NMR) in the defense and assertion of the rights of the rural poor communities in the face of development aggression, climate change, and sectoral discrimination.

The projects of the RMP-NMR went through the rigorous processes of selection, monitoring and auditing by its respective donors, such as the European Union, the United Nations, and many others.

Atty. Czarina Golda Selim Musni is our Secretary – General and has been a member of the UPLM-CDO since her law school days. As officer of the UPLM, she has figured prominently in various projects in partnership with RMP-NMR Chapter in providing legal assistance to the lumad communities.

These engagements have strengthened the indigenous peoples’ movement in the assertion of their rights as a people.

Ironically, these developments triggered the government and earned its ire. Any one who dares to run counter to the policies of this government faces the wrath of red-tagging, and worse, the marking as a terrorist and an enemy of the state.

Thus are the cases against the RMP/RMP-NMR and its officers and staff, including our very own Sec-Gen, Czarina Golda S. Musni.  With particular respect to the European Union, the bloc has explicitly stated, through its then Ambassador to the Philippines Mr. Franz Jessen, that no funds from the Union have been used to support the armed rebellion.  

To indict these individuals merely on the basis of unvetted or still to be clarified statements, without strong documentary or object proof, is to act on rumors.  No less than the Department of Justice is expected to heed the principles of justice, truth and fairness in the conduct of its duty to the public which it has sworn to serve.

(SGD) ANTONIO C. AZARCON
Chair

(SGD) MANUEL P. QUIBOD
National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) – Vice-President for Mindanao