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Friday, September 11, 2015

Magahat-Bagani Philippines Paramilitary Force

Magahat-Bagani Philippines Paramilitary Force ---


Anti-government viewpoint: Eastern Mindanao Command (EMC) led by Maj. Gen. Aurelio Baladad was the first to declare war against the revolutionary movement in his area of responsibility which covers the Caraga region. It has been targeting lumad communities where the people have established lumad schools, large and productive farms for food, organized economic systems and where the people struggled for and have established legal democratic organizations. Communities with these characteristics are accused of being “influenced” or “led” by the New People’s Army or revolutionary movement.


*Timeline


Sept 3

But Martinez claimed that instead of the paramilitary group, government soldiers who went to the area on September 3 clashed with New People’s Army rebels. Martinez said the fighting lasted for 15 minutes until the rebels retreated, leaving behind an AK47 rifle, two backpacks and personal belongings.

Sept 1 

Residents and Surigao del Sur governor Johnny Pimentel said that the village of Diatagon in Lianga town was attacked by an anti-communist paramilitary group called Magahat-Bagani force. Johnny Pimentel on Friday said the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary force that recently killed a school director and two Manabo lumad residents in ...Surigao del Sur Gov. Johnny Pimentel on Friday said the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary force that recently killed a school director and two Manabo lumad residents in Lianga town was a “monster created by the military.”

Pimentel disclosed that the Magahat-Bagani force, composed of about 30 ragtag heavily armed men, has been a persisting security problem in the province that left scores of people dead.
Martinez said they knew about the existence of the Bagani but did nothing about it out of respect for a “legitimate component of a tribe.”

Killed was Emerico Samarca, executive director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (Alcadev) in the morning of Sept. 1.
Samarca was found dead inside a classroom. He had a stab wound and his throat was slit open.

paramilitary also killed Dionel Campos and his cousin Aurelio Sinzo in front of the villagers. Campos was a community leader and the chairperson of the indigenous people group Maluhutayong Pakigbisog Alansa sa Sumusunod (Mapasu), which is known for its firm position on the protection of ancestral lands and its campaign against human rights violations targeting indigenous people.
The Magahat-Bagani also burned the building of a community cooperative not far from the school compound.

*New People's army - supported by China and North Korea

wikipedia: The New People's Army (NPA) (Filipino: Bagong Hukbong Bayan) is the armed wing of theCommunist Party of the Philippines (CPP). It was formed and founded by Bernabe BuscaynoA.K.A. "Commander Dante" on March 29, 1969. The Maoist NPA conducts its armed guerrillastruggle based on the strategical line of protracted "people's war".[citation needed] The Philippine Army estimated the NPA's strength at 3,200 fighters at the end of 2014.[3]

The NPA collects "revolutionary taxes" in areas where it operates mostly from businesses.[4]The Communist Party of the Philippines refers to the NPA as "the tax enforcement agency of the people's revolutionary government".[5] In 2014, Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala, speaking for the Armed Forces of the Philippines said "[the communist rebels] have lost their ideological mooring and now engaged in extortion [activities]."[4]

The NPA is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department[1] and as a terrorist group by the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy.[2] The Government of the Philippines, however, has delisted the NPA as a terrorist organization in 2011 [6] and has resumed preliminary peace talks pending formal negotiations with the NPA's parent political organization, the CPP.[7] There have been reports of the Chinese government shipping arms to the NPA.[8] Due to this, the NPA got an unknown number of Type 56 assault rifles. NPA has also received support from North Korea.[9]

Peace negotiations have recently reached an impasse. The Philippine government has specifically drafted a "new framework" which seeks to end the 27-year-long stalemate in the talks, hoping to build ground with the leftists rebels that is more comprehensive than human rights, the only issue on which the negotiating parties agree.[10]

*Sources 

Sept 6 Militia in lumad killings a 'monster created by military ...
newsinfo.inquirer.net/.../militia-in-lumad-killing...
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Johnny Pimentel on Friday said the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary force that recently killed a school director and two Manabo lumad residents in ...Surigao del Sur Gov. Johnny Pimentel on Friday said the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary force that recently killed a school director and two Manabo lumad residents in Lianga town was a “monster created by the military.”
At least 2,000 residents from the village of Diatagon fled their homes after members of the Magahat-Bagani — allegedly accompanied by soldiers — killed Emerico Samarca, executive director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (Alcadev) in the morning of Sept. 1.
Samarca was found dead inside a classroom. He had a stab wound and his throat was slit open.
Alcadev is a privately operated but government-regulated learning institution that provides basic and technical education to lumad children in communities rarely reached by government services.
After killing Samarca, the armed men gathered the residents and killed Dionel Campos and his cousin Aurelio Sinzo.


Magahat/Bagani forces | Save Our Schools Network
https://saveourschoolsnetwork.wordpress.com/tag/magahatbagani-forces/
Sep 2, 2015 - ... paramilitary armed group Magahat/Bagani forces. The saidparamilitary group is under the auspices of the [anti-communist insurgency] 36th Infantry Battalion of the AFP.

wikipedia: 4th Infantry (Diamond) Division conducts internal security operations to dismantle four (4) priority New People's Army fronts and degrade three (3) priority New People's Army areas in Caraga region and portion of Region 10 by 2009 to attain a physically and psychologically secure environment conducive to continuous development.

In a press conference held early morning today, the Save Our Schools Network strongly condemned yet another case of extrajudicial killings of a lumad educator and IP leaders in Surigao del Sur yesterday.

On September 1, Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV) executive director Emerito Samarca together with Malahutayong Pakigbisog alang sa Sumusunod (MaPaSu) chair Dionel Campos and his cousin Belio Sinzo were gunned down by elements of paramilitary armed group Magahat/Bagani forces. The said paramilitary group is under the auspices of the 36th Infantry Battalion of the AFP.

According to SOS Network spokesperson Kharlo Manano, the incident happened within the premises of ALCADEV campus at Sitio Han-Ayan, Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur.

‘This is outrageous! Truly, schools under the watch of the Aquino administration have become killing fields for even educators and lumad leaders who have shed sweat and tears in order to set up these schools are now being killed in these very grounds,’ Manano added.

Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development or ALCADEV is an alternative learning system especially designed to provide secondary education to indigent indigenous youth – the Manobo, Banwaon, Higanon, Talaandig, and Mamanwa of Surigao del Norte and Sur and Agusan Norte and Sur.

‘The new spate of killings will undoubtedly send waves of terror not only among the affected communities but also to other indigenous areas where lumad schools are operating,” said Manano.

Manano lamented that the ALCADEV has been established by lumads themselves with the help of cause-oriented groups. However, instead of recognizing their valuable contribution, the lumad community school has been subjected to harassment and malicious accusations of the state forces and their rabid paramilitary groups.

After the presscon, Manano together with the students and teachers of ALCADEV and Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao Sur (TRIFPSS) went to the senate. Manano said that they will also lobby the recent case to Senator Grace Poe who have initiated a book drive for the benefit of lumad community schools in Mindanao.

On the other hand, Manano urged the government to immediately conduct investigation and hold the perpetrators accountable. ‘We demand justice for this blatant human right violation! Perpetrators of this gruesome crime should be prosecuted and all means should be exhausted to disband all paramilitary groups and to pull out all military and paramilitary troops in the countrysides,’ he ended. ###

MAGAHAT/BAGANI PARAMILITARY TROOPS... - Trifpss ...
https://www.facebook.com/TRIFPSS/posts/1038394652862202
MAGAHAT/BAGANI PARAMILITARY TROOPS THREATENS CIVILIANS AND TRIFPSS PARA-TEACHERS IN SURIGAO DEL SUR San Miguel, Surigao Del Sur ...

Magahat-Bagani paramilitary group | Tudla Productions
Quezon City — People's organizations registered their condemnation againstparamilitary group Magahat-Bagani and the 36th Infantry Battalion of the ...

Fear of paramilitary group drives 547 Lumad families out of ...
www.gmanetwork.com/news/lite/story/536409
GMA Network
Sept 10 According to ACCORD's situational report, the IPs in San Miguel town left their homes after a group of paramilitary men called Bagani/Magahat ...

Deadly rampage | Lumad school head, 2 Manobo leaders ...
bulatlat.com/.../deadly-rampage-lumad-school-head-2-manobo-leaders-k...
Sep 1, 2015 - Paramilitary groups, suspected of collusion with the military, have killed ... Pangilinan said the Magahat-Bagani Forces is the same group led by ...

800 'lumad' schoolchildren among evacuees in Tandag City
www.pressreader.com/philippines/philippine-daily-inquirer/.../TextView
Sept 9  by the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary group. Alcadev is a privately operated but government-regulated learning institution that provides basic ...

Surigao Sur Gov to Army: disband, disarm Bagani forces ...
www.mindanews.com › Top Stories
Sept 5  and disarm” the Bagani Forces, a paramilitary group composed of ... a.m. on September 1, “known elements” of the Magahat-Bagani “opened ...

Report: Lumad evacuees steadily increasing | Headlines ...
www.philstar.com/.../report-lumad-evacuees-steadily-...
The Philippine Star
Sept 11 The Lumad evacuees refuse to go home until they are given assurances of security and until the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary group are held ...

Defend Our Community! Dismantle the armed paramilitary of ... (communist flavored anti-imperialist viewpoint anti-US-Aquino)
https://intercontinentalcry.org/defend-our-com...
The InterContinental Cry
Feb 23, 2015 - Dismantle and dis-arm the armed paramilitary of the butcher ... Egua, Marcos Bocales who call themselves 'Bagani' or 'Magahat' and the ...February 18, 2015, 350 lumad people and farmers from militarized communities in Caraga arrived in Butuan for the “KAMPOHAN SA BUTUAN” at the Butuan City Sports Complex in Libertad, Butuan City. Led by Kasalo, Kilusan ng mga Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Bayan in Caraga, [the group set out to] demand to “Defend our community! Dismantle and dis-arm the armed paramilitary of the butcher EastMin Com!”

The more than 350 people represents the thousands of victims of the US-Aquino regime’s anti-insurgency campaign Oplan Bayanihan implemented by the Eastern Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (EastMinCom-AFP) in Caraga Region. OpBay has deployed 9 full battalions of the AFP in Caraga, has organized and armed paramilitary forces such as the Bagani, Maggahat, Lubog and Alsa Masa to attack fellow lumad people, launched Community Organizing for Peace and Development (COPD) and cyclic military operations in the mountains, persecuting the people. As what has been happening in the entire island of Mindanao, OpBay is mainly launched in areas targeted or have operating large scale mining, plantations and hydropower projects.

Since 2012, under the US-Aquino regime, more or less 10,000 people have been dislocated from their livelihood from not less than 50 communities in 4 provinces in the Caraga region. There has already been 10 evacuations since the previous year of 2014 until the first months of 2015, victimizing 1,165 lumad and peasant families or 5,172 individuals. At present 413 families with 1,652 individuals are still in the evacuation centers in Bunawan, Bayugan and San Luis in Agusan del Sur, while 122 families or 591 individuals that evacuated in Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur since October 2014 had recently been able to return home. They evacuated because of the killings of their leaders, harassments, their communities turned into garrisons and cyclic military operations of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion, 4th Scout Ranger Battalion, 75th and 26th IB PA.

The Eastern Mindanao Command (EMC) led by Maj. Gen. Aurelio Baladad was the first to declare war against the revolutionary movement in his area of responsibility which covers the Caraga region. It has been targeting lumad communities where the people have established lumad schools, large and productive farms for food, organized economic systems and where the people struggled for and have established legal democratic organizations. Communities with these characteristics are accused of being “influenced” or “led” by the New People’s Army or revolutionary movement.

Ten (10) lumad and peasant leaders were killed during the AFPs military operations in 2014 until February 10, 2015. Paramilitary groups accompanying the military troops committed cold blooded killings and other crimes against the people. The group of Calpet Egua, Marcos Bocales who call themselves ‘Bagani’ or ‘Magahat’ and the ‘Maggahat’ group of Mario Napungahan are mainly armed by the AFP to commit harassments in the mountains. Included among these groups are Eddie “Komander Bawang” Ampiawan and Benhur Mansulonay’s armed groups turned CAFGU. The victims of these gross violations of human rights are residents of areas targeted or have operating large scale mines, banana or oil palm plantations, where mass organizations are actively demanding their rights to livelihood.

Not content with the killings, 124 leaders of MAPASU, TAGDUMAHAN and KASALO-Caraga; leaders and active members of UMAN, KAMASS of KMP-Caraga have been filed trumped up cases. Forty three (43) of these were cases filed last 2014 and includes lumad leaders Jalandoni Campos, MAPASU chairperson and Genasque Enriquez, Secretary General of KASALO Caraga.

If not exposed these cases of human rights violations will intensify as the fascist US-Aquino regime attempts to open Caraga region to plunder by the large scale and foreign mining, plantations and hydropower projects.

We need to unite to put an end to the brutal actions of BS Aquino and his armed forces led by the East Min Com and armed paramilitary!

Stop instigating infighting among the lumad people! Dismantle the paramilitary groups!


School head, tribal leaders murdered in Mindanao ucanews ...
www.ucanews.com/news/school-head-tribal-leaders-murdered.../74183
Sep 1, 2015 - Human rights groups accused members of an anti-communist paramilitary group of being behind the killing of school director Emerico Samarca ...

Army blames [communist New Peoples Army] NPA for killing of school chief, 2 Manobos in ...
newsinfo.inquirer.net/.../army-blames-npa-for-k...
Philippine Daily Inquirer Sept 7  At least 2,000 residents from the village of Diatagon fled their homes after the Magahat-Bagani killed Emerico Samarca, executive director of ...The military on Monday said communist guerrillas of the New People’s Army could be the ones who killed a school director and two Manobo tribesmen in the town of Lianga, Surigao del Sur last September 1.
“There is a possibility. However, it is best for us to wait for the result of the investigation of the Philippine National Police,” said Capt. Patrick Martinez, spokesperson of the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division.
Martinez, in a phone interview, said the military has immediately sent in additional government forces to secure the area and to go after the perpetrators.
Earlier, residents and Surigao del Sur governor Johnny Pimentel said that the village of Diatagon in Lianga town was attacked by an anti-communist paramilitary group called Magahat-Bagani force.
But Martinez claimed that instead of the paramilitary group, government soldiers who went to the area on September 3 clashed with New People’s Army rebels.
Martinez said the fighting lasted for 15 minutes until the rebels retreated, leaving behind an AK47 rifle, two backpacks and personal belongings.
“Some of the residents saw the NPA carrying their wounded comrades,” Martinez said.
The entire village has become a ghost town since September 1.


Lianga Massacre: Lumad leaders killed in 'mining capital'
www.yestolifenotomining.org/kalikasan-pne-war-of-plunder-against-the-...
Sep 2, 2015 - Emerico Samarca was in fact a recent delegate to the International People's Conference on Mining held in the Philippines last July 31 to August ...

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