BAGUIO CITY– Mayor Mauricio Domogan affirmed the City Council resolution leading the call for the National Government to drop the terrorist tag against seven city residents who are known advocates of indigenous people’s rights.
In Resolution No. 92 series of 2018 considered collectively by all the aldermen and signed by Domogan, the body urged the administration to clear Victoria Tauli-Corpus, Joan Carling, Beverly Longid, Atty. Jose Molintas, Windle Bolinget, Jeanette Ribaya-Cawiding, and Joanna Cariño from the list of 600 individuals identified by the Dept. of Justice as either members or supporters of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
This was in relation to the declaration of the communist movements as terrorist organization.
In the resolution, the body listed the advocacies and affiliations of the said persons:
Corpus is a Kankanaey from Besao, Mountain Province, former Chairman of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous from 2005 to 2010 and presently the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
Carling, a Kankanaey from Sagada, a former Secretary General of the Thailand-based Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact, and a Co-convener of the Indigenous Peoples Major Group on Sustainable Development;
Longid, a Kankanaey from Sagada, a former nominee of the Katribu Partylist and the present Global Coordinator of the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation;
Molintas, an Ibaloi and Human Rights Lawyer and a former Member of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
Bolinget, a Kankanaey from Bontoc, Mountain Province, a former chairperson of the Cordillera People’s Alliance, and a regular participant to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues;
Ribaya-Cawiding, a Kankanaey from Besao, Mountain Province, former chairman of the Tongtongan Ti Umili who is active in Non-Government Organization work in the City of Baguio; and
Carino, an Ibaloi kin of Mateo Cariño, a member of the Cordillera People’s Alliance Advisory Council and a Co-Chairman of Sandugo Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for self-determination ;
“The above individuals never joined the revolutionary groups but are passionate and active in their advocacy of Human Rights and the Indigenous People’s Rights both local and international,” the Council noted.
“Their inclusion in the list not only violated legal processes, but now poses a threat to their lives and that of their friends and families.”
They also cited the appeal brought forth by the United Nations Organization, particularly Special Rapporteur Michael Forst on the Situation of Human Right Defenders and Catalina Devandas Aguilar, chairperson of the Committee on Special Procedures and other international organizations for the Philippine Government to drop the “terrorists” tag against the Human Rights Defenders as it is an unacceptable attack and an act of retaliation by the present administration. **Aileen P. Refuerzo
