At least seven indigenous people were reportedly arrested by authorities in the central Philippines early morning of December 30, reported the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment.
“We vehemently condemn the mass arrests of Tumanduk activists as a clear example of the dangers of red-tagging,” said Leon Dulce, national coordinator of Kalikasan, in a statement to the media.
“For defending their right to their ancestral domain, Tumanduk activists are criminalized and brutally subjugated by the government,” added Dulce’s statement.
In its report, Kalikasan said “synchronized military and police operations” were conducted by soldiers and policemen about four o’clock in the morning in the towns of Calinog, Iloilo, and Tapaz in Capiz.
Among those arrested were Roy Giganto, chairman of the group Tumanduk, and government worker Marevic Aguirre and Mario Aguirre, a member of a village council.
Also arrested were farmers Marilyn Chiva, Welsie Chiva, Luisito Bautista Sr., and Glen Legario.
Members of the Tumanduk organization have consistently protested what they described as “destructive projects” in the region.
They claimed that at least 17,000 Tumandoks are to be displaced by the building of a “megadam” along the Jalaur River Basin.
The so-called Panay River Basin project, meanwhile, will affect at least 19 villages and is projected to flood at least 21,100 hectares of lands, including Tumandok ancestral domains.
