SALINLAHI Alliance for Children’s Concerns challenged the Department of Education to protect the lumad school being harassed by the military in Surigao Sur.  In a dialogue with DEP-ED Secretary Jesli Lapuz, the group brought to his attention the plight of 334 students of the Tribal Forum Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS) and the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural Development (ALCADEV) who were part of the internally displaced people now staying at the Diocesan pastoral Center in Tandag since June 18, 2009. 

Government troops led by the 401st ID swooped down on a Manobo community in Lianga, Surigao Sur last June, forcing the whole village to evacuate.  The military set up a monitoring post in front of the elementary school grounds set up by the Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS) and the lumad boarding school of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural Development (ALCADEV). They demanded from the school teachers a complete list of its students claiming that it is an “NPA training school.” They later occupied the school and used it as their barracks.