The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) appealed for an end to attacks on indigenous people in a statement released on January 20.
The Protestant Church group said it is “deeply distressed” with the series of attacks against the indigenous people “who defend the environment from development aggression.”
NCCP condemned the killings of nine Tumandok indigenous people and the arrest of 17 others in what authorities claimed as a crackdown against communist rebels on December 30.
The council echoed the earlier statement of Catholic bishops who called for the unconditional release of those arrested and an independent investigation into the killings.
“It is the NCCP’s moral obligation to call for a stop to human rights violations against indigenous people, as they are our co-stewards of God’s creation,” read the council’s statement.
The NCCP accused the Philippine government of “manipulating the rule of law” to persecute the indigenous people and those who advocate for the rights of ethnic minorities.
The council also expressed concern over the “shoot-to-kill order” against Windel Bolinget, chairperson of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), who has been recently charged with murder.
The alliance has claimed that the police distributed “wanted posters” with a bounty of some US$2,000 against Bolinget.
The CPA disputed the murder charges against its leader, claiming that Bolinget was “unjustly charged.”
In recent months, indigenous people leaders have been at the receiving end of what activists described as a vilification and red-tagging campaign by the government.
