In a press conference today highlighting the findings of the recently concluded National Solidarity Mission in Lianga, Surigao del Sur, Alphonse Rivera, spokesperson of SALINLAHI Alliance for Children’s Concerns, said that “We joined the mission to document the different atrocities committed against Lumad children by soldiers of the 58th Infantry Battalion. During this mission, we confirmed evidence of military vandalism in the Manobo lumad school vilifying the teachers. We also got direct proof of children being branded as child soldiers.”


Rivera said that the team interviewed students of ALCADEV who revealed that the military tried to persuade them to surrender any weapon in exchange for cash.  “Such moves clearly underlie an assumption that these children are members of an armed revolutionary group such as the NPAs and therefore have access to weapons.”

Rivera reiterated SALINLAHI's position calling on the military to respect the sanctity of schools as a basic means to realize children's rights to development. “In fact, we should give due recognition to efforts of the Lumad people, with support from TRIFPSS and ALCADEV, to sustain an alternative learning program in the face of the absence of public schools in the area, which is government’s prime responsibility.”

The group, which included the Children's Rehabilitation Center (CRC), a member of the SALINLAHI alliance, also documented vandalism marks in an elementary school blackboard of the Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao Sur (TRIFPSS), which branded teachers as NPAs and communists.  “This is clearly evidence of the attack on the school. The vilification of the school, its students and personnel, by the military is clearly a threat that puts their lives in further danger,” Rivera added.

Salinlahi and CRC plan to submit its documentation report to the Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting of Grave Rights Violations Against Children, a body created through a resolution of the United Nations Security Council), of which CRC is a member.   ###