By KATRIBU (PR)

BAGUIO CITY — Katribu Indigenous Partylist condemned the filing of trumped up charges against its Vice President and second nominee Genasque Enriquez by the 11th SAC, SAF and 75th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA).

Katribu President Beverly Longid said the said military units maliciously filed murder and frustrated murder charges against Enriquez and 36 other individuals. She added that the complaints filed against them alleged that they are members of the New People’s Army (NPA) who encountered the said troops in Bunawan, del Sur last 21 July.

“The filing of fabricated charges clearly aims to intimidate and harass Genasque to scare him and stop him from continuing his fight for the rights and welfare of indigenous peoples. This is also a lame attempt to discredit and vilify the Katribu Indigenous Peoples Partylist and scare off supporters just like what they did in the 2010 elections,” the Katribu president said.

Enriquez and his fellow Lumads have been vocal on their opposition to the heightened militarization, corporate mining and commercial plantations in the CARAGA region. Early this year, he has been at the forefront of exposing human rights violations like militarization especially in the provinces of Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte that have led to the forced evacuation largely of Lumad-Mamanwa communities.

Enriguez is a Lumad specifically a Manobo from Surigao del Sur.Longid reiterated that Enriquez was not involved in the said encounter and is not a member of the NPA. She pointed out that vilifying of legitimate organizations and linking them to the NPA or other underground revolutionary organizations and filing trumped up charges against its members and leaders is an old practice of the military.

Longid also expressed concern over the safety of Enriquez and his family. She highlighted that victims of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances experienced the same vilification and harassment.

“We call on State security forces to stop these practices of harassment, vilification and filing of trumped-up charges that violate human rights and particularly for the above-mentioned military units to withdraw the complaint against Enriguez.

However, we shall hold them accountable should any danger befall the person of Enriguez and his family arising from these malicious suits,” Longid reiterated. # nordis.net